Teams perform well in title games
Published 6:23 am Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Southwest Georgia’s Clinch County High School Panthers from Homerville and Colquitt County High School Packers from Moultrie split a pair of Saturday games at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, concluding a weekend of state championship football games in the Georgia High School Association’s five classifications.
The Panthers, sparked by a 41-yard, second-quarter punt return for a touchdown by Damian Magby, defeated the Savannah Christian Raiders 24-14 for the Class A championship.
The Packers dropped a 52-38 thriller to the Brookwood High School Broncos for the Class AAAAA title game.
The Broncos were led by Jamaal Cole, who ran for three touchdowns, and Andre Sims, who had an 87-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
Tevin King of the Packers rushed for 205 yards and his teammate, Tyler Brown, completed 33 of 46 passes for 354 yards and two touchdowns.
On Friday, the Buford High School Wolves downed the Calhoun High School Yellow Jackets 31-24 in the first overtime game in Georgia High School Association championship history to win the Class AA championship. The Chattahoochee High School Cougars downed the Star’s Mill High School Panthers 24-0 to win the Class AAAA championship.
Buford’s win gave it its fourth consecutive state championship. The only other teams to win four consecutive state championships were the 1982 through 1985 West Rome High School teams.
Dominique Swope ran nine yards for a touchdown in overtime to seal the Wolves’ victory.
In the Class AAAA championship game, the Chattahoochee Cougars Tom Byerly had 26 carries for 108 yards and a touchdown and completed 7 of 12 passes for 112 yards.
Zach Laskey, who came into the game with 1,464 rushing yards, had just 19 yards on 10 carries.
On Saturday, the Sandy Creek High School Patriots won the AAA state championship with a 14-7 victory over the Carrollton High School Trojans.
The Patriots, who defeated Clarke Central High School for the 2009 state Class AAAA championship, became only the third team in GHSA to win consecutive championships in different classifications. They built a 14-0 lead on touchdown runs of three and seven yards by Ronnie Bell and Derrick Alexander.
The Trojans’ only touchdown came on a 37-yard pass from A.J. Barge to Josh Barge.