Staff Reports

VIENNA — The Dooly County Bobcats dropped their region opener and fell to 1-3 on the season after a 23-6 loss to the Schley County Wildcats this past Friday night.

Dooly’s only points of the night came on a long touchdown run of over 50 yards by Reggie Smith in the first quarter. Schley County then scored 23 unanswered points from there to pick up the road region win over the Bobcats.

Smith was the overall offensive leader in the contest for Dooly County with 11 rushes for 112 yards and the touchdown. He also completed six out 16 passes for 75 yards and one interception. Malik Mcghee caught one of Smith’s passes for a 38-yard pickup, while Shamon Zanders had two catches for 21 yards. Rashad Lucas and Emaje Son each caught a pass in the contest for Dooly as well.

Ra’Quavius Billings was credited with 18 total tackles (eight solo and 10 assists) to lead the Bobcat defense on the night. Zepha Hill was a big contributor as well with 17 total tackles including two for a loss of yards and one sack. Javarese Black finished the night with 13 tackles overall and Son had 10 total. Amarion Almond had five tackles and an interception for the Dooly County defense and Jeff Felton had four tackles and a forced fumble. Jaboris Hicks, Brandon Holmes, Malik Burns and Tatravion Haughabrook all racked up several tackles apiece to help out on defense.

All stats were provided by Maxpreps box scores.

Dooly County will be playing another home game on Friday night looking to snap their current run of three straight losses. The Bobcats will be facing off with long time region rivals, the Macon County Bulldogs (2-2). Macon County opened region 4-A play with a 39-6 win over Taylor County this past Friday night.

This meeting between Dooly and Macon County will be the ninth time the teams have played since 2008, and the 30th meeting all time between the two, according to the records by the Georgia High School Football Historians Association. The Bulldogs have won the last three meetings in the series, including a high scoring 44-36 win in Montezuma during week two last season. This season’s matchup will be a big swing game in the region standings and the GHSA single A playoff power rankings, as the Bobcats are currently ranked 29th and Macon County is just ahead sitting tied with two other schools for the 25th spot. Only the top 24 ranked teams in class A reach the playoffs.

Kickoff between Dooly and Macon County is set for Friday night at 7:30 in Vienna at the Grove.