PREP FOOTBALL ROUNDUP: Worth County beats Thomas County Central

THOMASVILLE — A tale of two halves nearly led to a storybook ending for Thomas County Central Friday night.

Trailing 28-7 at halftime to Worth County at Thomas County Stadium, the Yellow Jackets scored 21 second-half points and cut the Rams’ lead to 35-28 but failed to recover an onside kick with less than four minutes remaining. Then the Rams’ Justin Hope scored his third touchdown to lock up a 42-28 win.

Lucky for Central, though, the game had no bearing on its postseason berth because the Yellow Jackets and Rams are in separate sub-regions.

The Yellow Jackets of Region 1-AAAA Division A clinched a spot in next week’s region play-in game following last week’s win over Crisp County. Following Friday night’s meaningless loss to the Division B Rams, Central will return to Thomas County Stadium next week to play Westover for a spot in the state playoffs.

The Rams’ wing-T offense shredded the Yellow Jackets. Hope, a running back, paced Worth County with 280 rushing yards and had runs of 66, 60, 46 and 49 yards. He ran successfully right up the middle.

Mitchell County 35, Calhoun County 8

Mitchell scored 35 unanswered points en route to their fourth win of the season. The Eagles (4-5) are 3-1 in Region 1-A play and go on the road to face Randolph-Clay next Friday in the regular-season finale.

The Eagles opened the scoring when Jar’Corius Murray found Jessie Richardson for a 10-yard touchdown pass. It was Richardson’s first touchdown of the year.

“He’s a kid that made every summer workout,” Mitchell coach Larry Cornelius said. “He’s been at every practice and he is a hard worker. It was nice to see him get a touchdown.”

Mitchell was forced to punt just once in the game.

“Running the ball we had a lot of lanes to run and we probably weren’t as aggressive as we could have been,” Cornelius said. “We had a lot of open receivers on play action but we just didn’t hit them, but we were moving the ball tonight.”

The Eagles entered the game ranked No. 22 in the GHSA Region 1-A Power Ratings. The top 16 teams make the playoffs at the end of the season.

Pelham 26, Seminole County 20

Pelham (5-4, 2-3 Region 1-AA) scored an overtime win to keep its playoffs hopes alive on the road in Donalsonville. No further details were available.

Randolph-Clay 55, Terrell County 28

Randolph-Clay threw the Region 1-A race into a four-way tie for first with an upset of Terrell County, who was undefeated in the region. The Greenwave (4-5, 3-1 Region 1-A) will play host to Miller County next week.

Terrell, Miller County, Mitchell County and Randolph-Clay are all tied for first.

Brookwood 37, Westwood 12

The Warriors clinched the No. 3 seed in GISA 3-AAA with the win and finish their regular season with a 3-2 region record and 9-2 overall. They play Heritage School next week on the road in the first-round of the GISA playoffs.

Brookwood amassed 389 total yards in the first half before substitutes went in to close the game. The defense kept Westwood to 96 and limited quarterback Collier Baggett to one completion on 13 attempts.

By contrast, the Wildcats (4-6, 2-4) kept it close with the region’s No. 2 seed Valwood a few weeks ago in a game Boggs and his staff were at.

“It was 14-16 at the half against Valwood, so that’s what they’re’ capable of,” Brookwood coach Shane Boggs said. “We were good in all three phases tonight. You make a bunch of plays and you’re up 37-0 at the half.”

The Wildcats finally found the end zone with seconds left in the third quarter as Baggett cut through for a 10-yard score. He added a 41-yard score later in the game and left Warrior Field with 115 rushing yards on 13 carries with 33 yards on 2-for-15 passing.

Tiftarea 20, Terrell Academy 14

Terrell Academy lost to Tiftarea in its regular-season finale. The Eagles finish at 5-5 overall, 1-5 in GISA Region 3-AAA play.