Region wins for Patriots, Tigers, Panthers and War Eagles

As sub-region play started for region 5-A AAAA, the county teams wanted to win and set the pace to make a run for a state playoff bid. The mission was accomplished for several teams.

Sandy Creek, paced by five touchdowns from Rajion Neal (135 yards rushing, 177 yards returns), defeated Whitewater 43-6. The other Patriots touchdown came on a 27 yard touchdown pass between quarterback Ronnie Bell and receiver Jarrett Davis. Whitewater’s Josh Clemons broke the shutout with an eight yard touchdown run. Defensively, Sandy Creek was led with 16 tackles, including two for a loss, from Clinard Stokes, Mike Hilton’s 11 tackles, including a tackle for a loss and a sack, and 11 tackles, two tackles for a loss, two sacks and a fumble recovery from Jamal Ware.

“Our defense played great,” said Sandy Creek head coach Chip Walker. “We bent a little but did not break. Our offense, I just can’t say enough. I wouldn’t trade Rajion Neal for anybody. We just try to get the ball in his hands as much as we can.”

Sandy Creek (4-1) hosts McIntosh (3-2) this Friday, while Whitewater (2-3) travels to Starr’s Mill (2-3).
The game between longtime rivals Fayette County and McIntosh was one for the ages. The Chiefs struck first with a touchdown from Brandon Hannon. Fayette County’s Jensen Floyd answered with a touchdown of his own and after a McIntosh field goal, the Tigers pulled ahead with a touchdown from Kendall Palmore. Armani Cato (108 yards rushing) scored another touchdown for Fayette, his first of two on the night, while the Chiefs got touchdowns from Alex Ishmael and Darius Miliam (224 all purpose yards). McIntosh also had two interceptions from Nick Morrow (11 total tackles). Cam Porter gave McIntosh a 31-19 lead but Fayette cut the lead to four with a Cato touchdown and a two point conversion. With time expiring, the Tigers won the game on a 58 yard touchdown pass from Floyd (226 yards passing) to Eric Lauderdale (10 catches for 145 yards).

McIntosh was led defensively by Andrew Graham, 10 tackles and a blocked punt, Brian Harper, 10 tackles, and Sean Carney, seven tackles, a forced fumble and a tackle for a loss.

Fayette County’s defensive leaders were Jonathan Seldon and Trey Smith with seven tackles and two assists, while Tim Thomas had five tackles and three assists and Michael Martin had five tackles and five assists.

“In a game that ended like this, one thing you have to be careful of is not to let the ending over shadow the good things that occured,” said McIntosh head coach Glenn Griffin. “We got better in some areas Friday night, our program is getting better but obviously we need to learn how to finish a game and put an opponent away with the things that we can control. If we can learn from this and it makes our program take another step toward competitiveness then we can get some good out of a heartbreaking loss. We need to get back to the practice field and get this bad taste out of our mouth and concentrate on getting better.”

Fayette County (3-2) hosts Northgate (1-4) this Friday.

In other games, Starr’s Mill overcame a 7-0 deficit at the half to defeat Northgate 16-7. Derek Brown rushed for a touchdown and Zach Laskey (92 yards rushing) had a return for a touchdown. Quarterback Adam Holley threw for 149 yards and rushed for 45. Jeffrey Greene led all receivers with five catches for 73 yards. Payne Spencer connected on a 27 yard field goal. Defensively, Jack Thomas, Justin Smith and Ufomba Kamalu each had 11 tackles, while Greene and Elijah Goodrich each had nine.

Landmark Christian defeated Whitefield Academy 38-17 at home during their homecoming festivities. Senior running back and safety Blake Austin, who has committed to play baseball at Auburn University, lead the way with 106 rushing yards and four touchdowns on offense and several big hits on defense along with one interception. Senior defensive linemen Josh Gebhardt and Cody Nichols combined for double digit tackles for a loss with timely big plays to keep the Wolfpack offense off track. 
Senior running back and linebacker Austin Broussard played injured throughout the night but courageously found a way to make several key tackles and score a rushing touchdown late in the game to put the game away. 

The offensive line consisting of seniors John Gable, Sheldon Peters, Craig Abernathy, along with juniors Chris Johnson and Chad Beckham created huge holes for the running backs which allowed Landmark to break the will of their opponent on the ground. 

This Friday night Landmark travels to Riverwood Stadium to take on region foe Holy Innocents for the outright lead in Region 5-A as both teams come in with identical 4-0 region records.

Our Lady of Mercy won their homecoming game against Fellowship Christian. Tracy Daniels, in his first game with the Bobcats, had 433 all purpose yards. He rushed for 272 yards and five touchdowns, 133 return yards and an interception. He was also named homecoming king. The Bobcats (2-3) will meet Southwest Atlanta Christian (1-4) on the road this Friday.