Swainsboro — Taking their final break from the Region 2-A playoff race, Wilcox High’s Patriots went on a Tiger hunt Friday night and during it bagged a Swainsboro High species by a 40-24 score.

With the triumph, coach Mark Ledford’s team improved its report card to 6-2 overall, 3-1 in league play where they’re one game behind the 6-2, 4-0 Irwin County team they’ll visit this Friday.

“It was pretty much a case of two halves as after we came out and played about as well as we can play while dominating the first half, we let them back in it in the second half,” Ledford said.

“In the end, however, I thought our kids handled pretty well a situation in which they were playing in a place they had never seen before and were facing a team they really knew little about.”

Patriot quarterback Makail Grace got the Patriots started off on the right foot when on Wilcox’s first possession he scrambled under pressure and scored on a 26-yard run that capped a 59-yard, five-play drive.

Grace used his arm to get the next visitors’ score, hooking up with A.J. Sailor first for 15 yards and then on a 41-yard touchdown play that ended a 63-yard, five-play march that made it 14-0 after a quarter.

On a 63-yard, 13-snap thrust that represented its longest sustained drive of the evening, Grace again came up big. He first had a 19-yard pass completion on 4th-and-16 from the Tigers’ 49 and on the next play ran for 27 yards to the 3.

After two incompletions and a 5-yard loss pushed the Pats back to the home team’s 8, Grace found Howard in the right corner of the end zone on another fourth-down conversion.

As time wound down in the first half, Wilcox was forced to punt after dropping what should have been a sure TD toss. Swainsboro’s Jemerica Bell ran that kick back 50 yards to the Patriots’ 24.

A 15-year personal foul penalty on the visitors gave the Tigers their only first down before intermission and moved the ball just inside the 10 where the Patriots’ defense stiffened to keep their end zone uncrossed.

Swainsboro saw its hole grow to 26-0 when Wilcox took the second half kickoff and marched 73 yards in five plays for its fourth score of the evening.

Grace, who wound up completing 26 of 32 passes for 333 yards and five touchdowns and running 14 times for 84 yards and a sixth TD, first found Howard for 36 yards. He then hooked up with Josh Jackson on another 36-yarder for the TD.

At that point, the Tigers, who managed just seven total yards of offense in the first half, finally began to get their offense unglued with a 60-yard, four-play scoring march.

Quarterback Deontae Johnson started it with a 35-yard first down option gain and ended it with a 14-yard tote and two-point conversion run that made it 26-8.

It took Wilcox all of 25 seconds to offset that score as Kameon Peavy’s return of the Tigers’ ensuing onsides kick put the ball at the Swainsboro 39. From there, Grace scrambled before dumping off a pass that Howard legged into the end zone.

After forcing a punt, the Patriots threatened to get another score when they drove 55 yards in nine plays before Grace uncorked his only interception of the game at the home team’s 4.

Now facing a tiring Wilcox defense that included several two-way performers, the Tigers went on a 96-yard, three-play drive. Johnson had a 25-yard run before heaving a 71-yard scoring toss to Bell.

With the score now standing a 33-16 in favor of the Patriots, each team added one touchdown to its total in the fourth quarter. Wilcox struck first when Grace’s 20-yard return of an interception ultimately led to his 32-yard TD pass  to Howard.

Swainsboro came right back with a seven-snap, 65-yard scoring drive that ended on a 6-yard run by Bell 6:48 from the finish.

“By having a hand in 38 of our 40 points and doing a good job of capitalizing on what their defensive was giving, Makail obviously wound up having a tremendous night,” Ledford said.

“Defensively, I was a little disappointed that we didn’t put them away when we should have but in the end that unit did a good job of helping us get separation on the scoreboard.

“As a result, we were able to get a good win over a Class AAA team and that should help us in the power rankings that will be used to determine who makes the 16-team state playoff field.”



Score by Quarters

Wilcox County 14-6-13-7 — 40

Swainsboro 0-0-16-8 — 24



Scoring Summary

First Quarter

8:18 W — Makail Grace 26 run (kick failed)

4:34 W — A.J. Sailor 41 pass from Grace (Grace run)

Second Quarter

8:25 W — Jonathan Howard 8 pass from Grace (kick blocked)

Third Quarter

9:52 W — Josh Jackson 36 pass from Grace (kick blocked)

8:02 S — Deontae Johnson 14 run (Johnson run)

7:37 W — Howard 39 pass from Grace (Roberto Carrillo kick)

1:45 S — Jemerico Bell 71 pass from Johnson (Johnson run)

Fourth Quarter

8:29 W — Howard 32 pass from Grace (Carrillo kick)

6:48 S — Bell 6 run (Rico Johnson pass from D. Johnson)



Team Statistics

First Downs: W 19, S 12.

Rushes-Yards: W 28-138, S 37-192.

Yards Passing: W 333, S 82.

Passes C-A-I: W 22-36-1, S 3-12-1.

Fumbles-Lost: W 1-0, S 3-0.

Punts-Average: W 3-29, S 4-31.

Penalties-Yards: W 12-81, S 10-42.



Individual Statistics

   Rushing: Wilcox — Grace 14-84, Maurice Edwards 13-47, Quinn Tisdol 1-7; Swainsboro — D. Johnson 29-170, Bell 7-28, R. Johnson 1-(-6).

 Passing: Wilcox — Grace 22-36-1 333; Swainsboro – D. Johnson 3-12-1 72.

   Receiving: Wilcox — Howard 10-193, Tisdol 3-12, Jackson 2-46, Edwards 4-23, Sailor 2-56, Telly Whitfield 1-3; Swainsboro — Kelvin Peebles 2-11, Bell 1-71.