Off to best start since 2012, East Paulding on track to claim region title
East Paulding survived a scare from top challenger New Manchester and emerged as the heavy favorite to win the Region 5-6A championship with a 22-17 victory Friday night in Douglasville.
East Paulding linebacker Rivers Leverett intercepted a pass inside the Raiders’ 20-yard line with 40 seconds remaining to preserve the win.
The victory cleared a major hurdle for East Paulding, which is 5-0 for the first time since the 2012 team went 10-0 during the regular season and reached the second round of the playoffs. That’s also the school’s most recent region championship.
The Raiders (2-0 in region play) are now heavily favored to finish this regular season 10-0, especially considering the most difficult part of the schedule is behind them. East Paulding has beaten two teams that have been ranked this season, including Class 7A and Harrison. According to the most recent computer Maxwell Ratings projections, the Raiders will be favored by at least 45 points in all five of their remaining games, against Chapel Hill, Osborne, Alexander, South Paulding and South Cobb. East Paulding will be off next week.
“The break is needed,” Raiders coach Van Spence said. “We’re really banged up, because our nonregion schedule was difficult. But our kids are so connected. These kids really enjoy playing ball together, and I think they’ll take their break and get their film in, and then Thursday we’ll show up. They know their goal is to go 1-0 each week.”
The game was an offensive showcase in the first half — the teams combined for 423 total yards in the first two quarters — but it turned on a couple of big defensive plays in the second half.
With the game tied 17-17 midway through the third quarter, New Manchester took possession inside its 5-yard line after a fair catch of a punt. Two plays later, Jaguars quarterback Malachi Pace dropped back to pass but faced heavy pressure and was called for intentional grounding in the end zone, resulting in a safety and a 19-17 East Paulding lead. The Raiders added a 22-yard field goal by Lissandro Velasquez on the ensuing possession.
New Manchester (3-3, 2-1) still trailed 22-17 when it got the ball back for its final possession at its 28-yard line with 1:51 remaining in the game. The Jaguars got the ball to the East Paulding 20 on three pass completions by Pace and a pass-interference penalty. On first down, Pace’s pass over the middle was intercepted by Leverett to seal the Raiders’ victory.
“For the last two plays of the game, the coach told me we were going to a three-man line,” Leverett said. “He said I was walling the 3 receiver, and No. 0 (Adrian Guilford) came running across and when I saw him running across, I caught the pick.”
East Paulding quarterback Bode Spence, a junior 3-star recruit with 24 offers, was 18-of-26 passing for 278 yards, 199 of which came in the first half. Tyler Baldwin had six receptions for 124 yards, and Jason Green had 110 yards on five catches.
“I’m frustrated, because in a game like this we try to make them hopefully burn their timeouts and milk the clock,” Van Spence said. “Our defense gave us some short fields. I probably was a little bit cautious. I trust that we should just ride with (Bode Spence). We didn’t really pull off the gas, but we were just trying to find a way to get out of this game. He had a good game. He made some good checks. I’m proud of him, and he works really hard.”
Pace was 15-of-27 passing for 186 yards, Guilford, Jeremiah Foyd, Elijah Redman and Errom Singleton Jr. each had between 41 and 49 yards receiving. AJ Rogers rushed for 75 yards on 11 carries.
The teams combined for 189 yards in the second half.