Merry Acres Middle football team runs past Crisp County Middle

ALBANY — The Merry Acres Middle Braves won again Wednesday, this time beating the Cougars of Crisp County Middle 46-20 at Hugh Mills Stadium in the second game of the middle school doubleheader. Albany Middle won the first game 28-0 over Radium Springs.

Montravious Clay scored three touchdowns and Jaden Upshaw score two for the Braves.

The Braves and the Cougars went back and forth in the first half and the Braves led 22-20 at the half, but in the second half the Braves’ defense shut down the Cougars and pulled away.

The first half was all about the big play and Crisp County jumped on the board first with a 78-yard run on the third play from scrimmage. The Braves responded on the ensuing kickoff when Merry Acres’ Upshaw picked up the ball and raced straight up the middle of the field 60 yards for a touchdown. After stopping the Cougars on their next drive, the Braves were getting close again, but Crisp picked off a pass and took the ball 70 yards for another Cougar touchdown.

The Braves scored again on the kickoff. This time Clay picked up the ball at the 40-yard line and danced past the defense 60 yards for six more points. On the extra point, Morgan Williams went around the left side of the line and into the end zone to give the Braves a 20-14 lead.

The Cougars scored again on a fourth and two play that looked like the Braves’ defense was going to hold up, but Crisp managed to get into the end and then with the extra points took a 20-14 lead. But of course, the Braves answered. Alane Brown caught a pass that he took down to the 17-yard line and moments later, Clay had the ball again on a pass and scored from 17 yards out. For the extra point try, a screen pass to Williams went around the right side for two more points and a 22-20 lead at the half.

The Braves struck quickly in the third quarter on a 38-yard run by Williams after two long runs by Upshaw. Quarterback Josiah Franklin threw a pass to Upshaw for the two-point conversion. The Braves defense kept the Cougars bottled up on the next possession and Crisp County went back to punt. The snap was bad and the punter tried to run, but was tackled at the 22-yard line where the Braves took over. On the first play, Franklin threw a strike to Clay for another touchdown. The final touchdown was a 58-yard pass play from Franklin to Upshaw and the two-point conversion went to Williams who scored and made the final 46-20.

Joe Whitfield