Football - 2008
2008 Class 3-A State Championship
Jackson “Red Devils” vs. Thomson “Bulldogs”
Thomson pulls off the upset
Bulldogs run in and out of Jackson into the 2nd round
Devils Hill Stadium – Jackson, GA
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| Matt Cawthon connects with M. Clark for 2 TD's. |
Tonight’s first round 2008 state of Georgia playoff game between the 10-0 Jackson “Red Devils” versus the 5-5 Thomson “Bulldogs”, wouldn’t be anything less than hard hitting. The game was postponed on Friday due to the rain but there was nothing stopping it from kicking off Saturday. Little is known about the Bulldogs other than losing two straight games prior to the playoffs and their last victory was against the Raiders of West Laurens 42-3. One thing was for sure, the Bulldogs had upset written all over their faces. The Red Devils on the other hand would be led by Juniors QB Matt Cawthan and RB Quint McKibben, who both looked to increase their stats in game one. The winner gets the honor of facing the victor of the Lagrange versus Dougherty first round game. The atmosphere was set and the kickoff would go to the Bulldogs of Thomson.
In the first quarter, sophomore Dontavis Brown would burst up the middle for 22 yards on the first possession for the Bulldogs to put the Red Devils back on their heels. Dontavis would strike again on a 25 yard carry to move the Bulldogs down to the 4 yard line and then punch it in to give Thomson the first score of the game 7-0 with 5:47 to go in the first quarter. The Bulldogs defense would take the field behind sophomore linebacker Anthony Moss, who was all over the field and stopped a big first down on a pass deflection. Unfortunately, Moss couldn’t deflect the one that counted as quarterback Matt Cawthan would hook up with his star wide receiver M Clark from 15 yards out to tie the score at 7 with 1:31 left in the first quarter. After the score the home crowd turned up the
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| Jeremy McGahee turns the corner for the score. |
noise and you could definitely feel the playoff atmosphere taking shape. Both offenses would have costly turnovers each to end the first quarter with the score tied. Jeremy McGahee would fumble for the Bulldogs and Cawthon would throw an interception to Jacoby Crawford.
In the second quarter, the offenses would settle down off the turnovers as the Bulldogs quarterback Brandon Turman would jet around the corner for 35 yards to get things started. The more Turman ran, the more it seemed that he was figuring the Red Devils defense out but the only thing about it they couldn’t figure him out. With 6:34 left in the first half, Brandon would score from 1 yard out on a keeper to move the score 14-7 in favor of the Bulldogs.
In the third quarter, McGahee would redeem himself from the earlier fumble with a score from 7 yards out to move the score to 21-7 with 11:16 left in the game. At this point in the game you could feel the momentum shift and the Red Devils fans gripping the edge of their seats. With 9:52 left in the game, safety Darius Eubanks would come up with a huge interception off of the fake punt to seal the deal for the Bulldogs. Turman would score for the Bulldogs on another keeper from 11 yards out to put things away 28-7 with 3:30 left in the game. As
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| Brandon Turman, "It felt Wonderful!" |
the Red Devils scored one last time to move the score 28-14 on a touchdown pass from Cawthon to Clark with 14 seconds left in the game, the Red Devils fans understood that it would have to be next year.
Thomson would go ahead to pull off the upset, as the Red Devils had no answer for the Bulldogs running attack. It couldn’t be stated any better as Turman put it, “After having a 5-5 season, no one giving us a shot and defeating an undefeated team in the first round, it just feels wonderful.” The Red Devils had a great season finishing 10-1, giving the home town fans hope for a great future. The Bulldogs on the other hand improved their record to 6-5 and moves on to face the Lagrange “Grangers” who moved into the second round after a 28-6 victory over the Dougherty “Trojans”. Look for the test to get harder as the Bulldogs welcome the Grangers to Callaway Stadium for the 6:00 pm kick off. The Grangers have only lost 2 games this season and look to blow pass the Bulldogs into the third round.
Final Score: Thomson 28 Jackson 14
Players of the Game:
Jackson
David Jenkins (LB), Chris Pope (LB), Quint McKibben (RB) & M Clark (WR)
Thomson
Jeremy McGahee (RB), Dexter Sneed (DE), Brandon Turman (QB), Dontavis Brown (RB), James Bonner (RB), Darius Eubanks (DB), Tresvantis Chambliss (DB) Jacoby Crawford (LB), Lonnie Harris Jr. (LB) & Anthony Moss (LB).
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| Give it up for the cheerleaders! |
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