Staff Report
MILLEDGEVILLE — If balance is what Ware County is looking for in its offense, there were no complaints after Friday night’s 41-3 rout of Baldwin.
The Gators (2-0) ran for 216 yards and passed for 213 to cruise to their second win in as many games before a key matchup this week with defending Class AAAA champion Benedictine in Memorial Stadium.
Junior running back Dea’Jeaun Dennis accounted for 123 of the yards on the ground in nine carries with a touchdown while sophomore R.J. Boyd added 82 yards and two scores on six carries.
Quarterback Niko Smith connected on 12-of-15 passes for 182 yards and two scores for Ware County, ranked fifth in Class AAAAA. Both of the junior’s touchdown passes went to senior Jarvis Hayes covering 79 and 25 yards.
“He’s doing all the things we need him to do,” Ware County head coach Jason Strickland said of Smith, a transfer from Yulee (Fla.) High School.
Sophomores Lee Hooks and Cole Cox also saw action behind Smith.
“Any of those three guys can help us win football games,” stated Strickland of the quarterbacks.
Ware County’s defense was solid to back the offense, recording 13 plays with negative or zero yards while intercepting two passes. Senior L.J. Hall returned one of the picks for a touchdown.
Junior quarterback Solomon Burney accounted for the bulk of Baldwin’s (0-3) 197 total yards, completing 17-of-36 passes for 117 yards. Running back Micah Welch added 58 yards on 13 carries.
After Ware County forced the Braves to punt on their first possession, Smith and Hayes connected on their first scoring pass less than a minute later.
Starting at the Gators’ seven, Dennis ripped off 14 yards on the first play before Smith hit Hayes around midfield in man coverage. The senior outran the Baldwin defender to the end zone completing the 79-yard scoring aerial. Brody Hall was wide on the conversion kick for a 6-0 lead.
Following another stop, Ware County moved 72 yards in nine plays with the Smith-to-Hayes connection capping the march with their second touchdown, this one of 25 yards, converting on a fourth-and-8 play on a post pattern. William Bates added the first of his four extra points for a 13-0 lead at the end of the quarter.
Baldwin countered with its only point-producing possession, scoring on Dyson’s Sallad’s 27-yard field goal early in the second quarter to end a 12-play, 59-yard drive. The Braves settled for the kick after having first and goal at the Ware County nine.
Baldwin picked up three yards on first down before a pair of incomplete passes, sandwiched around a false start, left the Braves with fourth-and-goal from the 11.
It only took two plays for the Gators to negate that score. After Smith hit Trey Orange on a four-yard pass, Dennis rambled 58 yards to the end zone on the next play capping a two-play, 62-yard possession for a 20-3 cushion.
After forcing another punt, the Gators added to the lead when Boyd powered in on second down from inside the Baldwin one. His score ended a nine-play, 53-yard march with 3:41 left in the half giving Ware County a 27-3 advantage after the Bates’ kick.
The Braves threatened on the final possession of the first half moving to first down at the Ware County 10. However, three straight incompletions — one when defensive back Jaden Peterson raked the ball from the hands of Baldwin’s Baylen Zielinski in the end zone — led to another field goal attempt by Sallad that was blocked.
Hall then came up with the defensive score in the third period after Ware County was stopped on downs. A 9-yard pass from Bates to Javonni Miller on a fake punt from midfield was just short of the first down line.
On the ensuing play, Hall pulled in Burney’s pass that was tipped by linebacker Trey Hargrove and returned it 41 yards for the score. Josue Degadillo added the conversion kick for a 34-3 lead less than three minutes into the second half.
The 31-point margin brought on a running clock in the final quarter, but the Gators weren’t finished scoring.
After taking over at midfield following a bad punt snap on fourth down by the Braves, Ware County closed the scoring on Boyd’s 50-yard gallop that saw the powerful sophomore shake off a couple of tacklers along the way. Bates split the uprights with the PAT for the final point in a 41-3 victory.
