The defending state champion Benedictine Cadets had a strong showing in their 45-0 victory over Jenkins last Friday to open the season, but only got to play one half of football. Chaos broke out with 2:10 remaining in the first half when an altercation broke out in the stands. According to Savannah Police, a potential fight between teens caused a ‘scary situation’ at Memorial Stadium that prompted fans to flee from the stands during the game.
Local law enforcement told WJCL 22 News that they were intervening to spot a fight before it started and this prompted the suspects to run, which led others to run.
At 10:22 p.m. the Savannah Police Department released a statement, “SPD [Savannah Police Department] was on scene at Memorial Stadium and intervened stopping a fight before it occurred. Suspects fled the scene causing other patrons to flee. There were no shots fired and no injuries. The game has been cancelled.”
It was an unfortunate way for the game to end, but Benedictine’s strong first half validates their status at the top of the preseason polls. Benedictine led 31-0 after the first quarter on its way to a win at Memorial Stadium in Savannah. Quarterback Luke Kromenhoek threw four touchdown passes and rushed for a score. Kromenhoek threw two touchdowns to Za’Quan Bryan, one to Thomas Blackshear and one to Ack Edwards, and he added a QB sneak for a touchdown to cap the scoring in the second quarter before the game was cancelled.
“I’ve never experienced anything like that,” head coach Danny Britt told Savannah Morning News reporter Dennis Knight. “We’re in the middle of a game, and the next thing you know we’re trying to calm everyone down in the locker room and get things together. I didn’t really know how to handle it, we just wanted to make sure everyone was safe.”
Benedictine linebacker Bryce Baker added, “we just need to stop the violence — there’s no place for it,” Baker said. “We just came out to play a football game. We weren’t expecting anything like this.”
Now, Benedictine will travel to Christopher Columbus High School in Florida hoping to avenge last year’s 42-27 loss. The Cadets’ loss to the Explorers last season was followed with another out-of-state loss to Beaufort (SC) 33-23 before the team rattled off 13-straight wins to capture the state title. Christopher Columbus is a Class 8A program based in Miami and Benedictine will take the 500-mile trip south for kickoff.
CLASS 4A IN FOCUS…
There were just four teams out of the 60 Class 4A programs that had byes this week (Perry, Clarkston, Druid Hills and East Forsyth) and the active teams compiled an overall 30-26 record. Region 7 had the best opening week with all six of its teams scoring victories, while Region 6 emerged with a 1-5 collective record. There were several cross-region games between Class 4A schools, like Pace Academy (beat Holy Innocents’ 20-17), Westminster (beat Lovett 14-0) and Stockbridge (beat Southwest DeKalb 13-0). Additionally, the first region contest of the season featured Riverdale and North Clayton and Riverdale came away with a 69-0 victory to improve to 1-0 in Region 4.
In Westminster’s 14-0 victory over Lovett, a Region 6 vs. Region 5 pairing, the Wildcats used a dominant defensive effort to pull off a road win over rival Lovett. Carson Wilkie gave the Wildcats a 3-0 lead in the first quarter with a 24-yard field goal, which was the same margin they took into halftime. Josh Brockman added a second field goal for the visitors, giving them a 6-0 advantage going into the fourth quarter. Running back Quinton Ezzard put the game away with five minutes remaining when he took a direct snap and ran it in for a touchdown from 11 yards out. Westminster tacked on a two-point conversion via a pass from John Collier to Brand Morgan.
Pace Academy kicker Doan Rutta gave the visiting Knights a 3-0 halftime lead with a 30-yard field goal and sealed the 20-17 victory with a 24-yard kick with two seconds left. Holy Innocents’ went up 7-3 in the third quarter on a Stephen Jones touchdown run, but Pace Academy quarterback Connor Phelan answered with a touchdown pass to Terence Kiel and the Knights pulled out the victory in their Class 4A debut.
Cedartown was amongst the six Region 7 teams that opened the year with victories and dispatched Rockmart 27-14. Senior running back Harlem Diamond returned an onside kick for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to give Cedartown a victory in its season opener. Diamond also scored on a 19-yard touchdown run in the second quarter that gave the Bulldogs a 14-7 lead. Before halftime, Cedartown jumped to a 20-7 lead when senior quarterback Reece Tanner scored on a 9-yard scramble. Rockmart got on the board first after scoring on a kickoff return in the opening quarter.
LaGrange and New Hampstead both had out-of-state victories in the only pair of games that pinned Class 4A programs against teams from other states. New Hampstead scored a 47-27 win over May River (SC) and LaGrange topped Alabama’s Smith Station 49-20 on Thursday. The visiting Grangers led 21-13 at halftime after A.J. Tucker’s two first-half touchdown runs and one touchdown rush from fellow tailback Malachi Fannin-Render, who also ran for a touchdown in the third quarter. Grangers quarterback Jaylan Brown also rushed for two touchdowns, and running back Jonathan Keys had one rushing score.
WEEK 1 RESULTS
REGION 1
(0-1) Bainbridge (lost 30-14 to Cedar Grove)
(0-1) Cairo (lost 50-7 to Thomas County Central
(0-1) Hardaway (lost 41-10 to Carver-Columbus)
(1-0) Shaw (beat Marion County 24-8)
(0-1) Westover (lost to Dougherty 28-21)
REGION 2
(0-1) Baldwin (lost 50-20 to Peach County)
(0-1) Griffin (lost 46-18 to Ola)
(1-0) Howard (beat Southwest 45-12)
(0-0) Perry (BYE)
(1-0) Spalding (beat Eagle’s Landing 37-28)
(1-0) West Laurens (beat First Presbyterian 38-28)
(1-0) Westside-Macon (beat Central-Macon 39-12)
REGION 3
(1-0) Benedictine (beat Jenkins 45-0)
(1-0) Burke County (beat Thomson 24-21)
(0-1) Islands (lost 49-6 to Calvary Day)
(1-0) New Hampstead (beat May River, SC 47-27)
(0-1) Southeast Bulloch (lost 33-29 to Liberty County)
(1-0) Wayne County (beat Bradwell Institute 34-12)
REGION 4
(0-1) Fayette County (lost 20-7 to McIntosh)
(1-0) LaGrange (beat Smith Station, AL 49-20)
(0-1) North Clayton (lost 69-0 to Riverdale)
(1-0) Riverdale (beat North Clayton 69-0)
(1-0) Starr’s Mill (beat East Coweta 27-17)
(0-1) Trinity Christian (lost 37-19 to Woodward Academy)
(1-0) Troup (beat Harris County 33-0)
(1-0) Whitewater (beat Northgate 27-14)
REGION 5
(1-0) Hampton (beat Tri-Cities 64-54)
(0-1) Lovett (lost 14-0 to Westminster)
(0-1) Luella (lost 21-14 to Eastside)
(1-0) McDonough (beat Locust Grove 43-14)
(0-1) Mt. Zion-Jonesboro (lost 40-13 to Jonesboro)
(1-0) Pace Academy beat Holy Innocents’ 20-17)
(1-0) Stockbridge (beat Southwest DeKalb 13-0)
(1-0) Woodland-Stockbridge (beat New Manchester 25-6)
REGION 6
(0-1) Hapeville Charter (lost 20-19 to Newton)
(0-1) Holy Innocents’ (lost 20-17 to Pace Academy)
(0-1) Miller Grove (lost 45-14 to Tucker)
(0-1) Southwest DeKalb (lost 13-0 to Stockbridge)
(0-1) Stephenson (lost 24-13 to Dutchtown)
(1-0) Westminster (beat Lovett 14-0)
(0-0) Clarkston (BYE)
(0-0) Druid Hills (BYE)
(0-1) Stone Mountain (lost 17-0 to Chapel Hill)
REGION 7
(1-0) Cedartown (beat Rockmart 27-14)
(1-0) Central-Carroll (beat Redan 36-12)
(1-0) Heritage-Catoosa (beat Ringgold 31-17)
(1-0) Northwest Whitfield (beat Pepperell 46-17)
(1-0) Sonoraville (beat Pickens 27-16)
(1-0) Southeast Whitfield (beat Coosa 14-7)
REGION 8
(0-1) Cedar Shoals (lost 40-0 to Clarke Central)
(0-1) Cherokee Bluff (lost 38-23 to Kell)
(0-1) Chestatee (lost 63-13 to Hebron Christian)
(0-0) East Forsyth (BYE)
(1-0) East Hall (beat West hall 19-14)
(1-0) Madison County (beat Franklin County 35-6)
(0-1) North Hall (lost 35-16 to White County)
(1-0) North Oconee (beat Oconee County 16-13)
(1-0) Walnut Grove (beat Jasper County 30-0)
(0-1) Johnson-Gainesville (lost 41-20 to Banks County)
(0-1) Seckinger (lost 60-0 to Peachtree Ridge)
