Dougherty falls to Turner County in season opener

ALBANY — Sweat rolled down the forehead of Dougherty High School football coach Corey Joyner and his maroon-colored polo shirt was soaked.

Joyner wasn’t happy after his team broke its postgame huddle and it was obvious.

In the season opener, Dougherty gave up too many big plays, dug itself into a deficit in the early moments of the second half and never recovered in a 34-32 loss to Turner County at Hugh Mills Stadium Thursday night.

Joyner couldn’t be too upset with his team, though. All of Turner County’s touchdowns came on plays of 29 yards or longer, including an 80-yard burst from Tamorrion Terry that allowed the Revels to overcome an early 7-6 deficit.

Turner also added a 63-yard punt return by Ontario Wilson and a back-breaking 29-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jarvis Hall to Wilson in the early minutes of the third quarter after Dougherty had thrown an interception a few plays into its opening drive.

“That’s a very good team … they showed us that last year,” Joyner said of Turner. “No. 1 (Terry), No. 5 (Zach Martin), No. 4 (Hall) and No. 52 (Malik High), those guys are tough. We knew we were going to be in a dogfight. I don’t know his name but No. 1 (Terry), definitely showed us why he is a big-time wide receiver.”

The loss spoiled an excellent performance from Dougherty’s offense. Quarterback Anphrenee Jordan tossed two touchdown passes to Dre’Shon Alston, then he ran for two more scores. Quaddrick Sheddrick added a four-yard touchdown gallop for the Trojans (0-1).

Dougherty unleashed an air raid that not many have seen recently. Jordan was precise and sharp. His short pass over the middle to Alston turned into a 74-yard touchdown late in the first quarter to give Dougherty its first lead at 7-6.

But each time the Trojans grabbed momentum, it seemed Turner found a way to steal it. After Alston’s impressive touchdown catch, the Rebels quickly burned Dougherty’s defense when Terry rumbled 80 yards for a score to make it 13-7.

The two teams matched scores until halftime when Turner led 28-26.

But Demarcus Barnes thwarted Dougherty on its opening possession of the second half, intercepting a pass to kill a promising drive. A few plays later, Hall found Wilson on a 29-yard pass to make it 34-26.

Jordan scored the second of his two touchdowns on a 15-yard run with 8:14 left in the third quarter to cut the deficit to two points. However, that was as close as the Trojans could get.

While Joyner may have been frustrated, he found some positives to dwell upon, especially the way Dougherty threw and caught the ball on offense.

“I have to give credit to Coach (Ronnye) Nelson, he’s done a wonderful job with our offense,” Joyner said. “We’ve got some of those guys like Terrius Whitehead and Henry Whitlock who have been in the program since the ninth-grade. So we expect to be able to sling the ball around with those receivers and a smart quarterback.”