By Steve Carter/sports editor
FITZGERALD
September 28, 2007 10:31 pm
—
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.
Dodge would go on to fumble the ball on the ensuing kickoff and Fitzgerald recovered to end any other Dodge threats.
In a battle of ranked teams, breaks usually play a big part in the outcome. Dodge got the first break in this game.
Fitzgerald received the opening kickoff and Dodge forced a punt. On the kick, there was a bobble on the snap and Hurricanes’ punter Mauro Mesa was only able to get off a 16-yard kick.
That set up Dodge at the Fitzgerald 42.
After garnering one first down, Gordon hit Scotty Whitten on a 19-yard pass on a third-and-15 play. That gave the Indians the ball first-and-10 at the Hurricane 11.
However, Dodge could get no closer as the Hurricane defense stiffened. The big play was Fitzgerald’s Juwan Alexander stopping Gordon on a third-and-seven play.
That forced a 28-yard field goal attempt by Elkins, which he missed.
With just under 10 minutes left in the first half, Fitzgerald’s Brad Taylor hit R.J. Davis on a 51-yard pass play down to the Dodge 8.
After two penalties for 10 yards and two runs, the Hurricanes had the ball third-and-goal from the 10. A three-yard run by Trenton Pruitt got the ball down to the eight and on the next play Dodge County was called for an offsides penalty.
That made it fourth-and-goal from the three and Fitzgerald responded when Thomas ran the ball in for the touchdown.
Mesa’s point after made the score 7-0 with 7:00 left in the second quarter.
At that point in the second quarter, Dodge had the ball for only one play, a punt to begin the period.
When Dodge got the ball back, the Hurricanes forced a three-and-out as the Indians had to punt on a fourth-and-12 play from their 32.
Fitzgerald took over their 40 and drove down to the Dodge County 10. On a fourth-and-inches play, Fitzgerald’s Larry King was stopped for a three-yard loss by Dodge’s Ezekiel Andrews.
That ended the last scoring threat of the first half.
Fitzgerald dominated the first half in every statistic but the score as the Hurricanes outgained the Indians,175 to 56, in total yardage.
What kept Dodge in the game was eight Fitzgerald penalties for 55 yards.
That advantage continued early in the second half as Dodge got the opening kickoff.
After garnering one first down, Gordon was sacked for a seven-yard loss by Malcom Lundy. Then on a third-and-15, Gordon’s pass attempt to Whitten was broken up by Thomas.
That continued throughout the third quarter as Dodge’s next drive saw the Indians go from first-and-10 at their 30 to fourth-and-22 from their 18.
Fitzgerald went down to the Dodge 40 following the Indian punt. Facing a fourth-and-one, the Hurricanes were penalized for five yards and were forced to punt after lining up to go for it on fourth down.
After the kick, the third ended after two Dodge plays that sent the Indians back five yards. In the third period, Dodge managed -1 yard of total offense. To put that in perspective, Gordon had a nine-yard run to begin the fourth period.
Fitzgerald was not much better in the third quarter as the Hurricanes only had eight yards of total offense.
Gordon ended up with 60 yard passing for the Indians and 26 yards rushing.
The Hurricanes will host Albany High Friday for the school’s homecoming game.
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.