Northside defense digs in to defeat Peach County

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. – It was a hot and humid Friday night as the Northside Eagles and the Peach County Trojans took the field under the lights of McConnell-Talbert Stadium for each team’s second game of the 2023 season.

Northside’s head coach, Ben Bailey, was looking for his team to, “dot some i’s and cross some t’s and play a little bit better than last week.” His three main goals for the game were: win the turnover battle, create some plays on special teams, and for the team to maintain their composure and reduce penalties.

Similarly, Peach County’s head coach, Marquis Westbrook, was looking for his team to “make improvements in their play and be more consistent in all three phases of the game” from their game the previous week.

Peach County won the toss and elected to receive to start the game. It worked out in their favor as they established the tone early with a 28-yard touchdown pass from DJ Hudson to Dylan Johnson to put the Trojans up 7-0.

For the rest of the quarter both teams traded punts, struggling to get anything going offensively.

Northside was able to get within field goal range but missed the kick as time ran out in the first quarter, with the score Peach County 7 – Northside 0.

At the beginning of the second quarter, Northside defensive back Malik Spaulding jumped a Peach County pass attempt on 3rd-and-long and ran it back 19 yards for Northside’s first score of the night.

After another unsuccessful drive from Peach County they punted it back to Northside to start on their own 15-yard line, where Damien Dee threw an 85-yard pass to Keron Milton for six more points.

Peach County still wasn’t able to gain traction offensively, and after another punt, Northside drove down the field and scored again on another Dee-to-Milton connection that put them up 21-7 at the half.

Neither team could sustain a drive in the third quarter, but Peach County was able to put up a long drive as the quarter came to a close.

As the fourth quarter started Peach County had a 4th-and-goal from the five-yard line.

Northside stopped them on the 1-yard line and took over on downs, but Peach County scored anyways as they caught Damien Dee behind the sticks for a safety to make the score 21-9 Northside.

Peach County looked to do more damage as they started on the Northside 48-yard line but they fumbled it away on their second play.

Northside took it from the Peach County 40-yard line and drove it down to the seven before Dee found Milton in the end zone again.

After the extra point, Northside led 28-9.

Peach County answered after the ensuing kickoff with a 60-yard touchdown pass from Hudson to Demarion Postell, who was untouched the entire way to the end zone.

After Sammy Williams ran in the two-point conversion, Peach County trailed 28-17.

Peach County recovered their onside kick and got the ball all the way down to the Northside 20-yard line, but Northside’s defense held and took the ball over on downs.

Northside finished the game on the 20-yard line in victory formation.

After the game Bailey said he was proud of his defense and the 4th down stops they had in the game that enabled the Northside to protect their lead and close out the game with a win. He is very proud of his team digging down deep and finishing the game strong.

This Friday, Northside will be back in the MAC for the Crosstown Showdown with Warner Robins at 7:30 p.m.

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