The Bainbridge football players bordered with being out of control with happiness as they encircled coach Jeff Littleton near the middle of the field. They bounced up and down, thrusts their fists in the arm and howled with delight.
They had a good reason for the emotional outburst. The Bearcats had just knocked off No. 2 Buford in the Class AAAAA quarterfinals 23-20, thus recording its third straight victory over a state-ranked team. Bainbridge defeated No. 9 Jones County and No. 5 Wayne County in the first two rounds.
Bainbridge got three touchdowns from Caleb McDowell, who scored on runs of 15 and 2 yard and returned the second-half kickoff for a 98-yard touchdown.
Buford got 211 yards rushing from senior Derrian Brown, who has committed to play at Texas.
Stockbridge cleans up Carrollton: The No. 6-ranked Tigers set the pace with three touchdowns in the first quarter and coasted to a 48-3 win over No. 10 Carrollton. Quarterback Jevon McDonald threw for two touchdowns to Isaiah Taylor and ran for another to give Stockbridge a 20-0 lead that the Trojans could not overcoming.
Stockbridge ran for 182 yards and threw for 168 and possessed the ball for 32:08 of 48 minutes.
McDonald completed 8 of 9 passes for 168 yards and rushed 13 times for 35 yards and two touchdowns. Taylor caught four passes for 111 yards and rushed one time for a 36-yard touchdown.
The Stockbridge defense limited Carrollton to 93 yards on the ground and top rusher Brandon Marenco had just 7 yards on 11 carries. Starting quarterback Kashif Taylor was unavailable and backup Myles Morris completed 7 of 23 passes for 67 yards and was sacked twice.
The Stockbridge defense was led by Steven Esan, who had 8.5 tackles, one for loss, and a sack. Kerick Rese had six tackles and a pass breakup and Jaylen Jackson had 5.5 tackles. Carrollton’s Kevin Swint had 6.5 tackles and forced a fumble.
Forty straight for No. 1 Rome: The two-time defending champion Wolves had their hands full, but prevailed 28-14 over No. 4 Dutchtown.
Rome had 399 total yards, 301 of those on the ground. Tailback Jamious Griffin rushed 39 times for 230 yards and one touchdown. Quarterback Knox Kadum threw for 98 yards and receiver Xavier Roberts-Donaldson caught six passes for 82 yards. Kadum rushed 16 times for 72 yards and three touchdowns.
Dutchtown quarterback Arendez Fedd completed 11 of 23 passes for 177 yards and two touchdowns. OHe threw touchdown passes to Travon Jones and Shemar Nelson.
Derricus Smith led the Rome defense with eight tackles and Nic Burge had five. Each had 1.5 tackles for loss.
Warner Robins survives Clarke scare: The No. 3-ranked Demons outlasted Clarke Central 21-14 in a battle of two iconic teams. Warner Robins quarterback Dylan Fromm threw a 54-yard touchdown pass to Marcayll Jones, then found him again for a 4-yard touchdown. Deondre Duehart scored on an 8-yard run for Warner Robins.
Friday’s Semifinal Schedule
Bainbridge at Stockbridge
Rome at Warner Robins
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