The Wayne County Yellow Jackets are halfway home to an undefeated regular season as they posted a 38-7 victory Friday night over rival Appling County at Jaycee Stadium in Jesup.
The Jackets, ranked No. 1 in the Southeast Georgia High School Football Power Poll, are now 5-0 on the season. Wayne has three victories over teams ranked in the power rankings, having knocked off Richmond Hill, Glynn Academy and now Appling which made its debut in the rankings this week in the eighth spot.
The loss dropped the Pirates to 2-3 as they now have lost to Vidalia, Dodge County, which is ranked in Class 2A and Wayne, which is ranked in Class 5A.
The Jackets led Friday’s game just 10-7 at halftime but dominated the second half to pull away from the Pirates.
The star of the show for Wayne in this game was junior quarterback Shamar Taylor who completed 28 of 42 passes for 336 yards and three touchdowns. His touchdown throws were to Ashby Cribb for 4 yards, Ty Anderson for 38 yards and Kaliz Hadley for 12 yards.
Also for the Jackets, Cribb and Trevin Wallace scored on rushing plays.
Presley Cain booted a 28-yard field goal in the first half that made the difference on the scoreboard at the break.
Wayne will play at Bradwell Institute next week while the Pirates will stay on the road to play at Long County.
In other games around Southeast Georgia on Friday night, the results were as follows:
Liberty County 21, Richmond Hill 12
The Panthers held Richmond Hill to just 124 yards of total offense to notch the victory over the Wildcats at Richmond Hill.
The Panthers (3-1) didn’t exactly churn out much yardage either as they were held to only 88 yards rushing after coming into the game averaging more than 300 yards per game on the ground.
Still, Liberty’s workhorse running back, Kris Coleman, made his presence felt as he scored on a 51-yard pass from Dionte Bowens and scored on a 1-yard run in the fourth quarter after the Wildcats had pulled within 14-12 after three quarters.
Coleman finished with 77 yards rushing including 65 in the second half for the Panthers. Bowens threw for 116 yards.
This was the first game for the Wildcats (1-3) without star play-maker Aaron Bedgood who suffered a season-ending knee injury two weeks ago in a game against Camden County.
Jamale Polite ran for a team-high 61 yards and a touchdown for the Wildcats. Anthony Salazar connected for a 28-yard field goal in the third quarter to pull the home team within 14-12.
Shaquan Brooks led Richmond Hill with nine total tackles, while recording a sack and also a tackle for a loss.
Liberty is ranked seventh in the power poll. Richmond Hill is ranked 10th.
Pierce County 42, South Effingham 0
The Bears came off a open week to pound South Effingham on its home field in Ricon Friday night.
Pierce improved to 5-0 with the victory. The Bears, who are ranked third in the power poll, have now posted four straight shutouts while scoring over 40 points for the fourth time in their five games.
Pierce got right to work against the Mustangs, driving for a score on a 16-yard run by Dee Bethea after the Bears received the opening kick.
Bethea would get into the end zone again late in the opening period as he caught a 55-yard pass from Jermaine Brewton to make it 14-0.
John Jones, who ran for 169 yards for the Bears on just eight carries, would put Pierce ahead 21-0 before the half on a 54-yard gallop.
After halftime, Brewton hit Parker Peale for a 13-yard scoring pass and Jones scored again from a yard out following his 42-yard run to the goal line.
With Pierce ahead 35-0, the final quarter was played with a running clock. The Bears did add one last score on a 6-yard run by backup running back L.J. Newton.
For the night, the Bears totaled 480 yards offensively with 343 coming on the ground.
Brewton was 8-of-11 passing for 137 yards while throwing the two TD passes. He also ran for 62 yards.
The Bears will be off again next week before beginning region play Oct. 5 at Brantley County.
Charlton County 35, Turner County 7
In a matchup of ranked teams, the Indians waxed the Rebels to pick up their second region win of the season.
Charlton (4-1) entered the game ranked sixth in the power poll and also sixth in the Class A public school state rankings. Turner came into the game rated 10th in the state. The Rebels fell to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in Region 2-A with the loss.
The Indians opened up a 21-0 lead before halftime and led comfortably at 28-0 going into the final quarter when Turner finally scored to avoid the shutout.
Charlton won’t have long to enjoy this one. The Indians will play at Irwin County, the top-ranked team in Class A public, next Friday night in a huge region showdown.
Berrien 19, Brantley County 6
The Herons are now winless after four games following their loss Friday on the road in Nashville.
Brantley has not played at home yet this season, their first under first-year head coach Geoff Cannon.
Berrien improved to 4-1 with the victory. The Rebels lost their opening game at Irwin County, but have bounced back to win four in a row with one more non-league game to go next week against Cook before they kick off their Region 2-AA schedule.
Brantley will play its home opener next Friday against McIntosh County Academy, which is looking to crack the win column for the first time Saturday night as the Bucs look to pull the upset of state-ranked Calvary Day in the first region game of the season for both squads.
Bradwell Institute 34, Long County 0
Bradwell blitzed Long County as the Tigers recorded the shutout Friday for their second win of the season.
With the win, the Tigers improved 2-3 for the season. They lost their first three games against teams that were ranked in their respective state polls before knocking off Tattnall County last week and beating up on Long this week.
The Blue Tide (0-5) have been shut out three times in five games and have scored only 20 points all season.
Bradwell will host Wayne County next week in its final non-region game.
