Quarterback Nikao Smith has found a comfort zone with the Ware County offense. The junior passed for 206 yards and five touchdowns Friday night to power the top-ranked Gators to a 44-0 victory against Greenbrier in a Region 1-AAAAA game in Memorial Stadium. Smith’s effort came on 10-of-13 passing in just one half of action as Ware County (7-0 overall, 3-0 region) rolled up a 37-0 cushion at intermission to bring on a running clock for the final two quarters. Veteran Gators observers weren’t sure if the five-touchdown performance was a school record. “He’s at a point now he doesn’t mind communicating with us (coaches) what he feels comfortable with,” Ware County head coach Jason Strickland said of Smith, who had three touchdown passes in the win at Bradwell Institute. “He’s gotten comfortable communicating what he likes and that’s what we’re calling. The other thing is he’s not afraid to make a mistake. Early on he was trying to be perfect on every play. Now he knows he can make a mistake and go back and get it on the next play.” The 6-foot-1, 175-pound Smith connected with Jarvis Hayes for three of the scoring tosses covering 52, 33 and 30 yards. The senior wide receiver, who finished with four catches for 110 yards, scored off three different pass patterns, the last on a screen in which he showcased his athletic ability to avoid defenders and get to the endzone“He wants to throw the ball to all of them (receivers) so they have four touchdowns and 10 receptions,” Strickland said. “We’re not trying to get the ball to certain guys, but he understands there are moments when a play is called you also think about the players and not just the play. We have some pretty talented guys when we get them the ball.” As evidenced by Friday’s statistic sheet. Seven players caught passes for the Gators with D.J. Loriston and Alex Justice getting the other touchdown receptions covering 23 and 38 yards, respectively. Running back R.J. Boyd added the Gators final touchdown on a two-yard run midway through the third period. Kicker William Bates was perfect on six conversion kicks while the Ware County defense added the final points with a safety. The Gators’ defense limited Greenbrier (0-8, 0-3) to 84 yards of offense and only three first downs, the first coming on a penalty with nine minutes left in the first half. The Wolfpack’s lone chance to score came in the game’s final minute when they drove to the Ware County four against the reserves only to miss a 21- yard field goal in an attempt to avert a shutout. “Those young guys were out there with the same passion as the others tokeep that shutout,” Strickland said. “They knew how much it meant to those older guys who were cheering for them on the sidelines.” The Gators scored all the points they needed on the second play of the game with the safety. Blitzing linebacker Trey Hargrove sacked quarterback Ty Jones in the end zone on a second-and-9 play from the 10. Hayes returned the free kick 55 yards to the Greenbrier 25, but Ware County came away empty when Smith was incomplete on a fourth-and-7 pass from the nine. The Gators followed Greenbrier’s ensuing threeand-out with a string of six straight possessions with a touchdown. Smith found Hayes alone in the secondary on a post pattern with 4:08 left in the first quarter for a 9-0 lead. Smith and Loriston connected on a flag route from 23 yards out on the first play after a punt with 1:30left in the quarter for a 16-0 advantage. Trey Orange’s 17-yard punt return led to the score. It took only three plays after another Greenbrier punt for the Gators to score again, this time on the Smith-to-Justice score with 10:45 left in the half. The touchdown off a crossing pattern was the third play of a 60-yard possession extending the lead to 23-0. Four plays and two penalties after Marquan Washington recovered a fumble at the Greenbrier 26, Smith found Hayes in the back of the end zone at the 8:02 mark for 33 yards and a 30-0 lead. The duo finished their big night and the first half romp on the 30-yard screen pass for a score just 2:30 left to widen the margin to 37-0. The Gators got the second half kickoff with backup quarterback Luke Hooks directing the longest drive of the night, a 70-yard, sevenplay possession that Boyd capped on his scoring run with 7:33 left for the final score of the night. After a false start on the first play, Hooks followed with a 41-yard pass to Quinton Orange to key the drive. Greenbrier accumulated the bulk of its total yardage on its final possession of the night, moving from its 28 to the Gators’ four, where it missed the field goal. Two plays — a 30-yard run and a 21-yard pass — accounted for the bulk of the yards on the possession. “The older guys left the field with that shutout because of the way the younger kids played there,” Strickland said. “It was a big challenge for them at halftime.”
