Friday football playoffs roundup

No one saw Whitewater’s 28-21 upset over Class AAAA No. 1 Northside-Warner Robins coming, except maybe the Wildcats themselves.

“Nobody thought we could do it,” Whitewater’s Renaldo Jenkins said. “All week at practice we just kept working hard. We believed in ourselves.”

Josh Clemons scored three times in the first quarter Friday night and ran for 211 yards on 32 carries en route to the biggest upset of the postseason’s first round. Taylor Stanford also caught a touchdown to give the visiting Wildcats (9-2) a 28-0 lead after one quarter.

Northside scored a late touchdown in the third quarter and pulled within a score with 3:25 to go, but never saw the ball again.

Atlanta/Southside

Westminster 10, North Oconee 7: Khamal Brown returned an interception 54 yards to set up Westminster’s game-winning field goal by Jeremy Godsell from 29 yards with just over one minute remaining. Brown also scored on a 35-yard reception to lead the host Wildcats (8-3) past North Oconee (9-2).

Woodward Academy 18, Ridgeland 10: The visiting War Eagles (10-1) surprised Ridgeland (9-2) by jumping out to a 15-0 halftime lead. Quarterback Andrew Adams ran for two 1-yard touchdowns in the first half. Woodward sealed the game with a third-down sack in War Eagle territory in the last minute.

Lincoln County 49, Pace Academy 6: Host Lincoln County (9-2) scored 35 unanswered points en route to a dominant win over Pace Academy (9-2). Craig Jones rushed for two touchdowns, including a 90-yarder as the first-half clock expired.

Cobb

Chattahoochee 42, Pope 14: Chattahoochee got four passing touchdowns from quarterback Timmy Byerly.

Chattahoochee (11-0), hosting a playoff game for the first time since 2003, sprinted to a 21-0 lead at halftime. The Cougars started with a 25-yard touchdown pass from Byerly to Kane Whitehurst after Pope failed to convert a fourth down on its first possession. Byerly and Whitehurst hooked up for two more scoring passes from 5 and 35 yards out. Whitehurst, also a safety on defense, helped set himself up for his second touchdown catch when he stopped a Greyhound drive with an interception in the second quarter.

Pope (7-4) got two third-quarter touchdowns from quarterback Holland Frost, who ran 4 yards for a score and hit Garrett Brown on a 4-yard pass. Chattahoochee capped off the scoring with a 55-yard pass from Byerly to Josh Gregory in the fourth quarter.

McEachern 31, East Coweta 19: Dondre Pernell accounted for 237 all purpose yards and three touchdowns to pace the hosts (10-1). Trailing 24-7 in the fourth, big plays from quarterback Zach Hutcheson helped East Coweta (7-4) pull within five, but Marquis Roberts iced it with a 1-yard run with two minutes left.

Gwinnett

Brookwood 44, Alpharetta 13: Junior running back Nick Tompkins ran for touchdowns of 13 and 43 yards in the first half to put host Brookwood (10-1) over Alpharetta (6-5). Eric Yang added three field goals for the Broncos, two longer than 40 yards.

Buford, 52 Hart Co. 22: Dominique Swope scored on runs of 21 and 48 yards in the first quarter for Buford (11-1) and the visiting Bulldogs (6-5) never recovered. Eric Barr scored on an 82-yard run in the second en route to a 38-0 halftime lead. Seon Jones and Andrew Sciara added scores.

GAC 49, Fannin County 14: The visiting Spartans dominated Fannin County (6-5) behind 269 rushing yards. GAC (9-2) used four total touchdowns from Kyle Scales, including three on the ground. David Harber had two interceptions and returned one 43 yards for a score.

Mill Creek 32, Etowah 7: John Russ passed for two touchdowns and scored on a fourth-down QB sneak in the third quarter to move fourth-seeded Mill Creek (6-5) past Region 5-AAAAA champion Etowah (9-2) on the road. Devonte Lewis also rushed for a score for the Hawks, who will travel to South Gwinnett for the second round.

North Gwinnett 56, Lassiter 7: The host Bulldogs (11-0) sprinted to a 35-0 halftime lead and coasted from there. Running back Donnie Miles rushed 12 times for 130 yards and three touchdowns, including a 65-yard first-quarter run. C.J. Uzomah accounted for 153 total yards.

Wesleyan 48, Warren County 13: The host Wolves (10-1) led the Screaming Devils (8-3) 27-0 at the half and cruised to a blowout victory. Quarterback Andrew Frerking threw two touchdowns, Zander Yost ran for a score and returned a kickoff 70 yards for another score, and Kyle Karempelis ran for two more touchdowns.

North Fulton

Wilkinson County 34, Holy Innocents’ 30: The host Warriors (9-2) scored with 34 seconds remaining to edge Holy Innocents’ (7-4). The Golden Bears lost despite three touchdown passes from John McKay. Harison Androse scored on 1-yard run for Holy Innocents’ while Howard Joe caught two touchdown passes.