Tucker takes out top-ranked Westside-Macon

Macon — The Class AAAA championship seemed there for the taking for No. 1-ranked Westside-Macon, which until Friday had dispatched all comers with little resistance.

Tucker’s A.J. Bouye had a resounding rebuttal to the thought of preordaining the Seminoles. Bouye’s 32-yard interception return late in the third quarter sparked the No. 4 Tigers to a 21-point second half and a 31-20 victory.

Tucker (12-1) advances to the state semifinals for the third time in six years.

“Coach [Franklin Stephens] told us at the half that they’d never been close after half,” Bouye said. “We knew we were going to get it done.”

Tucker will face Griffin, a 10-7 winner over Southwest DeKalb Friday.

Bouye’s interception return gave the Tigers the first two-score lead of the contest, and Tucker was able to pull away with Drayton Calhoun’s 5-yard run with 8:08 left.

The scoring numbers Westside-Macon had put up (536) going into Friday’s quarterfinal were staggering. So were the 47 the Seminoles had allowed in 12 games. Battle-tested Tucker was able to get past those things by focusing on its own goal.

“It’s pretty intimidating,” said Calhoun, who carried 15 times for 97 yards, “but we’ve been through this before. Anything less than a state championship will be a failure.”

The Tigers, on the other hand, had been in three games that were within a touchdown, and they knew what to do: Place the defensive focus on Westside quarterback Orrin McFadden, who had not been sacked all year.

McFadden got his yards, completing 10 of 22 passes for 219 yards. Those included two long touchdown passes to Danny Madison and a third to Ronald Carswell, but he eventually succumbed to being pressured.

The Tigers sacked him three times, and senior Marcus Williams added a second interception.

“Coach told us it was either going to be the DBs or the linemen,” said Quenton Brown, who had two of the sacks. “We were either going to pick him off or sack him.”

The Tigers led twice in the first half, at 3-0 on a Ricky Peacock field goal on their first possession and 10-6 after Devin Scott’s 12-yard run at the 8:47 mark in the second period.

Tucker’s average starting field position in the half was its own 45-yard line, but the Tigers could not extend either first-half lead, and Westside (12-1) converted a turnover into a touchdown and led 12-10 at halftime.

Tucker 3 7 14 7 — 31

T — FG Ricky Peacock 20

W — Ronald Carswell 48 pass from Orrin McFadden (kick failed)

T — Devin Scott 12 run (Peacock kick)

W — Danny Madison 43 pass from McFadden (pass failed)

T — Jonathan Davis 16 pass from Chirs Beck (Quinton Brown pass from Beck)

T — A.J. Bouye 32 interception return (run failed)

T — Drayton Calhoun 5 run (Peacock kick)

W — Madison 51 pass from McFadden (Julian Bennett run)

More Class AAAA

•Rome 41, Statesboro 21: P.J. Green rushed for four touchdowns as the Wolves (11-2) upset the fifth-ranked Blue Devils (11-2).