The St. Pius Golden Lions scored a significant win on Friday night and it may be enough to boost them back into the state rankings.
St. Pius defeated Catholic-school rival and No. 4-ranked Blessed Trinity 24-17. It was the second straight win for coach Chad Garrison’s team against a ranked opponent – the Golden Lions beat Class 3A No. 5 Westminster a week earlier – and ended a seven-game losing streak against Blessed Trinity.
“I think our kids have done a great job responding to a difficult game the first week (a loss to Flowery Branch) and have continued to work,” Garrison said. “Last week’s win against Westminster was a great tone-setter for us because we handled some adversity … the weather and we had three turnovers.”
But St. Pius did not turn the ball over against Blessed Trinity. They caused two fumbles and recovered a muffed punt return.
“We’re taking better care of the ball, staying on our blocks better,” Garrison said. “Offensively, we executed better, which is something we’ve always got to be able to do.”
Losses by No. 6 Starr’s Mill and No. 9 Eastside is likely to allow a couple of new teams to enter the state rankings. Starr’s Mill lost a 21-14 decision to Union Grove and Eastside was beaten 24-7 by rival Newton.
The rest of the top 10 held its own.
No. 2 Ware County (3-0) beat Baldwin 41-20 as Thomas Castellanos threw for three touchdowns and ran for another. He fired a 34-yarder to Jarvis Hayes, a 22-yarder to Dakari Coachman and a 35-yarder to Kasal Jones and ran for a 10-yard score. Cartevious Norton added a 16-yard run and Henry Bates kicked a pair of field goals.
No. 3 Coffee (2-0) turned back Houston County 34-10 thanks largely to a pair of interceptions by Anthony Paulk that were returned 74 and 13 yards for touchdowns. Quarterback Justin Swords threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Matthew Adams and ran for an 11-yard touchdown. David Vaughn added field goals of 55 and 45 yards.
No. 5 Creekside (2-0) had a significant 27-20 win over Class 6A No. 3 rival Westlake. Creekside quarterback Nyqua Lett produced two scoring plays in the second half, a 15-yard touchdown run and a 12-yard pass to Derrick White that proved to be the game-winner. Kamauri Davis and Cameron Burch also ran for touchdowns for the Seminoles.
No. 10 Woodward Academy knocked off Class 4A No. 2 Marist 14-9 in a battle between two old rivals. The War Eagles are off to a 3-0 start and broke a two-game losing streak to Marist. Damari Alston ran for a touchdown and Jalen Woods threw a 48-yard touchdown pass to Christian Harrison with 43 seconds left for the dramatic win.
Union Grove jumped on No. 6 Starr’s Mill for 21 first-half points. Cain Dylan and Dechavion Williams scored on runs and Quinton Griffin added a 35-yard pick-six. Starr’s Mill scored two minutes left to draw within a touchdown, but Union Grove recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock.
No. 1 Warner Robins had the week off and returns next week to face rival Northside. Calhoun and Cartersville both had their games cancelled because of COVID.
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