TIFTON — TIFTON — The Irwin County Indians earned the third spot out of Region 2-A:A Friday night with a 19-12 win over the Turner County Rebels.
With the victory, the Indians also knocked the Rebels out of a shot at the state Class A football playoffs.
Irwin will now play in the Region 2-A playoffs Friday against the Telfair County Trojans, the No. 2 team out of 2-A:B. Even though Irwin defeated Telfair 23-14 earlier this season in a region crossover game, that playoff game will be played at Telfair County High School in McRae.
Turner needed a win over the Indians to earn a region playoff spot. The Rebels will now close out the regular season at home Friday against Montgomery County, the No. 5 team in Region 2-A:B. Turner defeated Montgomery, 35-14, earlier this season.
Senior Terry Ashley was the difference in the game for Irwin.
Irwin only ran 12 offensive plays in the first half against Turner and on three of those plays fumbled. Ashley was also held to minus-6 yards rushing in the first half.
In the second half, Ashley responded with 187 yards as he ended the game with 29 carries for 181 yards rushing. Ashley also scored all three Irwin touchdowns, two on runs of 6 yards and one on a 3-yard run.
“He was huge for us on both sides of the ball,” Irwin coach John Gamble said.
A little farther up the road in Fitzgerald, the Purple Hurricanes defeated the visiting Cook High Hornets by a 43-14 score.
Fitzgerald’s defense came up big for coach Robby Pruitt’s squad in the game as the vaunted Cook rushing attack only had 84 yards rushing on 26 carries. Juwan Alexander also blocked two Cook punts that were returned for touchdowns.
The Fitzgerald offense had 176 yards rushing on 26 carries and quarterback Brad Taylor was 4-of-10 passing for 44 yards.
Trenton Pruitt led the Hurricanes with eight carries for 131 yards, while Nick Williams also had 11 carries for 91 yards.
The Hurricanes will close out the 2007 regular season on the road next week at Brooks County. A Fitzgerald win would give the Hurricanes the second seed out of Region 1-AA in the state playoffs.
Cook will host Mitchell County in Adel. A win by the Hornets should seal up the fourth seed out of 1-AA for the state playoffs.
Over in Albany, the Worth County Rams had four first-half turnovers, but a tough defense had two goal line stands as Worth knocked off Dougherty High, 22-7, in a Region 1-AAA contest.
“We were led by our defense in that game. They kept us in the ball game,” said Worth head coach Harris Rainbow.
With the victory the Rams hold their fate in their hands as far as the state playoffs are concerned.
The Rams will head back to Albany Friday to face the Westover High Patriots. A win in that game would put the Rams into the state playoffs for the second straight season.
Worth could finish as high as second out of 1-AAA if Dougherty were to beat Monroe. A Monroe win over Dougherty and a Worth win would give the Rams the fourth seed out of 1-AAA.
In the win over Dougherty Worth got strong performances from Robert Span and Buster Jackson.
Span went into the game hobbling and ended up re-injuring his knee in the contest. However he had 134 yards rushing, two touchdowns and two two-point conversions.
“He has only played running back for like four games and has nearly 600 yards rushing now,” Rainbow said of Span.
Jackson edged closer to a 1,000-yard rushing season as he had 142 yards rushing and one touchdown.
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