Westover comes up just short against Thomas County Central

THOMASVILLE — Friday night’s matchup between Westover and Thomas County Central wasn’t just senior night for the Yellow Jackets.

It wasn’t just the season finale for the Patriots.

It was a must-win situation for both teams if they wanted to make it to the playoffs. In the end it was Thomas County that punched its ticket to the postseason by defeating Westover 28-27 at Thomas County Stadium.

Westover went down fighting but it came down to a gamble that head coach Octavia Jones doesn’t regret. After a 25-yard touchdown catch by Casey Wilson, the Patriots had the opportunity to tie the game. Westover opted to go for two and were stopped by the Yellow Jackets’ defense.

“Do or die, we were going for the win,” Jones said. “We had nothing to lose, go for the win. We catch the ball, we score and we getting ready to go to Jonesboro next week. No regrets. If I had to do it all over again, I’d call the same play.”

With the victory, Thomas County Central (7-3) earns the No. 4 seed from Region 1-AAAA. Westover’s season ends at 2-7.

Thomas County Central received the ball first and moved down the field with ease. They drove more than 50 yards on their opening drive and would score on a 15-yard run by Tyrice Cloud. After a successful point after, TCC took an early 7-0 lead with 6:11 left in the first half.

Westover would answer right back using Greg Marshall and Traviontae Brown to get the offense moving up the field. They’d score on an 11-yard run and tied the game at seven all with 2:47 left.

Thomas County’s offense clicked in the second quarter, scoring twice more — once on a one-yard run and then on a 19-yard pass hauled in by Noah Harneveous. They put the Patriots in a 21-7 hole with 1:20 left in the half.

With time winding down in the half, Westover had one more chance. Brown caught a short pass and took it nearly 70 yards to the house. They’d make it a one possession game after the PAT and went into the halftime break down 21-14.

“We wanted to keep doing what was working for us,” Jones said he told his team at the half. “We were able to pass a little bit, we just wanted to execute our game plan.”

Westover was able to get stops and move the ball when they needed to, but after forcing a big punt with 4:24 left, Westover would come up short just outside the red zone. Jones said with the exception of winning, his team did everything he asked them to do Friday night.

“We definitely hate for it to end tonight,” he said. “We felt like getting into the playoffs would salvage the season. We didn’t have the type of season we wanted to, but like I said, at the end of the night, I’m really proud of all these guys for coming out and fighting and giving everything they had for this game.”