Football Recap: Stephenson Advances in State Playoffs

By Mark Brock

Cedar Grove, Stephenson and Tucker all came away with first round high school football state playoff wins on a rainy Friday night.

The Class AAAAA No. 1 ranked Tucker Tigers improved to 11-0 on the season with a 35-14 win over Region 8 No. 4 seed Heritage-Conyers (6-5) at Adams Stadium.

Yaquis Shelley opened the game by taking the opening kickoff 99 yards to give the Tigers a quick 7-0 lead. Quarterback Joseph Farrar threw a pair of touchdown passes, one each to Devin Towns and Joseph Ledbetter as the Tigers began to pull way.

Dominick Sanders added an eight yard touchdown run and a game sealing 65 yard interception return for a touchdown. The Tigers advance to the second round to host East Paulding (8-3) at Adams Stadium on Friday night.

Stephenson 27, Flowery Branch 7
Stephenson jumped out to a 10-0 first quarter lead and cruised to a 27-7 victory over the home standing Flowery Branch Falcons to advance to the second round of the Class AAAAA state playoffs.

Khalil Ladler returned an interception for a touchdown and Wisdom Nzidee kicked a field goal for the 10-0 lead.

Dallas Rivers added the first of his two touchdown runs in the second quarter as the Jaguars (9-2) extended the lead to 17-0 at the half. Rivers scored again in the third quarter to push the Jaguars up to a 24-0 advantage. Nzidee added another field goal and the Falcons (7-4) scored a touchdown, but never threatened the Jaguars big lead.

Stephenson’s win puts the Jaguars on the road in Paulding County for the second consecutive season as they travel to North Paulding (10-1) on Friday.

Gainesville 28, M.L. King 14
The Martin Luther King Lions got behind 28-0 early, but kept battling before falling 28-14 to Class AAAAA defending state champion Gainesville on Friday in Gainesville.

A pair of early turnovers by the Lions (7-4) aided the Elephants in taking a 28-0 halftime lead before the Lion defense stood up in the second half to shut down the high flying Gainesville offense in the second half. The Lions cut the lead to 28-14 before the Gainesville defense was able to hold on to defeat the game Lions.

Cedar Grove 22, Elbert Co. 14
The Cedar Grove Saints went on the road to the Granite Bowl and pulled off a four overtime thriller 22-14 over Elbert County to advance to the second round of the Class AAA state playoffs.

The game went into overtime tied 14-14 and went scoreless until the fourth overtime when the Saints (7-4) scored a touchdown and a two-point conversion to take a 22-14 lead with Elbert County (8-3) set to take its turn.

The Saints defense held Elbert County out of the end zone to advance to the second round with a trip to Ringgold (9-2) set for next Friday.

State Playoff Results
Friday, Nov. 15
Class AAAAA
Tucker (11-0) 35, Heritage-Conyers (6-5) 14
Stephenson (9-2) 27, Flowery Branch (7-4) 7
Gainesville (10-1) 28, M.L. King (7-4) 14

Class AAA
Cedar Grove (7-4) 22, Elbert County (8-3) 14

Stephenson High School Football on Patch