Video by Owen Donnelly and Colin Frick
The Clarke Central High School varsity football team defeated Lithia Springs High School in the first round of the state playoffs on Nov. 16.
At 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 16, the Clarke Central High School Gladiators faced off against the Lithia Springs High School Lions in the first round of the AAAAA state playoffs at Billy Henderson Stadium.
The Gladiators scored in the first four minutes of the game, with CCHS varsity quarterback Isaac Ward connecting on a pass to wide receiver Jairus “Nono” Mack on the team’s first drive. This was followed four minutes later by a touchdown from CCHS tight end Chris Johnson. A minute after that, cornerback Tracy Hill returned an interception to the end zone at the eight-minute mark.
While the Gladiators had a strong first quarter, the Lions put up more resistance in the 12 minutes of play that preceded halftime — with CCHS notching three touchdowns to Lions’ two. The Gladiators who put those points on the board were, in order, wide receiver A.J. Jewell, and runningbacks O’Brien Barnett and Will Richardson. Isaac Ward completing a pass to Jewell before handing the ball off to Barnett and Richardson later in the game.
“We were up 21-0 (before) we kind of sputtered there for a little bit,” Ward said. “With really good teams, you can’t do that. They’ll expose that, so you’ve just gotta stay on top of things and (go) pedal to the metal.”
At the start of the second half, the score was 42-14 in favor of the Gladiators. The third quarter continued to see things draw out, with LSHS and CCHS each scoring two touchdowns. Both of the Gladiators’ were recorded by O’Brien Barnett. This left the score 56 to 34 in favor of CCHS at the end of 36 minutes of play.
The game continued to slow down in the fourth quarter, with each team scoring one final touchdown. The Lions scored theirs after a minute of play while wide receiver Jalen Gary scored for the Gladiators with 8:42 left on the clock. This brought the final score to 63 to 34, CCHS on top.
LSHS head football coach Corey Jarvis attributed his team’s performance to the Gladiators’ aggressive style of play, which the Lions could not answer.
“Our kids probably got shocked by the speed of the way they ran their offensive and their physicality and that kind of put us to a point where we had to change some stuff,” Jarvis said. “I feel like we just didn’t play well in the first half, but my hat’s off to Coach Perno and his coaches and his team.”
For his part, CCHS head varsity football coach David Perno contrasted this win with what he hopes to do before next week’s game against Wayne County.
“Everybody was so in awe of us beating Buford (High School), that it took us three, four days, and then they bumped (this game) to Saturday. We just didn’t have a good work week, and we’ll have the weather (that’ll) cooperate this week to get back to work,” Perno said. “And, you know, we’re at home. We’ve been pretty special at home. Hopefully, we can keep that momentum.”
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