Peach County holds off St. Pius

By Jeff Haws

For the AJC

St. Pius was great between the 30-yard lines but couldn’t figure out a way to put points on the board.

On six trips inside the Peach County 30, the Golden Lions posted just seven points, missing two field goals and fumbling the ball away two more times. Those problems cost St. Pius, as the Trojans took the Lions to overtime before eventually prevailing 21-14 in the Class AAA quarterfinals.

For a St. Pius offense that routinely put up 40 or more points in the regular season, it wasn’t any surprise to have scoring chances. But against a bend-but-don’t-break Peach County defense, those chances didn’t find their way onto the scoreboard.

“We just didn’t take advantage of the opportunities we had,” said St. Pius coach Paul Standard, whose team tied the school record of 12 wins, set in 1968. “That came back to haunt us.” No more so than in the overtime, after Peach County (13-0) punched it into the end zone on a naked booleg run by Patrick Taylor.

After a 3-yard run by Cole Moon made it third-and-6 for the Lions, a false start penalty set St. Pius back to third-and-11.

Trey White was chased from the pocket and threw a screen pass to George Kennedy, who slipped and fell for an 8-yard loss to make it fourth-and-19 from the Peach County 24.

That left St. Pius (12-1) with just one option -- to throw a prayer into the end zone. That landed harmlessly and the Trojans moved on to the semifinals. It was yet another chance fallen by the wayside for the St. Pius offense, which amassed more than 230 yards, but just 14 points.

Standard said he knew he’d get the best shot from a Peach County defense that had been tough to even get into double figures against all season.

“They play great defense,” Standard said. “They made the stops when they had to, and we didn’t convert on the opportunities we had.”

Travis Richmond ran for 127 yards and a touchdown on nine carries for the Trojans. Kennedy had 97 yards and a 57-yard touchdown run on nine carries for the Lions.