MIDSTATE FOOTBALL ROUNDUP: Bleckley wins quality QB duel at Dodge; Brentwood survives barnburner at Briarwood

Bleckley County and Brentwood prevailed in a couple of area grudge matches that came down to the wire, Wheeler County and Treutlen handled some key pieces of business and a few other local playoff hopefuls ran into buzzsaws in setback losses as the Heart of Georgia completed week 9 of the 2026 season. Here’s a look at the rest of the midstate’s results from last Thursday and Friday…

Bleckley Co. 28, Dodge Co. 21 

An epic battle between senior quarterbacks on both sides of this rivalry’s 51st edition began with some opening-drive fireworks from each, as Brody Fleming fired a touchdown completion to Zyion Love to get the Royals first on the board, and the Indians’ Kain Mincey responded immediately by hitting Jerimiah Burns with a long bomb to even the score right back. Fleming, who finished 11-of-14 for 170 yards, set the pace for the rest of it with go-ahead TD passes to Gage Harris (for a 14-7 Bleckley halftime advantage) and Jason McNulty (who was Bleckley’s leading receiver with two grabs for 81). Dodge County tied both on drives ending with Aamaury Fountain runs, but Fleming scrambled for the game-deciding score to close out a 64-yard answer early in the fourth quarter for the ultimate difference. Love had 28 carries for 150. The Royals’ defense forced turnovers on downs in quarters 2 and 3 before another stop allowed them to run out the clock. 

Brentwood 24, Briarwood 18

The Eagles’ latest thriller hinged on a huge night for Tristan Robinson, who carried 18 times for 122 yards and a touchdown, caught two passes for 26, recorded four tackles, forced a fumble and added a 15-yard kickoff return. His 25-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter gave Brentwood the lead back after Briarwood briefly took it over on Cutler Fleming’s scoring completion to Aiden Adler to close out the Bucs’ opening drive of the second half. Things got mighty interesting when the Eagles followed up their response, in the form of several big runs by Robinson and Chase Daniel, with a successful Weston Garbutt onside kick that would aid in running the clock all the way down to the four-minute mark in the fourth quarter before Briarwood got the ball back on downs. The Bucs came dangerously close to scoring a game-winner as time expired, but Charlie Davis had the first hit on a Brentwood stop to hold them out with goal to go on the final play. Fleming was 11-of-25 for 111 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for 42. Orrin Wynn and Banks DeMore scored Briarwood’s other TDs. Jones Sheppard and Quez Collins rushed for scores that had the Eagles in front 14-12 at the half. Garbutt also hit a 27-yard field goal. 

Wheeler Co. 37, Turner Co. 27

The Bulldogs had to sweat out a close one the whole way, but kept Turner County at arm’s length thanks to triple-digit nights for two different rushers. Malik Madison had 232 and a touchdown on 24 carries, and John Miller 150 and two scores on 16. Jah Dinkins also visited the end zone twice, and had a 94-yard share of Wheeler County’s 474 total on the ground. Trayvian King was 10-of-17 for 164 and two touchdowns (to King Bateman and Draelon Coley) passing, and ran 16 times for 136 and a couple more that helped Turner County set the early pace, and keep the pressure on late. But the Bulldogs had control after scoring to go up by eight late in the second quarter. The Titans threatened to tie with a TD late in the third, but a failed conversion left a 22-20 score that Wheeler answered with Miller’s 54-yard run for a lead of 10. The Bulldogs did the same to put it away with another big-play score just after a Turner County score in the final minutes to trim their lead to three. 

Treutlen 28, Dooly Co. 14 

The Vikings established control with touchdowns on their first three possessions, and didn’t give it up despite a sharp turn of the game in a more defensive direction starting with the second quarter. Peanut Tobler (their leading rusher on 25 attempts for 149 yards) carried one in on the opening drive, Major Morton (4-of-7 for 160) fired 30 yards to Zan Stokes (two receptions for 100) and Peyton Miller (with 11 carries for 111) scored from 32 to cash in a Dooly County fumble on the ensuing kickoff return for a 21-0 first quarter lead. Treutlen added to it with its only other scoring on a seven-yard Miller touchdown run late in the first half. Dooly County would only creep back slightly with a late-third quarter touchdown run by Jaiden Sanders. The rest of the Bobcats’ points didn’t come until an 80-yard scoop-and-score in the final few minutes. 

Portal 28, Montgomery Co. 0

It was another week in which the Eagles made some progress on several drives, but couldn’t finish them. They rushed for 153 of their 213 total yards, with Elijah McEwen and Zaden Waller accounting for about 65 each. The MoCo defense, led by the 12 tackles each of Hayden Hayes and Jai Grissom and the two forced fumbles of Kameron Henderson, gave up 359 total. The Panthers’ Omod Thomas was 5-of-7 passing for 82 and three touchdowns. K.J. Hunter carried 15 times for 116 of their 277 yards rushing, and the other score. 

Thomson 35, Washington Co. 14

Daveion Holmes’ short first-quarter touchdown run gave the Hawks an early lead that stood until late in the half. But Thomson scored three times in the last four minutes to take a 21-7 lead that only grew with two more touchdowns in the third and fourth to put the game out of reach ahead of the only other WACO touchdown with 3:24 left in the game on a 7-yard jet sweep by Kade Swint. 

Glascock Co. 56, Wilkinson Co. 28

The Warriors, thanks to a 10-of-14, 226-yard, three-touchdown night passing from Quenterrion Stanford, produced plenty of offense. But a runaway performance on Glascock County’s side of the ball made this one too much of an uphill battle. Makhi Johnson had a 24-yard touchdown carry, plus three receptions for 61 and one of Stanford’s touchdowns. Amare Todd, on two receptions for 49, and Daverie Walker, on three for 73, also took part in the scoring. 

Troup 63, Baldwin 32

There were, in fact, some punts in this Thursday-night shootout, but the Braves had three of out of only four that went along with three turnovers as the likely difference in a matchup of two rampant offenses. Troup had the slight numbers advantage with 720 total yards against Baldwin’s 611. The Tigers’ Chase Mosley completed 10 of his 14 attempts for 280 and six touchdowns, Javarris Warner logged 23 carries for 341 and Trey Dean caught four passes for 132 yards and two touchdowns. The Braves’ Kamden Patterson countered with a 21-of-35 line for 465 and four touchdowns, but was picked off twice by Troup’s Markell Smith. Three of the TD catches, totaling 175 yards, belonged to Tavares Hooks, who had 15 runs for 122. Justin Burton had eight receptions for 139 and the other score. Jerliondus rushed for a touchdown and had an interception. The Tigers’ defense tallied 14 tackles for loss. Jeremiah Culpepper had three sacks. 

Mary Persons 28, Howard 21

Zavion Deshazier tied the game with a touchdown run, and two-point conversion, for the Huskies early in the fourth quarter. But one more shot to win this one in regulation came up too short on time as a final drive reached the Mary Persons 31 at the end of regulation. The Bulldogs pulled it out in overtime as Jordan Singleton – responsible for both a passing and rushing touchdown earlier in the night – scrambled in from nine yards for the lead, and Howard came up empty on four chances from inside the 5. Deshazier carried 19 times for 68 yards and one other touchdown, and threw to Tashawn Poole for the other on a 7-of-10 line for 150. 

Thomasville 28, Jeff Davis 25

The Yellow Jackets were in it the whole way, but couldn’t score more than once to answer after Thomasville took a three-point lead up to 10 on a 33-yard touchdown pass to Kensley Reddick with just under 10 minutes left in the game. Jacob Laney rushed for a four-yard score to cut the gap to three in the last 90 seconds, but Jeff Davis would be unable to get any closer. The Bulldogs’ Hayes rushed for a touchdown on 11 carries for 117, and was 6-of-8 passing for 92 and two more. Makari Williams caught one of Hayes’ TDs, and threw 35 yards for another. T’ville’s Cam Samuel and Jayden Jones combined for five sacks, and a forced fumble. Braylon Varnadore had 137 of the Jackets’ 301 rushing yards. 

Toombs Co. 76, Islands 0

Joseph Owens was a perfect 6-of-6 passing for 191 yards and five touchdowns, to Nick Carroll (2), Brandon Stevens, and Jayden McNeil and Jayden Greene, in the Bulldogs’ third 70-plus point scoring effort (and sixth time out of seven breaking 50) of the season. Donterrius Mincey also carried three times for touchdowns totaling 53 yards. Alex Scott, McNeil and Zay Walton added three others. The Toombs’ D had 10 tackles for loss and intercepted two passes, via Carroll and Ceasar Adams Jr. 

FPD 26, Tattnall Square 12

A field-flipping run by Dylan Reeves early in the fourth quarter set up the first of two touchdowns that gave the Vikings some separation late in a close game that they led by just six with 12 minutes to go. Two interceptions of Tattnall quarterback Angelo Bellamy, who was 15-of-27 for 200 and a touchdown to Champ Price, and a fourth-down stop in the third were key in helping prevent the Trojans from regaining the lead after back-to-back FPD touchdowns (involving a run and pass by Cash Walker) to offset their first of the night on a run by Micah Clyde. 

John Milledge 63, Mount de Sales 12

Nathan Snow completed five of his seven attempts for 161 yards and two touchdowns, Asa Wall rushed for a pair on six carries for 44, and had another two on his three catches for 106. The JMA defense posted eight tackles for loss, and got interceptions from Abe Gainous and Parker Soltay. Mount de Sales’ Ben Burney was 4-of-8 passing for 151 and both his team’s touchdowns to Braylon Mitchell and Eli Battle, but the Cavs were held to negative net yardage rushing. 

Other week 9 finals… 

Edmund Burke 34, Pinewood 26

Jenkins Co. 46, Twiggs Co. 0

ECI 42, Claxton 8

Coffee 27, Houston Co. 13

Cook 21, Fitzgerald 14

Hancock Central 22, GMC 0

Lee Co. 37, Northside 0

Telfair Co. 34, Wilcox Co. 14

Thomas Jefferson 49, Robert Toombs 8

Westfield 57, Central Fellowship 7

Windsor 33, Piedmont 0