THURSDAY PREPS: Edgewood keeps Macon East winless; Julian tops JAG in 'New name' Bowl
Edgewood’s Gabe LeMaster avoids the tackle of Macon East’s Barrett Spaeth in Thursday’s game at Charles P. Storrs Field. (Tim Gayle)
COMBINED REPORTS
ELMORE -- When Macon East running back Thad McKinney broke a pair of tackles on a 55-yard scoring play on the Knights’ second play from scrimmage, it looked for a moment as if the Knights had turned a corner in their disastrous season.
“We talked about all week that ‘5’ (McKinney) is a great player,” Edgewood Academy coach Chad Michael said. “He’s been out a lot this year and he’s finally healthy. He’s a great player and we knew how dangerous he was. We knew he could do that and the first play (he touched the ball) he showed it. Luckily, we made adjustments after that and changed our front and helped us out to stop that play.”
The Knights continued to look as if they could sustain some success, still nursing a 6-0 lead after stopping the Wildcats in the red zone and taking over on downs.
Then the ball was snapped over the quarterback’s head for a safety and Edgewood scored a touchdown four plays later and the Wildcats piled on from there, scoring five unanswered touchdowns for a 35-6 victory on Thursday night in a Class AA Region 1 contest.
“We’ve got momentum, then we snap it over the quarterback’s head for a safety, then give it to them on the 30,” Macon East coach Glynn Lott said. “That was the game. That wasn’t the game, we should have come out in the second half, but instead we came out and laid it on the ground again.
The third-quarter fumble was one of 11 combined fumbles by the team, including two that were lost by the Knights. In addition to bobbled snaps and fumbled exchanges, the Knights drove inside the Edgewood 5-yard line twice and came away empty, while Edgewood made six trips to the red zone and a seventh down to the Macon 22, coming up empty three times.
“We were inside the 20 three times and went backward all three times,” Michael said. “We’ve got to clean those up. We’ve got a big one next week and if we don’t clean those up, we’ll get beat next week.”
Edgewood (2-5) improved to 2-1 in region play and will travel to Hope Hull to face Hooper next week with second place -- and a first-round home playoff game -- on the line next week.
“We knew the first part of the season was a gauntlet,” Michael said. “We ran into some of the best teams in AISA, but our guys have stayed the course. They’ve been working their tails off in practice and they knew it was going to be tough early.
“And it’s going to get tougher. Everybody’s getting better. Hooper is playing really, really good football right now. They’re really confident in what they’re doing. Coach (Marty) Baker is doing a great job with that group right now. Next week is going to be a tough game for us. We can’t screw up next week and expect to win.”
Macon East (0-7) is off to the worst start in school history but can still earn the fourth seed in the region -- and a seventh consecutive trip to the state playoffs -- with a win over Abbeville Christian on Oct. 20.
Gabe LeMaster had 79 yards on 11 carries, running 21 yards on fourth down for the Wildcats’ first touchdown, scoring again on a fourth-down run of 2 yards late in the first half for a 16-6 halftime lead and adding a 12-yard scoring run late in the third quarter for a 22-6 lead.
“He’s a special player,” Michael said. “I wish I had him a couple more years. If we need a big tackle, a big run, a big catch, he’s a playmaker. He’s not real big, but he’s just a football guy.”
Ethan Evans caught a short shanked punt and returned it 55 yards for a touchdown moments after LeMaster’s last touchdown run and Parker Shaw added a 2-yard run late in the game for the final points.
Macon East managed just eight first downs and 138 total yards. Cooper Freeman led the Wildcats with 11 tackles, while Landon Smith had an interception and a fumble recovery.
McKinney led all rushers with 98 yards on 11 carries. The Knights got 14 tackles from Barrett Spaeth and eight from Carter Hopson. Macon East travels to Chambers next Friday.
Julian 34, JAG 8
Quarterback Bryson McGrew threw for two touchdowns and Antwan Barnes added two more scores to lead Percy Julian to its first Class 7A, Region 2 victory of the season.
The Phoenix defeated JAG, 34-8 in front of a sparse crowd at Cramton Bowl on Thursday.
The Phoenix (formerly R.E. Lee) took advantage of three JAG turnovers, two of which led to touchdowns in the game.
Barnes scored twice in the first quarter on 11 and 3-yard runs to give Julian a 14-0 lead. Following a Joshua Whitting interception, Keshun Marbury added a third touchdown early in the second quarter to give the Phoenix a 21-0 lead with 11:50 left in the half.
The Jaguars (formerly Jeff Davis) scored its only points of the game in the second quarter on a Jerome Johnson 9-yard run with 3:29 left.
After a JAG fumble, Julian tacked on another touchdown on the last play of the first half on McGrew’s first touchdown pass to Jacobe Jackson from 16 yards giving the Phoenix a commanding 27-8 lead at the break.
McGrew finished off the scoring on a 14-yard pass to Jayden Hill in the fourth quarter.
Elijah Gross kicked four extra points for the Phoenix.
Julian finished with 177 yards rushing as a team with Barnes leading the way with 67 yards. McGrew had 130 yards passing on 13 of 18 attempts.
The Jaguars created three turnovers with fumble recoveries by Deshaun Jackson and Eric Watson. The JAG offense was held to just 26 yards passing.
Julian (3-3, 1-3) travels to Central-Phenix City next Friday while JAG (0-6, 0-4) plays host to Prattville on Friday.