Peach pulls away from Panthers in third quarter

Bad break after crucial mistake after untimely turnover after gamble that came up snake eyes turned what was a tight first half between Perry High and rival Peach County into a runaway win for the visiting Trojans Friday at Herb St. John Stadium.

With three touchdowns in less than four minutes to start the second half, Peach County stretched a seven-point halftime lead into a 40-12 final score. Perry, coming off a bye week with one victory in hand on the road, dropped to 1-1 on the young 2014 season while Peach improved to 2-0, adding Friday’s showing to a shutout performance against Warner Robins as the road team the weekend before.

For Erik Soliday’s Panthers, it was the age-old saying of anything that could go wrong did go wrong right at the onset of the second half. Perry did end Peach’s defense’s string of five straight scoreless quarters when quarterback Trey Coryell completed a six-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Williams.

The TD came with four minutes remaining until halftime, but Perry missed the PAT kick. Peach opened the second quarter completing a drive of six plays and 55 yards. Keyshawn Lowe’s right-tackle blast covered 10 yards and put Peach County on the scoreboard at 10:05. The conversion game was a tad inconsistent for the Trojans, but this one was good for 7-0.

What wasn’t inconsistent in the Peach special teams was deep kickoffs forcing Perry to field the football between the goal line and the 5. Speedy downfield coverage would soon follow. The ensuing drive began after the kick was taken at the 2 and returned only to the 12.

Coryell’s first successful downfield throw was caught by sophomore Jhamaree Brown, who went over the middle and gained 28 yards. With the Panthers in better field position, Will Brown caught a pass over the 50, and big senior fullback Lance Ashford ran three carries for a first down on the Trojan 33.

Facing 3rd-and-4, sophomore Jalen Whitefield secured a screen pass. Senior Josh Cross went upfield for a crushing block, and Whitefield had 19 yards to the 8.

Williams’ touchdown, from a slant pattern, was on 3rd-and-goal, making it the fourth third-down conversion on the drive. It was also the 13th play of the series that took more than six minutes off the clock.

Peach, however, had plenty of time to respond and marched 76 yards in nine plays. Quarterback Robert Allen, 0-for-5 passing in the opening quarter, flipped that stat in his favor with a first-down toss before handing the ball back to Lowe. Nick Searcy was quite fast out of the backfield as shown in his 22-yard tote to the Perry 20.

Holding would spot Peach back to the 31, but Allen’s pass to Kearis Jackson gave Peach a 4th-and-4 with 24 seconds to play.

The Trojan offensive line protected Allen, and Tyrique Mcghee leapt for a catch and run into the end zone. Peach missed this PAT try, so the halftime score stood 13-6 in its favor. Lowe rushed for 96 yards in the half, and Coryell was 8-for-11 in the air for 86 yards. Perry’s ground game, however, was left with a net of 25 yards.

Perry went into the second half with the first possession, but couldn’t carry the kickoff outside the 20. Holding on the first snap made things even worse, 1st-and-23 on the 6. Coryell, on third down, found Jones for a catch spotted inches short of where the Panthers needed to be: the 29.

Soliday kept the offense on the field, but the defense stopped Whitefield behind the line.

Two plays later, Searcy went through a wide hole 22 yards for a touchdown. Lowe’s two-point run had Peach leading 21-6 at 8:59.

Before the clock could get down to 8:06, that score became 34-6. First, Perry was flagged for illegal block on the kick return. Though pass interference moved the spot to the 20, Searcy intercepted a pass and went 20 yards for his second touchdown (no PAT, 27-6, 8:35).

Starting from the 10 after the ensuing kickoff, the Panthers went three-and-out. Things broke down in the punt unit, and Peach got the football on the 8. With one play, Lowe scored for the second time.

Perry found some spark later in the third on 3rd-and-13. Williams was open for a catch of 41 yards to Peach’s 32. Two plays later, the Trojans recovered a fumbled snap.

Chris Stewart also converted third down catching the football for 28 yards. Peach’s standout defensive presence, lineman Keenan Dodson, was too much to handle and got his offense possession on downs at the Panther 38. Lowe covered all those yards in two plays, his third touchdown coming at 1:38 of the third (40-6).

Dodson had two sacks in the first half.

Perry senior Juwaun Releford recovered a Lowe fumble in the first quarter.

• Up next for the Panthers is a Thursday non-region game at Herb St. John Stadium against the Macon County Bulldogs of Montezuma.

On Friday at home, the Bulldogs sent the Veterans High Warhawks to 0-2 by winning 27-7. It was 21-7 at halftime.

Veterans quarterback Logan Byrd was 10-for-22 passing for 89 yards, but also threw two interceptions. The touchdown for David Bruce’s club went to running back Justin Jarrell, who had four carries in all for 56 yards. The Warhawks, though, would lose two fumbles.

OTHER RESULTS

Kenny Gant scored three total touchdowns, Kory Engram rushed for two scored and Jake Fromm tossed two scoring passes in Houston County High’s 41-10 rout of Grovetown High on the road Friday. This was the first Region 2-AAAAA game for the now 2-0 Bears of coach Von Lassiter.

To build a 27-3 halftime lead, Fromm threw both of his touchdowns in the opening quarter. Gant caught the first one for 15 yards, and the other was a 40-yarder to Darion Anderson. For Grovetown, there was an 18-yard field goal in the first 12 minutes.

Gant reached the end zone two more times in the second period. Jordan Strevig enjoyed a perfect game in kicking PATs.

Engram had both a nine-yard and a three-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

In rushing, Gant had 106 yards and Engram 67. Fromm was 15-for-24 through the air for 229 yards, and Jaylen Searcy caught seven passes for 94 yards.

• Willie Jordan scored three touchdowns and quarterback Tabias Oliver went for 210 yards total offense for Northside High, also opening up the 2-AAAAA schedule on the road Friday. The Eagles handled Evans High in Columbia County 38-6.

Jordan rushed for 95 yards on 15 carries, and Oliver kept the football 12 times for 67. Oliver then completed eight throws for 143 yards with five different receivers making a catch.

All of the scoring, though, was on the ground staring with Jordan’s six-yard tote at 4:09 of the first period. Before the quarter ended, T.J. Anderson was in the end zone from three out.

It was 21-6 at halftime as Jordan scored from three out in the second quarter. Evans put its six on the board at 3:12, but the Eagles blocked the PAT.

Jordan’s third touchdown was another short two-yarder in the third period. Justin Alonso, making all PATs, added a 20-yard field goal.

• The first half was all people needed to see in Sharpsburg Friday as Westfield dominated 24 minutes of football action on the road and defeated Trinity Christian 42-14. Every point for the Hornets came prior to the break, six different players scoring a touchdown and Griffin Elmore 6-for-6 in kicking.

Tanner Westbrook broke off a 47-yard touchdown, and Westfield got the football back immediately for Giles Amos to haul in a 25-yard scoring throw by Ryan Fitzpatrick 13 game seconds later.

Still in the first quarter, both Fitzpatrick (31 yards) and Josh Jenkins (51 yards) scored touchdowns. In the second quarter, Cam Forrester made the longest play of the game, 57 yards on a Fitzpatrick pass. From the defensive standpoint, Aidan Murphy scored for the first time picking up a fumble.

Fitzpatrick was 4-for-4 for 104 passing yards. Westfield had 221 rushing yards. Trinity-Sharpsburg 176 total yards.

Westfield puts the now 14-game winning streak plus the 3-0 record on the line against Deerfield-Windsor this Friday in Albany. The Hornets snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Knights last year.
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