‘It was just a lot of fun’: No. 28 Bleckley knocks off No. 5 Social Circle in blowout fashion

For Bleckley County head coach Von Lassiter and the rest of the Royals, it didn’t feel much like an upset.

Bleckley County journeyed to Social Circle last weekend for the first round of the GHSA A-Division I playoffs ranked as the No. 28 team out of 32 schools in the field. With a 4-6 record and seventh place finish in Region 2-A Division I, it was anything but a dream season.

The Redskins were ranked No. 5 in the bracket after going 7-3 to win their region, earning what was supposed to be an easier matchup to begin the playoffs.

Thus, the 41-16 beatdown the Royals handed Social Circle was a bit of a surprise to many — but again, not Lassiter. The longtime leader of the program knew what his team was capable of.

“They earned that spot, Social Circle did, but we earned ours, too,” Lassiter said. “The way the power ranking is right now, the region champions go in first. They deserve the right to be there being the number five. We don’t want to look at the rankings, to be honest. In my eight years here, we’ve had a lot of success on the road in the playoffs, so we didn’t mind.”

Bleckley County rolled for most of the game, its defense helping to set the tone early with some stops. Despite the final score and the 41 points his Royals put on the board, though, Coach Lassiter’s said it wasn’t all successful from the get-go.

“We started really, really fast on defense, but on the first drive we thought we scored the first time but we went out of bounds, then the second time we did not score. That kind of deflated us a little bit, we started slower on offense,” he said. “It took us a minute to get going on that side of the ball.”

The offense found its stride quickly after that. Quarterback Kam Everett ended up with 178 passing yards and 56 rushing yards. Running back Zyion Love had 88 yards rushing on 14 carries and polished off drives efficiently, finishing with four touchdowns.

“We kind of just dominated on both sides of the ball. After those first two possessions on offense, we did really, really well,” Lassiter. “It was just a fun night on the road. Great atmosphere, weather was great, it was just a lot of fun.”

The real moment Lassiter knew his guys would succeed, however, came on the other side of the ball. Early in the game when the offense was still moving slower, the head coach watched his defense regularly make up for it with surprising success rushing the quarterback.

“I don’t know if it was a specific moment, but I remember looking out there and seeing our guys get there and pressure the quarterback, I knew we’d be able to do this. We did a good job of getting to the quarterback, and a lot of teams haven’t been able to do that,” Lassiter said. “I think we had five sacks that night. I think whenever that feeling of knowing we’d be able to get pressure on him, it made me relax a little bit and realize we were gonna be okay.”

Lassiter said his defense and its workhorse players were one of the groups he was most proud of this season, naming players like Rhett Floyd, Jireh Campbell and Tug Pasby as some of the defense’s anchors when the team fought back late in the year.

The Royals made the playoffs thanks to two wins at the end of the season to get them into the top 32 of the power rankings. Under the previous system, Bleckley wouldn’t have had a chance in the postseason since they finished outside the region’s top four teams.

“I’ve been on the back end of that before. Our first year here we felt like a top 20 team in the state, but we didn’t make the playoffs. When I was at Houston County, we went 7-3 and didn’t make the playoffs,” Lassiter said. “I think this gives us the opportunity to get really good teams in the playoffs. It helps central and south Georgia a lot, because there’s a lot of good football down here.”

Solid evidence of that claim emerged once the Royals entered region play this year — after starting 2-1, Bleckley County endured five straight losses against Region 2 foes. Four of those defeats were by four points or less, including two one-point losses to Southwest and ACE, both of which were decided by two-point conversions.

Those five teams all ended up in the playoffs. Two of them, Northeast and Dublin, are consensus top-10 programs in the state for A-Division I, with the No. 2 Fighting Irish a reasonable pick to reach the title game. The Raiders, the No. 8 team in the bracket, needed a second-half comeback to escape with a three-point win against Bleckley County.

“I think our program did a good job of sustaining everything and checking on the guys, making sure everyone felt good and was positive. Being close was one of the things we talked about, it helps to be right there in some big-time games, to be a couple points away,” Lassiter said. “We had some wins there at the end of the season, too. Winning can help fix a lot of problems.”

The key road win over Social Circle — the most dramatic upset in the entire A-Division I bracket in terms of ranking separation — keeps the Royals’ streak going into Round 2 of the tournament, where they’ll face the No. 12 Fitzgerald Purple Hurricane on the road.

Fitzgerald, much like Bleckley County, benefited from the new power rankings format because of their strong region. The Purple Hurricane placed third in Region 1 thanks to playing in the same league as powerhouse Worth County and a solid Thomasville squad, but the team still secured a home game thanks to the power rankings putting them in the top 16.

Fitzgerald has plenty of pedigree besides what the GHSA computer rankings say, though. The Purple Hurricane finished the regular season 7-3 and notched their most impressive win with a 28-21 defeat of Worth County, the No. 4 team in the playoffs.

Fitzgerald also has a history of success to match this year’s showing, as it reached the title game in three straight seasons from 2020 to 2022 and won the GHSA 2A State Championship in 2021. The Purple Hurricane made the state semifinals last year in 2A before moving down to A-Division I this season.

“We’re just trying to get lined up on defense, they’re very, very multiple on offense. They’re single-wing and snap it to the fastest guy in South Georgia. Then they’ll spread you out and won’t change personnel a whole lot, then they’re Wing-T the next,” Lassiter said of the Purple Hurricane. “I think if we’re in position that we’re gonna be okay. 

“They’ll try to outleverage you and try to get you in different formations that’ll make you look silly if you don’t know what you’re doing. We’re practicing extra hard, later and longer trying to get those guys in position to make plays.”

That “fastest player in South Georgia” that Lassiter mentioned is Victor Copeland, the star of Fitzgerald’s offense. Copeland wears number six for the Purple Hurricane and will be a key piece of the offense, often taking direct snaps and making things happen on his own.

“He is legit,” Lassiter said with emphasis. “He’s got world-class speed.”

The Royals will try to contain Copeland and the rest of Fitzgerald’s team Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Ben Hill County, a little more than an hour south of Bleckley County.