In the end, Mays was just too big, too strong and too deep.
The Raiders took advantage of their balanced offense and beefy offensive line to wear down a tough but undersized team from Stockbridge (11-3), en route to a 30-15 win in one Class AAAAA semifinal in Stockbridge. The victory for Mays (12-2) made the Raiders the first Atlanta Public School to advance to the state finals in decades.
The Raiders, the No. 3 seed from Region 6, will take on Northside-Warner Robins, which defeated Allatoona in the other semifinal.
The game was nip and tuck for most of the night, as both defenses stepped up to thwart two of the most productive offenses in Class AAAAA. For the Tigers, Charles Wiley, Carlton Woods, Tyree Turner and Titus Davis dominated up front, while Natrez Patrick (committed to Georgia), Shyheem Rutherford, DeAndre Brown, Xavier Lewis and Marquez Daniel were equally as effective on defense for the Raiders.
But Mays utilized four running backs behind an offensive line that averages 300 pounds to outscore the Tigers 14-0 in the fourth quarter to put the game away.
Mays hurt itself on its second drive of the game when a holding penalty negated a 40-yard pass play from senior quarterback Asahnia Aderhold to senior receiver Tyshawn Brown, that would have set the Raiders up at the Stockbridge 22-yard line. But Mays capitalized on a Stockbridge miscue minutes later to get on the board first.
Tiger junior quarterback Malachi Brown attempted a 10-yard pass down the far seam, but threw off of his back foot, and Mays junior safety Monquavion Brinson picked the ball out of the air at the Stockbridge 43 yard line late in the first quarter. On the third play of the ensuing drive, one play into the second quarter, Aderhold hit Deparis Carter on a simple 10-yard curl route and the senior speedster did the rest, shaking a tackle and then outrunning the rest of the Stockbridge secondary for a 43-yard touchdown to give the Raiders a 7-0 lead after the extra point kick.
Two plays in to Stockbridge’s next possession, Mays senior defensive end Marquis Rivers suffered a serious injury to his arm and the game was halted for nearly 30 minutes. When the game resumed, the Tigers appeared to have handled the lull in action better, as they completed a five-play 70-yard scoring drive with a 23-yard touchdown pass from Brown to Jermaine Davis, who ran a wheel route up the near sideline. Stockbridge then completed a two-point conversion pass to go up 8-7.
The teams failed to score on their next two drives, with Stockbridge defensive lineman Charles Wiley collecting four sacks. But with less than 2 minutes left in the half, the Raiders went to their hurry-up offense and ended the half with a 7-play, 54-yard drive capped by a 12-yard touchdown pass from Aderhold to Julius Whitehead. The two-point conversion pass was incomplete but Mays took a 13-8 lead into halftime.
Stockbridge took advantage of a poor snap by the Mays long snapper on fourth down that gave the Tigers a first-and-goal at the Raider 3-yard line. On the next play senior Artemus Mitchell muscled into the endzone to give Stockbridge a 15-13 lead early in the third quarter.
The Tiger defense held Mays out of the end zone on the ensuing drive, making three defensive stops inside the 3-yard line. Keenen Anderson, the Raiders’ 6-foot-5, 330- pound guard kicked a 20-yard field goal to give the Raiders the lead again at 16-15, late in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter Anderson, Alabama commit Chance Warmack and the rest of the Raider offensive line took over, paving the way for two touchdown runs by Kesselly Tyler (1 and 5 yards), to put the game away and send Mays to a state final for the first time in the school’s 33-year history.
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