TIFTON —
Staff reports
TIFTON — Ahead for entirely the entire night, the Fitzgerald Purple Hurricanes saw the homestanding Brooks County Trojans' Deric Herring break off a 68-yard punt return for a touchdown with 18 seconds left. The end result was a 27-24 victory for the homestanding Trojans in Region 1-AA action.
Brooks scored early in the game on its opening drive.
However, the Hurricanes would immediately answer with a 93-yard kickoff return by Larry Stewart.
Brooks would take the lead again on a late first quarter score.
Fitzgerald would then cut the deficit with a 27-yard field goal from Manuel Sanchez.
Zeke Coley would then close the first half scoring for Fitzgerald with a 16-yard run with 1:34 left in the second quarter.
Fitzgerald would then stretch the lead to 24-14 with a 3-yard run by Deonvis Bonner. with 4:22 left in the third quarter.
However that was the last Fitzgerald score.
Brooks would cut the lead to 24-21 on an 88-yard kickoff return by Herring following the Bonner touchdown.
The No. 2-ranked Trojans would then win the game on the last-second Herring punt return for a touchdown.
The Trojans would manage only 22 yards in the second half on the Fitzgerald defense, so the returns were the difference in the game.
Romarius Gaulden led the Fitzgerald rushers with 70 yards on 12 carries.
Coley would add 57 yards on nine carries, while Ron Swain would pitch in 54 yards on 16 carries.
Fitzgerald will be on the road again Friday at Berrien.
Wilcox 38
Turner 0
TIFTON — The Turner County Rebels flew into Rochelle Friday night with an impressive 5-1 record, but the Wilcox County Patriots would bring Turner back down to Earth with an 38-0 win.
Wilcox’s Makail Grace was the big hero for the Patriots.
The senior quarterback was 24-for-32 passing for 335 yards and four touchdowns. He also had one rushing touchdown, and an interception on defense.
Wilcox held Turner to a combined 64 yards, 56 on the ground and only 8 through the air. The Rebels only completed one of 14 passes on the night.
The Rebels will attempt to rebound Friday against Telfair County.
Irwin 26
Clinch 15
TIFTON — The Irwin County Indians went down to Homerville Friday night and came away with a 26-15 win over the Clinch County Panthers.
It was the first loss for Clinch in Homerville since 2009.
The Inidians got touchdowns from Ryan Peterson, Clay Paulk and Robert Moore in the game.
Irwin had 326 yards rushing in the game.
“It was great to go down to Homerville and beat a great Clinch County team,” said Irwin County Head Coach Jon Lindsey.
Irwin will be back at home Friday against Lanier County.
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