CLASS AAAAA: EAST PAULDING 43, MILTON 41 (3 OT): QB Groover finds his favorite target

Several times Friday night it looked as if East Paulding would be going home early from the Class AAAAA playoffs.

But Jesse Groover and Ed Cazanave wouldn’t let it happen. The quarterback and wide receiver hooked up on the tying touchdown late in the fourth quarter, then for two more scores during three overtimes to lift East Paulding to a 43-41 first-round victory over Milton.

Trailing 21-14 with 1:09 left in regulation, Groover found Cazanave wide open in the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown that capped a six-play drive and sent the game to overtime. It came after after Milton marched 99 yards and scored on Taj Harris’ 21-yard run.

“It was a heck of a drive,” said East Paulding coach John Reid, who has six playoff victories in his first three years at the Dallas school.

The teams scored a touchdown in each of the first two overtimes. The final score in the second overtime came on Groover’s fade to Cazanave that tied the score at 35.

At the start of the third overtime, Milton’s Toney Williams (246 rushing yards) scored his fifth touchdown of the game from 4 yards, but was stopped on the two-point conversion attempt and the Eagles led 41-35. That opened the door for East Paulding (9-2), which got a 14-yard touchdown run from Jahron Brown to tie the game. On the two-point conversion attempt, Groover hit Cazanave on another fade for the deciding points and a second-round meeting with Region 8-AAAAA champion Grayson.

“Indescribable,” Cazanave said. “It was great coaching; great communication between [he and Groover].”

“I don’t even know what to say,” Reid said.

To no one’s surprise, Milton (8-3) fed Williams the ball often in the first half. The Tennessee commitment had 126 yards on 20 first-half carries, including a 24-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter that gave the Eagles a 7-0 lead.

East Paulding answered with some trickery. In punt formation on fourth-and-9, up-back Dylan Howell took the direct snap and tossed to Taylor Stephens, who did the rest on a 59-yard touchdown run to tie the score at 7.

East Paulding was lucky to be tied at halftime after Milton lost two fumbles deep in Raiders’ territory.

C.J. Clay fumbled with the Eagles driving midway through the first quarter, and with the Eagles in position to retake the lead late in the half, Williams fumbled inside the East Paulding 10-yard line to stall a long drive.