Wayne County picked up another impressive victory to improve to 2-0 on Friday in a 14-0 win over Brooks County. The Yellow Jackets made waves last season by improving its record from an 0-9 campaign to a 10-3 finish and one of those three losses came to Brooks County last year (39-25). This year, Wayne County entered the game ranked No. 6 in the poll and Brooks County was No. 7 in Class A Division I. The Yellow Jackets led 14-0 at the half before completing the shutout. Matthew Fuller ran for touchdowns of 82 yards and 73 yards to provide for all of the Yellow Jackets’ scoring Wayne County’s next matchup will be against Appling County—the No. 2 ranked team in Class 2A.
Class 4A’s No. 1 ranked team Benedictine cruised to a 42-9 win over Chambers NC. The Cadets got two scoring strikes from Luke Kromenhoek to La’Don Bryant. They led 21-6 after one quarter, 28-9 at halftime and 35-9 going into the fourth. One of the most thrilling matchups in Class 4A came with Pace Academy and Westminster in a cross-region intra-classification showdown. Maddox Crawford scored on a 2-yard quarterback keeper with 43 seconds remaining to lead Pace Academy past Westminster 33-31 in a back-and-forth thriller. The Knights led 21-7 in the first quarter before Westminster quarterback Michael Buhay led a charge by the visitors. Buhay had two touchdown runs — one from 60 yards out — and threw a 55-yard scoring strike to Brand Morgan. The Wildcats took a 28-27 lead in the third quarter on a touchdown run by Wade Penn before extending their advantage to 31-27 in the fourth thanks to a 49-yard field goal from Will Simpson. However, the Knights responded with a winning drive that culminated in Crawford’s touchdown. Pace Academy also got TDs from Zach Logan, Cooper Williams, Terrence Kiel and Jordan Burns. Holy Innocents’, who beat Pace Academy Week 1, scored the first 28 points of the game to overwhelm visiting Riverwood 35-14. The Bears got touchdowns from Zach Jackson and Nicholas Morgan. For Riverwood, Jackson Davis rushed for a 40-yard TD and also tossed a 30-yard scoring strike to Devyn Gipson.
Stephenson picked up another big win to improve to 2-0. The Jaguars opened the year with a 46-20 win over Lithia Springs and added a 54-0 victory over Riverdale—giving Stephenson a 100-20 edge through its first two outings. Visiting Stephenson built a 22-0 lead by the end of the first quarter before extending the margin to 30-0 at halftime and 46-0 going into the fourth. Jayden Johnson and Devin Ingram rushed for touchdowns in support of a dominant defensive performance. In addition to allowing no points, Stephenson scored twice on defense. Jackson Cole returned one of his two fumble recoveries to the end zone and Destin Davies returned an interception 38 yards for a touchdown.
Northwest Whitfield used a dominant second quarter to beat visiting Coahulla Creek 42-7. Chase Ward gave Coahulla Creek an early 7-0 lead with a touchdown run, but it was all Northwest Whitfield the rest of the way. Caden Ramsey scored the Bruins’ first touchdown and then intercepted a pass on the ensuing drive that led to a scoring strike from Gavin Nuckolls to Hudson Gray. Nuckolls finished with 263 passing yards and four touchdowns — a pair to Gray and one apiece to Austin Cooley and Breckin Sirmans. Northwest Whitfield’s Mason Mays capped off the scoring with more than nine minutes remaining in the third quarter with a TD run from three yards out.
Cairo built a 35-0 halftime lead before cruising to a 35-21 road victory over Class 3A Monroe. Cairo led 20-0 by the end of the first quarter thanks to touchdown runs by Juderek Gee-Simmons and K.J. Spence in addition to an 18-yard scoring strike from Gee-Simmons to Jeremiah Williams. Gee-Simmons also threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Corey Baker, while the Syrupmakers tacked on a touchdown run by Eric Swatts. The Golden Tornadoes cut their deficit to 35-21 with six minutes remaining in the game but could not get any closer. The win was significant for Cairo, which was served a tough 38-0 defeat Week 1 against Class 6A No. 8 ranked Thomas County Central.
