Turner tries to stop skid against Irwin

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October 25, 2012

Turner tries to stop skid against Irwin

Becky Taylor CNHI The Tifton Gazette Thu Oct 25, 2012, 07:45 PM EDT

TIFTON — Jon Lindsey is excited about tonight’s game between his Irwin County Indians and the Turner County Rebels.

“It’s going to be a doozy,” he said.

He said, though, that he wishes the game was not in Ashburn.

“They play well at home.”

Turner enters the game with a 5-3 record. All of their losses this year have been on the road. If that is not daunting, the Indians have had particular bad luck in Ashburn. The last time they left Hobby Field victorious was in 2000 when they defeated the Rebels, 38-20, in the first round of the state playoffs.

Lindsey offered no bold predictions on how his team would play.

“We have to play to the best of our ability, whatever that ability is.”

Two weeks ago, the game between Turner and Irwin looked to be the one to potentially decide the Region 2-A championship.

The Rebels were 5-1 then, with wins over Class AAAA Crisp County, 6-0, and fellow Region 2-A team and usual powerhouse Charlton County Indians, 38-6.

Since then, the Rebels have dropped two consecutive games to region opponents. They first ran into a healthy Wilcox County and lost, 38-0, and last week dropped a 43-24 decision to a much-improved team of Telfair County Trojans.

“The region’s kind of crazy this year,” said Lindsey.

On the other hand, Lindsey’s team is currently soaring.

After a 1-2 start, Irwin has been on a roll.

They came back from a 27-6 halftime deficit to defeat the Wilkinson County Warriors, 41-34, at Irwinton. Telfair fell, 55-21, before they took a 26-15 final over the Clinch County Panthers in Homerville.

Last week had them jump out to a 37-0 lead against Lanier County before cruising to a 37-19 victory.

“Our kids went out and took care of business,” Lindsey said. “Lanier’s not a bad team.”

The Indians’ hot streak has not gone unnoticed. Lindsey was honored as the Atlanta Falcons Coach of the Week for the win over Wilkinson and this week, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has ranked them as the No. 8 team in Class A.

“I guess that’s good,” he said of the ranking. “That could change at any minute.”

Most importantly, Irwin has moved to near the top of the Class A public school power rankings. They check in at No. 6 this week. Turner is currently hovering on the edge, ranked at No. 16. The top 16 teams make the state tournament.

One more win this year would give the Indians their most since 2007, when the team finished 7-4. Even with the recent skid, Turner is off to their best start in four years. In 2008, Erik Soliday’s Rebels went 10-3, advancing all the way to the state quarterfinals.

Next week sees Turner get a rest before finishing up their regular season against Clinch. Irwin has another huge game on their radar, as Wilcox County makes the trip to Ocilla.

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