Cordele — Rain, it’s been said, is the great equalizer when it comes to a football game. That’s not the way it turned out Friday night, though, when Class A Turner County found itself no match for Class AAA Crisp.

In a game that started an hour later than scheduled due to lightning delays, the host Cougars dominated their guests statistically and on the scoreboard en route to a  28-0 season-opening victory.

From Crisp’s standpoint, about the only real negative on the nightwas penalties. The Cougars were taxed a whopping 18 times for 125 yards and had a few other penalties declined.

“We’ve got to fix that in a hurry,” said Sean Pender whose debut as Crisp’s new head coach proved successful. “The false starts we had on both sides of the ball concern me most as most of the others were what I consider hustle penalties and I can live with those.

“Other than all the flags and a couple of missed assignments and tackles, our defense played real well as I was really proud to see us get the shutout.

“Offensively, again the main thing we need to do is fix the penalty situation. We also need to execute better in the red zone, sustain our blocks a little longer and learn to finish drives.

“Overall, I was very proud of our kids for playing as hard as they did everything we did wrong is fixable. It was also good to see us have the turnout we did in light of the weather conditions and the late game start.”

Crisp, which during the course of the evening managed to mount an attack balanced between run and pass, got its first score of the season on its second possession of the contest.

Setting up shop at the Rebels’ 38 after recovering a fumble, back-to-back runs of 15 and 19 yards by Van Williams helped move the ball to the Turner 2-yard line where quarterback Trevor Shealy found Michael Paul with a scoring toss. Blake Fine’s PAT made it 7-0 2:16 before the end of the period.

The Rebels then came up with their longest drive of the evening, moving from their own 13 to the Crisp 35 before one of three bad snaps they had in the game resulted in a 19-yard third down loss and forced a punt.

After an exchange of punts, the Cougars turned the ball over on downs at the Turner 36 before getting the break they needed to double their lead to 14-0.

Facing third-and-five from their own 40, the Rebels attempted a pass over the middle where Crisp’s Sherrod Ruff picked it off, raced to the right sidelines and sprinted to the end zone untouched for a 53-yard score. Fine tacked on the PAT 1:41 before halftime.

The home team started the second half with a bang, using D.J. Jackson’s 42-yard kickoff return as the impetus for a six-play scoring drive capped by Jimmy Walker’s 10-yard run up the middle.

Crisp’s defense followed that touchdown up by weathering Turner’s lone serious scoring threat of the night. Luke Soliday’s completions of 34, 10 and 11 yards helped the Rebels drive from their 35 to the Crisp 10 before the drive stalled on a penalty, a 1-yard run and an incomplete pass.

The Cougars then drove from their 14 to the Rebels’ 19 before turning the ball over on downs and then after forcing a punt that Jackson returned 18 yards once more drove to the 19 before yielding possession.

Getting great field position the last time it got its hands on the football as the result of another bad Turner snap and a short Rebel punt, back-up quarterback Stefano Felton led Crisp on its final scoring drive.

It covered 34 yards and required five snaps, the last by Williams on a 7-yard smash that upped his game total to 64 yards on 13 carries. Felton threw to Jontavious Carter for the two-point conversion.

The Cougars will be at home again this Friday, hosting Troup County





Score by Quarters

Turner County 0-0-0-0 — 0

Crisp County 7-7-6-8 — 28

Scoring

First Quarter

2:16 C — Michael Paul 2 pass from Trevor Shealy (Blake Fine kick)

Second Quarter

1:41 C — Sherrod Ruff 53 interception return (Fine kick)

Third Quarter

9:32 C — Jimmy Walker 10 run (kick failed)

Fourth Quarter

2:31 C — Van Williams 7 run (Jontavious Carter pass from Stefano Felton)



Team Statistics

First Downs: T 6, C 19.

Rushes-Yards: T 25-(-11), C 31-109.

Yards Passing: T 98, C 137.

Passes C-A-I: T 9-17-1, C 15-26-0.

Fumbles-Lost: T 2-1, C 0-0.

Punts-Average: T 6-32.3, C 1-37.

Penalties-Yards: T 11-90, C 18-125.



Individual Statistics

Rushing: Turner — Luke Soliday 4-(-9), Adrian Mitchell 5-2, Travis Harris 4-6, Shaquille Foster 6-27,Adarius Boyles 3-5, team 4-(-42 on bad snaps); Crisp — Shealy 8-24, Williams 13-64, Felton 2-(-6), D.J. Jackson 2-(-7), Walker 6-34.

Passing: Turner — Soliday 9-17-1 98; Crisp — Shealy 14-24-0 128, Felton 1-2-0 9.

Receiving: Turner — Harris 3-9, Demarcus Daniels 1-5, Kerrone Smith 3-61, Xavier Thomas 1-10, Boyles 1-13; Crisp — Williams 3-42, Jackson 1-10, Jontavious Carter 5-29, Luke Whitman 4-37, Paul 2-19.