In the ultimate display of “acting like you’ve been there before,” after Stephenson won the Region 4AAAAAA title with a 30-24 win over DeKalb County rival Tucker, Jaguar head coach Ron Gartrell shook hands with Tiger head coach Bryan Lamar and his staff, as well as the Tucker players.
Then he quickly made his way to a golf cart near the locker rooms at Haliford Stadium, took a seat, and watched Jaguar Nation celebrate.
“It’s like a breath of fresh air,” said Gartrell, the only coach Stephenson has had in the 23-year history of the school. In that time, he has led the Jaguars to now nine region championships, the last one prior to Friday night coming in 2015. “These guys hadn’t made a run like this before, so to see this right now is wonderful.”
Indeed, the two seasons after the region title in 2015, the Jaguars failed to make it to the post season, which made Friday night really special for Gartrell, his coaches, players and all of Jaguar Nation. Their joy was on full display after the game as players, cheerleaders, parents, relatives and girlfriends all celebrated and posed for pictures and videos at midfield.
“This wasn’t the year we expected to make a run like this,” said Gartrell, “so we’re a little head of schedule. But this group is a close group. They may not be the most talented, but they work extremely hard and they don’t quit.”
That attitude was on full display against Tucker. After building a 20-7 lead, Stephenson fell behind 21-20 when Tucker scored at the end of the first half. Then on the Jaguars’ first drive of the second half, Ryan Ingram, the team’s second-leading rusher and its power back, went down with an injury.
Stephenson went three-and-out on the drive, but on Tucker’s ensuing possession, the Tigers fumbled at their own 36-yard line and the Jaguars recovered. The turnover came one play after the Tigers had a 35-yard run by Tyler Hughey called back because of an illegal shift.
But Tucker’s defense responded and after an illegal procedure penalty, and two sacks, Stephenson faced third-and-28 at the Tucker 43-yard line. Instead of a pass, the Jaguars stayed with their ground game and went with an inside reverse, as junior Donnovan Moorer took a handoff and started right, but handed off to senior JeVon Goss (the Jaguars’ leading rusher) running inside to the left behind a pulling guard and tackle. The play netted 27 yards, one yard short of a first down, to the Tucker 16. From there, senior Dominic Allen connected on a 33-yard field goal to give Stephenson the lead, 23-21.
After Stephenson’s defense forced a three-and-out, the Jaguars put the game and the region title away with a quick five-play, 53-yard drive, punctuated by a 39-yard touchdown run by Moorer, to make the score 30-21 early in the fourth quarter.
Now down by two scores, Tucker missed a golden opportunity for a touchdown on its next possession when the Tigers drove to the Tucker 9-yard line with the help of a defensive holding call. But on first-and-goal the Tigers were called for holding and eventually settled for a 19-yard field goal by Kyle Wright with a little more than four minutes left in regulation.
Out of timeouts, the Tigers needed a quick stop to regain possession. But Stephenson picked up a first down after three running plays, and then on third-and-two, Moorer iced the game with a 4-yard run and a slide to keep from running out of bounds.
Tucker head coach Bryan Lamar was visibly upset with his team’s lack of focus.
“Too many mistakes,” he said. “Turnovers at key times. Not executing when we need to. Blowing too many assignments. We have a lot of young guys and we didn’t handle this big-time atmosphere well. We have to do a better job of getting them prepared for games like this.
“But our goal is to win a state championship,” Lamar said. “We want to win region championships too, but we didn’t get that done. Now we have to do better and work toward our goal of winning a state championship.”
As the No. 2 seed from Region 4, the Tigers will host Northside-Warner Robins, the No. 3 seed from Region 1. Tucker has knocked the Eagles out of the playoffs the last two seasons – 28-7 in the second round last season and 22-7 in the 2016 quarterfinals.
Stephenson will host Coffee next week. The teams have split in their previous two meetings, both in the postseason – the Trojans won, 17-14, in the first round of the 2008 playoffs, while the Jaguars won 17-7 in the second round of the 2006 playoffs.
As he witnessed his team’s euphoria Friday night, Gartrell said bringing the squad back down to earth won’t be too hard.
“Monday is our toughest day of practice,” he said. “It won’t take long for them to realize this battle is over, and now it’s time to get ready for another one.”
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