Harvey Simpson
Cordele Dispatch
Cochran —
By HARVEY SIMPSON
Dispatch Sports Editor
COCHRAN — Now, that’s more like it.
Such was the thinking of Wilcox High’s coaches and players after the Patriots rebounded from a so-so season-opening showing in a 34-13 win over Miller County to thrash Bleckley County 35-0 Friday night.
“We looked really good especially on defense (four interceptions, two fumble recoveries and a total yield of just 130 yards) where we turned in one of the best performances we’ve had in a long time,” head coach Mark Ledford said.
“I’ve said all along that with the new faces we have on that side of the football it was going to take a little while for them to feel comfortable and get going out there on the field.
“I think they kind of grew up in this one, showing what they’re capable of doing. They kept us in the game until we started clicking on offense where we also wound up having a pretty good night (passing for 224 yards and four scores and rushing for another 41 yards and a TD).
“With our special teams chipping in with another sound performance, we looked really good. It was just a solid performance overall.”
While enduring some overthrown wide open receivers and dropping some passes to boot, Wilcox needed almost an entire quarter to put its first points on the scoreboard.
They came with only 43.8 seconds left in the stanza and were posted on Jamaal Holmes‘ 1-yard plunge that capped a 55-yard, six-play drive set up by A.J. Benjamin’s pass interception. A 32-yard toss from Nick Marshall to Tay Porter accounted for most of the yardage along the way. Patrick McGuinty toed the PAT
The top-ranked Class A Patriots then all but assured themselves a win over their Class AA foe with a three-touchdown salvo in the second period.
The first of them came right after the Patriots had forced the Royals to punt. On first down from his own 32, quarterback Nick Marshall sent Tay Porter streaking down the hash marks and about 15 yards from the goal line hit him in stride on a play covering 68 yards.
Less than 1/2 minutes after that strike, Wilcox struck paydirt again following Benjamin’s recovery of a Royals fumble at the Patriots 45. Right after hitting Michael Denmark for a 24-yard gain, Marshall found Quez Mahoganey in the back corner of the end zone from 18 yards out.
Another Bleckley turnover — this one a pass that Rohan Townsend picked off on a fake punt attempt near midfield — led to the visitors final score in the third quarter. Mahoganey recorded it, leaping over a defender to snare an 18-yard strike from Marshall.
Kept outside Wilcox’s
Please see WILCOX page 2B
20-yard line the entire first half, the Royals made their lone visit of the night there early in the third period when they drove as deep as the Patriots’ 11.
Wilcox’s Marshall then made his presence known on defense, picking off a pass at his 2-yard line and then zig-zagging for what seemed like 150 yards but only actually returning it 70 yards to the Bleckley 19.
At that point, Ledford sent Mikail Grace into the game as a quarterback replacement and he responded by uncorking a 15-yard YD pass to Porter on a slant pattern across the middle of the field. Juan Carrillo’s PAT kick that followed the four Patrick McGuinty made ended the scoring.
“With us going into region (2-A) play starting this week where right off the bat we’ll be a visiting a team (Clinch County) ranked in the top five, It was nice to see us play as well as we did,” Ledford said.
“I really like where we are as a team at this point. I had challenged the kids during the week to have 11 guys playing hard on every down and we got that type effort.
“In playing our first non-wing-T opponent of the year, we tackled much better and were able to be more aggressive. That’s the type effort it’s going to take if we’re to come out on top this Friday in Homerville.”
Score by Quarters
Wilcox County 7-21-7-0 — 35
Bleckley County 0-0-0-0 — 0
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
0:43.8 W —Jamaal Holmes 1 run (Patrick McGuinty kick)
Second Quarter
10:53 W — Tay Porter 68 pass from Nick Marshall (McGuinty kick)
9:30 W — Quez Mahoganey 31 pass from Marshall (McGuinty kick)
1:17 W — Mahoganey 18 pass from Marshall (McGuinty kick)
Third Quarter
7:10 W — Porter 15 pass from Makail Grace (Juan Carrillo kick)
Team Statistics
First Downs: W 10, B 7.
Rushes-Yards: W 21-41, B 31-55.
Yards Passing: W 224, B 75.
Passes C-A-I: W 11-26-1, B 12-28-4.
Fumbles-Lost: W 0-0, B 2-2.
Punts-Average: W 7-37, B 4-35.
Penalties-Yards: W 11-95, B 4-25.
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Wilcox — Holmes 10-19, Jatarius Jackson 4-6, Marshall 1-12, Brandon Lawson 1-6, Rohan Townsend 1-2, Grace 2-(-2), Larry Lyndsey 2-(-2); Bleckley — Unavailable.
Passing: Wilcox — Marshall 8-22-1 198, Grace 3-4-0 26; Bleckley — Unavailable.
Receiving: Wilcox — Porter 3-115, Mahoganey 3-56, Michael Denmark 2-28, Jackson 1-13, Jonathan Howard 1-5, Vidhal Emory 1-7; Bleckley — Unavailable.
