Lee County blasts Hapeville Charter 51-0 in delayed season opener

LEESBURG — After waiting more than 24 hours to play football, Lee County needed all of four plays to score.

That pretty much told the story of the night.

With lightning still flashing across the southern sky beyond Trojan Stadium, the No. 3-ranked Trojans finally kicked off their season Saturday night and promptly dismantled No. 8 Hapeville Charter 51-0.

The game originally was scheduled for Friday night but was postponed because of severe weather. When the teams returned Saturday, lightning delayed the start another hour.

Once they finally turned them loose, Lee County didn’t waste any more time.

Junior Champ Brown took the opening kickoff inside the Hapeville 20, but a penalty wiped out most of the return and pushed the Trojans all the way back to their own 34.

No problem.

Transfer quarterback Cohen Lawson, making his first start for Lee County, immediately connected with Texas A&M commitment Jaden Upshaw on a quick pass toward the sideline. Upshaw broke tackles and turned it into a big gain to the Hapeville 37.

Two running plays went nowhere.

Then Lawson went deep.

Junior Destin Bell slipped behind the Hapeville secondary, Lawson found him in stride and Bell finished off the 41-yard touchdown play that gave the Trojans a 7-0 lead after John Lane’s extra point.

Four plays. Sixty-six yards.

And Lee County was just getting started.

The Trojan defense forced a three-and-out, and the offense went 76 yards on its second possession. Senior Jordyn Bush finished that drive by bursting through the Hapeville defense for a 12-yard touchdown run.

Lawson found Upshaw for the two-point conversion, and it was 15-0.

Hapeville helped set up the next one.

The Hornets failed on a fourth-down pass, giving Lee County the ball at the Hapeville 36. An offsides penalty and a pass-interference call against the Hornets quickly moved the Trojans to the 11.

A Lee County penalty temporarily pushed them backward before Lawson found Upshaw for a 16-yard touchdown.

This time Lawson connected with Amari Weston for the two-point conversion.

Just like that, it was 23-0.

For all the attention surrounding Lee County’s quarterback situation during the preseason, Lawson certainly looked comfortable in his first start.

The transfer completed 14 of 16 passes for 150 yards and two touchdowns. That’s an 87.5% completion rate in his first real game running the Lee County offense.

And when Lawson needed somewhere to put the football, Upshaw was usually the answer.

The senior caught nine passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns, giving the Texas A&M commitment an impressive beginning to his final high school season.

Lee County wasn’t nearly as dependent on the passing game as those numbers might suggest.

Bush ran 10 times for 113 yards and two touchdowns, averaging more than 11 yards per carry. Dominique Ball added 93 yards on 15 attempts as the Trojans showed they have plenty of ways to move the football.

By the time it was over, the only drama left was whether Hapeville could avoid the shutout.

It couldn’t.

Lee County’s defense finished the job, and a matchup of two ranked teams — No. 3 Lee County in Class 6A and No. 8 Hapeville Charter in Class 3A — ended with 51 points on one side of the scoreboard and a zero on the other.

There was a familiar face watching it all from the Lee County sideline.

Former Trojans quarterback Weston Bryan, now at Georgia Southern, returned to Leesburg to visit his old team. Bryan and the Eagles are still two weeks away from opening their season.

The current Trojans don’t have that long to wait for their next test.

Lee County will be back at Trojan Stadium Friday night to face Carol City of Miami. The Chiefs opened their season with an impressive 38-3 victory Friday night.

After waiting an extra day to get the 2026 season started, Lee County is 1-0.

And the Trojans didn’t leave much doubt about it.