TIFTON —
Erik Soliday’s Turner County Rebels have been through a rough patch lately. After a 5-1 start, they have dropped their last three games, including a 27-26 decision to the Irwin County Indians last week. Worse, the Rebels had the lead for most of the game before the Indians scored the game-winning touchdown with only a minute remaining.
“We let one slip away from us,” said Soliday. “Those things happen sometimes.”
The first two quarters of Friday’s game was calm, but erupted into a storm after the half. The Rebels jumped to a 14-0 advantage behind a scoring strike from Luke Soliday in the first to Quan Hillmon and a Mark Lamb run in the second. The Indians would stay quiet until just five seconds remaining when Clay Paulk scored from one yard out to cut the lead in half.
Irwin came out of the gate roaring and tied the game with only 17 seconds gone in the third. They would take their first lead, 21-14, to start the fourth quarter, but Turner refused to go away. Tederick Moore scored, but the two-point conversion failed, leaving them down by one. Turner, though, would keep the momentum going with an onside kick and recovery and then score again at 3:34 on a long run by Soliday. Another conversion attempt missed and they were up 26-21.
Then came the heartbreak. The Indians would race down the field and Paulk would find Ryan Peterson for a 36-yard touchdown with only a minute remaining to put them up by one. Turner would try a Hail Mary, but the pass was intercepted, leaving the Rebels stunned and increasing their losing streak to three.
Soliday had a big game at quarterback Friday, completing 14 of 21 passes for 158 yards and a touchdown and Moore gained 94 on the ground to lead the team.
After eight long weeks and grueling schedule, the Rebels finally get a break Friday night. For Coach Soliday, the chance to rest is welcome.
“It’s been a long season since we started.”
He has no complaints, though, about the break in the schedule coming so late.
“It’s just the way ours fell,” he said.
Fortunately for the coach, this week will be more about preparing for the Clinch County Panthers than having to deal with the bumps and bruises from the season.
“We have no real injuries, just some nagging things,” he said.
Turner is still hanging to playoff hopes, brightened tremendously by the switchover to the power rankings.
If 2012 was last year, Turner would have a difficult road ahead of them. They have three teams ahead of them in the Region 2-A standings - Irwin, Charlton and Wilcox - and are tied in wins with Telfair County. With only one game to go, they would have to beat Clinch County next week and hope for a bunch of losses. With this year’s power rankings, Turner can control their own destiny a bit better, but are still on edge.
In the rankings released this week, the Rebels are No. 17. Their opponent next week, Clinch, is No. 16. The top 16 teams go to the state playoffs.
Clinch hosts the Lanier County Bulldogs Friday. It will be a tall order for Bulldogs. They have had zero success against Clinch, currently owning an 0-14 record and never coming closer than 22 points. That margin, though, was last year and the Panthers are currently dealing with their own three-game losing streak.
Soliday remains optimistic about his squad’s postseason potential. He sees Friday night as an night of narrowing things down.
“Hopefully, we still have a shot.”
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Soliday, Turner Co. rest, watch, wait
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Identity Theft: Do all you can to protect your credit, debit cards
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