Local football briefs

October 06, 2007 12:19 am

— Tiftarea loses on road
The Tiftarea Academy Panthers football team fell on the road Friday 37-14 to the Mount de Sales Cavaliers.
“They had a tremendous amount of speed and it was hard for us to contain it,” said Tiftarea head coach Marvin Barton.
The Cavaliers scored on the opening drive of the game and led 14-0 early before Tiftarea got on the board with a scoring run by Chad Bowen. The Cavaliers scored again to make the score 21-7 at the half.
The Panthers cut the lead to 21-14 early in the third quarter on a run by Thomas Ganas, but it would be the last time Tiftarea scored on the evening.
“We got some of the rust knocked off us, I guess,” said Barton.
He said that his team would just need to improve on its mistakes to get back on the winning track.

Fitzgerald dominates
The Fitzgerald Purple Hurricanes football team remained undefeated Friday at home with a 47-6 thrashing of the Albany Indians.
Fitzgerald used a balanced attack to outgain Albany 261 to 130. The Hurricanes were led by Jamea Thomas, who ran for 79 yards on five carries with a score and also scored on a 75-yard kick return.
The Canes got on the board first with a 6-yard pass from Brad Taylor to R.J. Davis. Mauro Meza added the extra point, and Fitzgerald led 7-0 with 10:14 left in the first quarter. Less than a minute later, Trenton Pruitt scored on an 8-yard run and Meza’s kick made the score 14-0.
Fitzgerald’s Jeffrey Baker scored on the first play of the second quarter on a 1-yard run. Meza added an extra point, and Fitzgerald led by 21. Only seconds later, Ward Massey extended the score again with a 6-yard fumble recovery. Meza’s kick made the score 28-0.
With 10:07 left in the second, Albany finally got on the board with a 67-yard run by Barry Diamond. The extra point kick failed.
Thomas added a touchdown run of 15 yards with 4:37 left in the first half. A two-point pass attempt was no good, and the Canes led 34-6.
With only 11 seconds gone from the third quarter, Thomas scored on his 75-yard return. The kick failed, and Fitzgerald held a 40-6 advantage. Fitzgerald’s final score came on a 13-yard run by Larry King with 2:35 left in the third. Meza added the kick for the final 47-6 lead.

Indians fall to Wilcox
ROCHELLE — The Indians got a sound thumping Friday night from the Wilcox County Patriots, who held the Irwin County offense to under 150 total yards on the night.
Wilcox dominated early and often, scoring the games first touchdown with 55 seconds left in the first quarter on a 5-yard run by Deauntay Legrier. The two-point conversion would fail, leaving the score 6-0 at the end of the first period.
With 45 seconds left in the half, Legrier would extend the Patriot lead by 6 after a 1-yard run. Another two-point conversion would fail, leaving the score 12-0 at the half.
But as Irwin Coach John Gamble would say after the game, the turning point of the game occured on Wilcox’s first drive of the second half on a halfback pass from reserve quarterback Nick Marshall to Willie Gibson. The 60-yard thump, extended the Patriot lead to 18-0 with 11:38 left in the quarter.
With 8:19 left in the 3rd, Wilcox’s David Grace scampered into the end zone from 9 yards out. A Nate Moorhouse kick made the score 25-0.
Irwin would finally find the end zone with 2:59 left in the 3rd quarter when Terry Ashley plowed into the endzone on a 3-yard run. A two-point conversion attempt failed, making the score 25-6.
Wilcox’s third touchdown of the quarter came with 40 seconds left when Rashad Martin scored on a 26-yard pass from Lorenzo Dennard. A Moorhouse kick was good, making the score 32-6.
With 10:20 left in the fourth, Wilcox’s Antonio Marshall caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from Dennard for a touchdown. The point after attempt failed.
The Patriots’ final touchdown came with 7:53 left in the final quarter when Breon Porter ran it in from eight yards. The kick would fail, making the final score 44-6.
The Patriots shut down the Irwin passing game, limiting Clint Paulk to 2-of-11 passing for nine yards and an interception.
On the ground, the Indians didn’t fair much better going 132 yards on 42 rushing attempts with five fumbles with three lost.
“They have a lot better team than we do,” Gamble said. “They made some great plays, in particular, three great catches when we had kids all over them.”
Wilcox rumbled for 434 total yards including 284 yards through the air. With the win, the Patriots move to 6-0 and will head to Ashburn next week to take on the Turner County Rebels.
Irwin will take on Hawkinsville next week.