By Ed Hooper
The Valdosta Daily Times
ADEL — The Cook County Hornets clinched the final playoff spot in Region 1-AA with a 27-14 win over the Early County Bobcats Friday night. The win Friday night means it will be the 10th straight season the Hornets have clinched a postseason berth.
“It’s been a big motivation,” said Cook coach Mac Thompson. “We wanted to get to the playoffs for the 10th straight year and in South Georgia that is pretty special.”
The Hornets honored Roy White before the game as they retired his jersey on senior night for the Hornet program. White was killed during spring practice in a passing drill when he was hit by a teammate.
“You cannot replace a kid like Roy,” said Thompson. “If he was here we would be a better team than what we are. He brought a lot of character to this team, but our guys will bounce back. It’s a part of life and you learn about it in football.”
The Hornets managed 168 yards of offense in the opening half as they held the Bobcats to only 70 yards. The Hornets managed two scores in the opening half; the first came on a Zach Folsom 24-yard touchdown pass to Trey Register and the second came on a 5-yard touchdown run by BJ Henry which gave the Hornets a 14-0 halftime lead.
After both teams swapped punts to start the second half, the Bobcats put together their most impressive drive of the night. The march consisted of 17 plays and went 82 yards as the Bobcats cut the Hornet lead to eight, 14-6.
After struggling offensively in the third quarter the Hornets had a quick answer to the Bobcats’ fourth quarter score as Clifford Miles returned the Bobcat kickoff all the way back to the Bobcat 29-yard line and the Hornets scored five plays later on a Folsom 7-yard touchdown pass which made the score 21-6.
The Bobcats managed a quick score of their own as they scored in just six plays that cut the Hornet lead back down to 7 with just 6:02 left in the fourth quarter.
Folsom had an answer to the Bobcats as he threw his third touchdown pass of the night, second of the fourth quarter, when he found Trey Register for a 28-yard touchdown pass with 3:20 left in the fourth quarter.
“We have about eight seniors on this team and were playing hard and they are learning how to finish games and were learning what we need to be doing,” said Thompson.
The Hornets iced the game when Jeremy Deberry intercepted the Bobcats inside Early territory.
Cook will be on the road next week in the opening round of the state Class AA playoffs.
