Lee County overcomes miscues, edges Mary Persons 21-17

MACON — Mary Persons has a way of sneaking up on opponents. And the Bulldogs nearly took a big one down in the season opener.

In the first game of the season statewide in GHSA competition, Mary Persons kept things close by taking advantage of Lee County’s miscues on special teams. But the Trojans stepped up late, stopping a fourth-down scoring effort by the Bulldogs to start the fourth quarter and driving the length of the field to score the decisive touchdown in a 21-17 Corky Kell Classic victory at Mercer’s Five Star Stadium.

“Mary Persons came out and really outplayed us,” Lee County head coach Dean Fabrizio said. “We made way too many mistakes out there. We had several, several big mistakes on special teams that kept giving them back momentum. But good teams win when they don’t play well, and our kids, I’m proud of them that they were able, even though we didn’t play well, we were able to focus enough at the end and pull out the victory.”

Lee County had more than three times the total offense of Mary Persons, out-gaining the Bulldogs 448-139. But three first-half turnovers on fumbles and a blocked field goal attempt returned for a touchdown kept the Bulldogs right in the contest.

Mary Persons took a 17-14 lead into the fourth quarter, thanks to Alexander Rivera’s 43-yard field goal with 5:14 to go in the third. Things turned, however, on the first play of the fourth quarter when Mary Persons kept its offense on the field on fourth-and-5 at the Lee County 8. The Trojans’ defense broke up JT Hartage’s pass attempt, keeping the game a one-score affair.

The stop proved decisive. Lee County turned the field, driving 92 yards on eight plays, with Nikko Cruz’s 1-yard run with 9:20 to go putting the Trojans up for good.

Mary Persons’ final drive stalled near midfield, and Lee County ran out the final 6:16 for the victory.

“Man, our defense put us in a great situation,” said Cruz, who finished with 90 yards on 19 carries. “They shut them out, and we marched right down the field and closed the game out.”

Lee County’s ball control in the fourth quarter contrasted to the Trojans’ first half, when they put up a lot of yards but also had several miscues on special teams.

The Trojans picked up 290 yards of total offense in the first half. But they also missed two field goals, with the second returned 78 yards by Bralen Harvey for the game’s first score 28 seconds into the second quarter, and also had fumbles on a kickoff and a punt.

“We’ve got to do a lot of things to shore up our special teams play and get guys to play better on that,” Fabrizio said. “We got some guys that did not show up and play well on special teams, but that’s our job as coaches, to get them ready to play.”

A bright spot for Lee County occurred less than a minute after Harvey’s blocked kick return. Stepping in for starter Jase Orndorff, Kyle Toole threw a 75-yard touchdown pass to Josh Asbury (four catches, 144 yards) to quickly tie things up.

Orndorff, who completed 18-of-26 passes for 238 yards with no interceptions, threw a 15-yard scoring pass to Ty Terrell (10 catches, 117 yards) late in the first half. Mary Persons tied it just before halftime when Hartage completed a 30-yard touchdown pass to Deadrek Alford.

“Our guys played hard the whole way, I thought,” said Mary Persons head coach Brian Nelson, whose team lost to Jake Fromm-led Houston County in last year’s Corky Kell. “We just came up a little short.

“A bunch of inexperienced guys (Thursday), but they got a lot of good experience.”

Lee County’s home opener is Aug. 25, when the Trojans host Bainbridge.