Here’s a look at what went down Friday night:
Tattnall Square holds off Twiggs County
In a battle between two ranked public and private school teams, No. 10 Tattnall Square of Macon appeared to have the game in hand, with a 34-13 lead with a little over two minutes left in regulation. But No. 6 Twiggs County scored with :41 seconds left on a 30-yard pass play from Calvin Stephens to Musa Muhammad, recovered a controversial onside kick, and took advantage of two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on the Tattnall bench to score on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Stephens to Javoris Smith, to pull to within a touchdown with :20 seconds left. But the Trojans put an end to the Cobras’ miraculous comeback be recovering the ensuing onside kick to claim a 34-27 win. Tattnall improved to 7-0, 3-0 in Region 7-Division A, while Twiggs fell to 5-2, 2-1.
Clinch won’t go away quietly
While the two programs that fell back into Class A this season after realignment – Macon County and Manchester, ranked No. 2 and 4, respectively – are garnering a lot of attention, defending champion Clinch County is serving notice that it has no plans of relinquishing the public school crown easily. The top-ranked Panthers (6-1, 4-0 in Region 2) spanked the second-best team in the region, Turner County, 66-20, Friday night. Clinch looks poised to win the program's 17th region title overall, and its first since 2013.
Manchester continues to roll
Speaking of Manchester, the Blue Devils were at it again Friday night. Manchester blew out another opponent, this time Brookstone was the victim, 55-7. Manchester has scored 293 points in seven games, for an average of over 41 points per game. Meanwhile the Blue Devil defense has yielded a total of just 35 point this season.The star Friday night was Ashton Bell, who ran for 104 yards on just three carries, two of which went for touchdowns of 18 and 81 yards. He also hauling in a 56-yard touchdown pass from Garrett Brown. Defensively, the Blue Devils grabbed four interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns – one by Tre Gamble for 55 yards, the other for 6 yards by TreDarius McGruder. Aspin Williams had a pick, as did Kalil Brawner, who returned a fumble 80 yards for a touchdown.
Quietly, Fellowship Christian is 7-0
Perhaps the best team no one is talking about is Fellowship Christian. The Paladins moved to 7-0 for just the second time in school history with a 42-28 win over defending Region 6 champion Pinecrest Academy. Fellowship rushed for nearly 400 yards in the win, led by Andrew Johnson’s 159, Andrew Minkert’s 109, and Merrick Haigler’s 78 on just three carries. But the Paladins still have a lot of heavy lifting in order to win their first region title since 2009, the last time they were 7-0. First there is a match up with Mt. Pisgah next week, and if Fellowship is able to clinch the sub region title, Mt. Zion-Carroll would most likely by its opponent in the region title game.
Other key results:
No. 4 (Private) Prince Avenue Christian 48, Hebron Christian 17
No. 9 (Private) Darlington 31, Trion 7
No. 5 (Public) Mt. Zion-Carroll 24, No. 8 (Public) Bowdon 12
No. 7 (Public) Lincoln County 34, Warren County 6
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