FRIDAY NIGHT SCOREBOARD: November 21, 2025

Dominance was displayed again in Dexter, hopes were dashed in Dublin, hearts were broken in Wrightsville and Sylvester and nails were bitten in Alamo as the Heart of Georgia took on another round of playoff football Friday. Two area winners emerged to take their season into Thanksgiving, and and a couple more teams were crowned GIAA state champions at Mercer, in several competitive and dramatic games.

Here are some highlights of the area’s top action, and an appetizer for full coverage of each game to come in our next print editions, and online at courierheraldtoday.com/sports later this weekend.

West Laurens 32, Oconee County 7

The Raiders stepped up with game-changing plays in all three phases, but none bigger than their first and last of the opening half on special teams, as Ty Cummings returned a regrettably deep Oconee County opening kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown, and Duggan Malone drilled a career-long 35-yard field goal in a fire drill situation to make it a 17-7 West Laurens lead on the way to halftime. Cummings, who rushed for 127 but had over 200 all-purpose yards, scored the other three Raider offensive TDs, finishing off their only other drive between the two first-half moments, and adding two more down the stretch. Juvon Hill and Jayce Blash intercepted passes (Blash’s a school record-breaking 10th of his career) to spoil Oconee County red zone trips in the first and third quarters. Two more came up empty on downs as the Warriors threatened deeper in the game. Their only points on two first-half drives came on a fourth-down conversion as Brody Hannah found Caiden Wood on a 9-yard toss late in the second period.

No. 5 Jenkins, which outlasted Peach County in its second-round game, will be the post-Thanksgiving guest of the Raiders as they make their fourth quarterfinal appearance in school history next Friday. This team is the school’s first to reach the 12-win mark in a season.

Fitzgerald 28, Dublin 7

Victor Copeland and the Purple Hurricane defense were too much for Dublin as Fitzgerald extended its win streak in this long-running playoff rivalry to four games. Copeland’s early touchdown keeper broke a first-half stalemate with seven minutes left in the second quarter. Things snowballed on the Irish as a sack and fumble at their own 28 was scooped and scored by Darron Devine to make it a 14-0 Fitzgerald lead at the half. The Canes put the rest of it away in the second half on a 49-yard Copeland pass reception late in the third, and a fourth touchdown early in the last. Dublin dented the deficit late as Ryland Yates led a final drive that picked up four first downs, on the way to 50-yard touchdown run by Dontavious Cannon with 4:20 left.

Brooks Co. 14, Johnson Co. 7

DeMarian McNear rushed 13 times for 56 yards, and a heartbreaking Brooks County touchdown from 23 late in the fourth quarter that broke the 7-7 tie in a defensive struggle. JoCo drives before and after the key strike came to an end on downs. The teams scored once each in the first half, Brooks County in the first quarter on a Jackson Shirah run, and JoCo with a direct response via 6-yard carry by Jeremiah Taylor early in the second. Brooks’ Trae Stevenson was 14-of-23 passing for 122 yards. George Lamons had seven catches for 77.

Worth Co. 38, Bleckley Co. 35

Brodey Hancock’s 20-yard field goal in the final seconds kicked the Rams to the narrow win in an exciting shootout. Running backs Zyion Love (of BC) and Treshaun Jones (of Worth) had two rushing touchdowns apiece, and Worth’s Lyndon Worthy threw for a pair of scores as the offenses went back and forth with 21 each in the first half, and two reciprocal TDs in the second. Bleckley’s last tied the game at 35 with three minutes left in the first, and the teams traded punts (and a Jahiyan Blackshear interception) until the Rams’ 64-yard winning drive over the last two minutes.

Wheeler Co. 28, Warren Co. 20

The Bulldogs dug back from a two-score deficit in the first half to pull back ahead on a third unanswered touchdown in the fourth quarter, and held off a stiff Warren County challenge to advance as Middle Georgia’s only other representative in the quarterfinals. They’ll go to Homerville to challenge Clinch County next Friday.

GIAA AAA Final: John Milledge 28, Deerfield-Windsor 20

Javaris Hurt rushed for two touchdowns, and Bradyn Harrison and Malek Dorsey pulled in key interceptions to put the Trojans back on top after a two-year absence from the ranks of state champs. But it’s JMA’s fifth in seven years, and the sixth of the J.T. Wall era.

Brentwood and Southwest Georgia play for the AA state crown early Saturday afternoon, then Stratford and Brookstone for AAAA supremacy, as two more GIAA trophies are handed out Saturday at Mercer’s Five Star Stadium.

Other area finals…

GIAA Class A Final: Robert Toombs 23, Edmund Burke 12

Jenkins 38, Peach Co. 28

Northeast Macon 26, Swainsboro 14

Cartersville 64, Warner Robins 0

Clinch Co. 28, ECI 18

Toombs Co. 24, Thomasville 19

Lincoln Co. 56, Hawkinsville 0

Rome 38, Houston Co. 28