TIFTON — Committing five turnovers, the Fitzgerald Purple Hurricanes tried to beat themselves and the Charlton County Indians Friday night in the second round of the state Class AA football playoffs.
The three turnovers and two interceptions kept Fitzgerald from getting any momentum in the contest and the final result was a 26-12 Charlton win.
With the win, Charlton sets up a big battle in the third round next week against the Buford Wolves. It will be a battle of the two top-ranked teams in the state of Georgia and the winners of the last five state championships in Class AA.
Buford advanced with a 41-0 win over Darlington Friday.
After a scoreless first quarter in the Charlton-Fitzgerald game, Indian quarterback Dexter Haynes broke through for the game’s first touchdown on a 8-yard run with 10:18 left in the second quarter. The point after was good and the score was 7-0 in favor of the homestanding Indians.
It appeared the game would be 7-0 at the half as Fitzgerald had Charlton pinned deep in its own territory late in the second quarter.
But Haynes would give the Indians a 13-0 halftime lead as he broke off an 84-yard touchdown run with just 8 seconds remaining in the first half. The point after try was blocked by Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald would cut into the Charlton advantage with 4:41 left in the third quarter as Jemea Thomas scored on a 3-yard run. A two-point run was unsuccessful, and the score was 13-6 at that point.
Then with 11:29 left in the game, Charlton would score what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown on a 27-yard pass from Haynes to Rishawn Edwards. A two-point run was unsuccessful.
Fitzgerald would score its last touchdown of the season with 3:20 left in the game when quarterback Brad Taylor hit R.J. Davis for a 20-yard scoring pass. The point after was blocked.
Charlton’s Jarquess Nightingale would end the scoring with 2:29 left in the game as he ran 46 yards for a touchdown. After the successful point after, the score was 26-12 in favor of Charlton and that is how the game would end.
Nick Williams led Fitzgerald’s rushers with 56 yards on 11 carries. Thomas added 26 yards on three carries.
Trenton Pruitt would have eight rushes for 22 yards and two pass receptions for 18 yards, while Larry King would rush for 20 yards on five carries.
Taylor was 6-for-12 passing for 65 yards.
Davis had two catches for 29 yards and Keon McCray had two catches for 18 yards.
Individual statistics were not available for the Indians, but Charlton did have 233 yards rushing on 39 carries. The Indians also added 65 yards in passing.
Fitzgerald ends its season with a 10-2 record. Charlton will go into the Buford game next week with an 11-0 mark.
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