In a battle of state-ranked teams Friday night in Fitzgerald, the homestanding Purple Hurricanes defeated the Dodge County Indians, 13-6.

In other area football action, the Irwin County Indians defeated the Telfair County Trojans 23-14 in Ocilla.

The game in Fitzgerald was messy as both teams committed a number of penalties and neither team looked sharp. The sloppiness was unexpected as Dodge was ranked sixth in this week’s state Class AA Associated Press poll, and Fitzgerald was ranked fifth.

Jemea Thomas proved to be a big difference for the Hurricanes. The junior had 13 carries for 76 yards, along with two touchdowns, and two catches for 26 yards. He also ended up with the two biggest plays of the game, starting with a blocked kick on Dodge’s point after attempt following the Indians’ one touchdown. He would then recover a fumble on Dodge’s last drive of the game to end any other Indian threats.

In the middle of the fourth quarter, Dodge seemed to get on a little roll. A drive began with an 11-yard pass from Charles Gordon to Phillip Tinsley.

That was followed two plays later by a Gordon 16-yard pass to Cameo Holloway.

That gave Dodge the ball on its 48-yard line.

Three plays later a pass interference penalty gave Dodge the ball on the Fitzgerald 37. That was the deepest penetration for the Indians since their first drive of the game.

That penalty was then followed by a 14-yard pass completion from Gordon to Tinsley down to the Hurricane 23.

Two plays later, Gordon raced 14 yards around the right side for Dodge’s first touchdown.

However, Brian Elkins’ point after was blocked by Thomas and the score was 7-6 with 5:32 left in the game.

Dodge forced a Fitzgerald punt on the Hurricanes’ next possession, but Thomas recovered a Gordon fumble on the drive’s second play .

After Thomas’ fumble recovery, the Hurricanes began their first real drive of the night. The first big play was a 25-yard run by Thomas with 2:52 left in the game that gave Fitzgerald its first first down of the second half.

Thomas would later add a 14-yard run on a third-and-11 play from the Dodge 16.

On the next play, he would score his second touchdown of the night on a two-yard run. A try for two failed, and the score was 13-6 with 1:02 left.