Peach rolls past Panthers; Northside wins

The new era for Perry High football under head coach Erik Soliday experienced a rocky beginning Friday in Ft. Valley. Peach County High jumped out to a 28-0 lead in the first half and never looked back, handing the Panthers a 35-17 loss.

From the beginning, Peach had a solid game plan and came close to intercepting a Perry pass towards major playmaker K.J. Smith. The Trojans were also inches from a punt block, but Perry covered well led by Shawn Greene’s efforts.

Playing in front of home fans, Peach County mounted a drive with big plays running up the middle and going to the air and main target Tyler Gibson. The Trojans marched to the Perry 18-yard-line, but the Panther defense came up with a trip by Greene on second down at the 20. On the next snap, Peach fumbled and lost seven more yards for fourth down.

Electing to go for it, the Trojans converted 1st-and-goal on the Panther 9. Perry’s defense still made the home team work, but the touchdown scored from one-yard out.

Down 7-0, Soliday’s offense responded by gaining its initial first down on an 18-yard run by Mark Riley. Dylan Griger passed for a second first down, and Perry advanced to the 47 before a dropped pass on 3rd-and-2 stalled the drive and brought out the punting unit. Daniel Ward pinned Peach inside its own 15.

Thanks to some flags on the field, the Trojans lost a 50-yard plus gain. Peach maintained possession, gaining first downs up to mid-field. One more penalty, a false start, negated a 14-yard pick-up.

Despite the mistakes, Gibson hauled in a pass at the Perry 20, and that set up an 18-yard touchdown play to close out the opening quarter with Peach leading 14-0.

Bad breaks also cost Perry as Gibson recovered a fumble on the 45. With its array of young talent, the Trojans churned out another scoring drive with Gibson catching the football in the end zone at the seven-minute mark of the period (21-0).

Perry found itself going to the air much more facing the three-score deficit, and Smith had a 17-yard reception, and Jake Farrell’s catch put the Panthers on the Trojan 28. With a holding foul, the visitors couldn’t advance further, and Peach reclaimed the football with 4:16 until halftime.

Smith intercepted the football on a third-and-long play at 3:20. Perry burned about two minutes off the clock, but Peach got possession back and scored in the final minute for 28-0.

The home team added two more touchdowns in the third period after Perry lost a fumble on the opening kickoff. Senior back Shontrellis Adams scored two times for the Panthers.

NORTHSIDE

Whether in Hall County or the remodeled McConnell-Talbert Stadium, for the second year in a row Northside High’s football Eagles made the season-opening contest with a tough Flowery Branch High squad its own showcase. Northside’s defense held the Falcons down to a near-shutout performance while the offense grinded out enough points for a convincing 28-6 win in Warner Robins.

Head coach Kevin Kinsler is relying on names and faces new to full-time duty on the varsity level in 2013, and more than a few of those came through with clutch plays on both sides of the line. The first to step up was junior running back Willie Jordan. He plunged in a two-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter. For the game he carried 17 times for 147 yards.

The Eagle who knows good and well how to produce on the gridiron is former starting quarterback Glenn Smith. Now in a hybrid role in the offense, Smith had two touchdown runs Friday, the first coming in the second quarter. Northside had to go 91 yards to get these points, but Smith covered 38 of them on a touchdown at 9:28 until halftime.

Isaac Rivera made both of his PAT tries, and it was 14-0 at the break.

Smith’s second touchdown was set up by a pass interception from Bobby Hines. With the 12-yard scoring run from Smith and Rivera PAT, it was 21-0. Smith netted 103 yards on the ground from 15 carries.

As Smith is now operating out of the backfield, Marcus Ivory earned the job of directing the Eagle offense at quarterback. He was seven-for-nine passing for 75 yards and a touchdown to Jurmon Weaver of 24 yards in the final period.

Flowery Branch broke the shutout bid with five minutes to play, but only had six as Darius Holmes blocked the PAT try.

WESTFIELD

Westfield’s football Hornets were unable to extend a string of opening-night wins against Tattnall Square Friday in Macon. Playing the Hornets for the last time as a GISA member, the Trojans had over 140 yards total offense from quarterback Lane Watson in a 21-0 shutout.

Ronnie Jones’ offense won several stat lines except the final score. That included 239 rushing yards to 228 for Tattnall Square and an edge in first downs 18 to 17. But the Hornets had the game’s only turnover on a lost fumble, and with new quarterbacks working in the system the passing game only had one completion in 18 attempts.

Chandler Duggan led the way in rushing with 59 yards on nine carries. Stuart Smith was next with 56 yards. Duggan also made the only reception for 33 yards.

The Trojans led 14-0 at the half on Jonathan Ward’s eight-yard touchdown run and Watson’s 26-yard scoring toss to Jake Allen. Watson had 78 rushing yards and 68 passing on three completions. Tattnall Square didn’t score in the second half until 4:50 of the fourth quarter on Ahmad Barron’s six-yard run.

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