Knights win with a surprise
Friday night's 8-7 Evans High win at Lakeside all came down to one play.
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Lakeside's Sean Maw is tackled by an Evans defender after getting a first down in the second quarter at Panther Stadium. Evans picked up its first win of the season Friday and put a kink in Lakeside's playoff plans. The Panthers remain tied for the fourth playoff spot in Region 2-AAAA.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
After Evans tied the game on a 1-yard touchdown dive by quarterback Kevin Millward with less than a minute to play in the fourth quarter, Knights head coach Marty Jackson dug into his bag of tricks.
"That's a play we've been working on for three years," Jackson said.
The Knights, trailing by one, set up to kick what would have been the tying extra point. Instead, Evans caught the Lakeside defense off guard as Millward took a direct snap and rolled left before finding James Cullen in the end zone to take a one-point lead and the win.
"We knew we were going for two," Jackson said. "We felt like we could get in."
Jackson's gutsy call paid off and gave Evans their first win of the season. To the Knights, the win meant even more.
"I didn't do too good against Greenbrier," Millward said. "It's really special to get the first win against Lakeside."
The Knights are no strangers to upset wins. Last season, Evans knocked off a heavily favored Laney squad in a similar defensive battle. Jackson was quick to put Friday night's win at Lakeside above any other.
"This is the biggest win since I've been associated with Evans," he said.
Lakeside took control of the game early with an 18-yard touchdown run from senior Chris Drayton. The two teams battled for the next 42 minutes before Evans took the lead for good.
The loss put a kink in Lakeside's playoff run. Coach Randy Hill said he was filing an "officiating report" Tuesday with the Georgia High School Association regarding "the mystery touchdown and illegal two-point conversion."
Greenbrier High School's Reggie Rice gets tackled by an Effingham County player during Greenbrier's 36-33 heartbreaker loss Friday night. The Wolfpack is now 2-3 in region play.
Photo by Valerie Rowell
Despite a 2-3 region record, Lakeside remains tied for the fourth playoff spot in the Region 2-AAAA standings with Greenbrier and Wayne County.
Lakeside (3-5, 2-3) will face Wayne County (4-4, 2-3) on the road this weekend in a must-win game in the Panther's race for the playoffs.
Evans (1-7. 1-4) will play host to Baldwin (5-3, 4-1) Friday night.
Augusta Christian 45,
Ben Lippen 8
Augusta Christian sophomore Nolan Belcher found the end zone twice in the first quarter on the road Friday night. A series of Ben Lippen turnovers allowed the Lions to take a 42-0 lead with 10 minutes left in the first half.
Senior quarterback Lee Banks threw two touchdown passes to Belcher and Josh Whitaker while Kyle Meeks scored twice and Jay Harmon scored once on the ground.
Alden Fisher added a 34 yard field goal in the win.
Augusta Christian (7-1) is ranked No. 2 in the South Carolina Independent Schools Association and will next host third ranked Hammond (8-0) at the Lions Homecoming Game Friday night.
Greenbrier 33,
Effingham County 36
In front of a homecoming crowd, Greenbrier dropped a heartbreaker for the second week in a row with a 36-33 loss to Effingham County.
Greenbrier quarterback Sean Gray capped another impressive performance with a touchdown pass to sophomore Nick Richards to take a Wolfpack 33-29 lead with just over a minute left in the fourth quarter. However, the Greenbrier defense gave up the lead and another region game.
Greenbrier senior Andrew Durham was injured making a tackle in the third quarter of Friday's game and was taken off the field in a stretcher. According to Head Coach Mickey Derrick, Durham did not suffer any permanent injuries but will not return to the football field this season.
With the loss, Greenbrier fell to 2-3 in region play and is tied with Lakeside and Wayne County for fourth in Region 2-AAAA.
Greenbrier (3-5, 2-3) will next travel to Jones County (1-7, 1-4) in a region match.
Harlem 14,
Cross Creek 34
Playing on the road for their playoff lives, Harlem allowed 428 yards of total offense as Cross Creek quarterback Donald Hudson scored three touchdowns and threw two more in Harlem's costly region loss.
The Bulldogs were held to only 97 yards rushing on 23 yards despite touchdown runs from Gabe Greer and Brendan Gray.
Harlem (5-4, 3-2) will take a week off before playing host to Hephzibah (2-6, 1-3) Oct. 28 in the team's final regular-season game.