Ware County head coach Jason Strickland believes his top-ranked Gators are progressing toward peak performance.
Jones County likely wouldn’t argue that after absorbing a 55-13 defeat Saturday night in Memorial Stadium in the first round of the GHSA Class AAAAA playoffs.
The victory was the Gators’ 16th consecutive in the opening round dating back to 2007. The 55 points was the second-most Ware County has ever scored in 62 state playoff games dating back to 1960. Only a 56-point outing against Douglas County in 2003 stands above Friday’s outburst.
The Region 2 fourth-seed Greyhounds (6-5) played the Region 1 champions on fairly even terms early before being swamped under by a wave of points in the final three quarters.
Ware County (10-0) outscored the visitors 41-6 to bring on a running clock early in the final period with its final touchdown.
“I really feel like we’re hitting our peak,” said Strickland, whose team meets Region 4 runner-up Chamblee at home Friday night in the second round. “We have a short turnaround to try to keep getting better.”
Chamblee (8-2) advanced with a 61-13 rout of Region 3 third-seed McIntosh.
Coaches always are looking for perfection, but there was an awful lot to like about Ware County’s effort in the playoff opener. The Gators had a balanced offense —212 yards rushing, 161 passing — intercepted three passes and had a special teams touchdown.
More than a third of the Greyhounds’ 342 yards came on two plays in the second half after the issue already was decided.
“I never would’ve guessed we’d hold that team to that few points, no way,” Strickland said. “Hold them to 13 points is pretty impressive. A lot of guys contributed to this win.”
• Senior running back Dae’Jeaun Dennis ran 19 times for 150 yards and two touchdowns.
• Junior quarterback Nikao Smith was 16-for-26 passing for 161 yards with two TDs and two interceptions.
“Nikao was really good. He made some impressive throws,” Strickland said. “He took some big hits and was able to shake off a couple of mistakes.”
• Dewayne Birden, C.J. Johnson and K.J. Hall had interceptions.
• Alex Justice returned a punt 91 yards for a touchdown.
• William Bates kicked two field goals and seven extra points.
“How about Alex Justice,” Strickland said of the shifty senior, who picked his way through the first wave of the Jones County coverage unit before breaking into the open near midfield. “A great effort.”
Receivers Jarvis Hayes and D.J. Loriston teamed with Smith on the passing touchdowns while running back R.J.Boyd added the other Ware County touchdown.
Quarterback Judd Anderson (16-of-31, three interceptions, 240 yards) accounted for both touchdowns for Jones County on passes to Javious Bond and Tyler Stewart.
Ware County was never out of the lead after Dennis scored his first touchdown on a one-yard run from a direct snap with 8:14 left in the first quarter to cap a 12-play, 80-yard drive.
After an exchange of punts, Anderson and Bond connected on an 11-yard pass to finish a 10-play, 75-yard possession to get the Greyhounds even at 7-all after Brendan Waters’ conversion kick at the 1:58 mark.
It was a short-lived tie as K.J. Baker set the Gators up at the Jones County 25 with a 56-yard kick return. Three plays and a false start penalty later, Boyd scored on a 13-yard run, and Ware County had the lead for good at 14-7 with 46 seconds left in the period.
The Gators stretched the lead to 21-7 early in the second quarter on a nine-yard run by Dennis.
After Anderson and Smith suffered interceptions on three of the game’s next five possessions, Ware County pushed the cushion to 24-7 at intermission on a 28-yard field goal by Bates just 13 seconds before intermission.
The Gators sealed the issue with 17 points in the first half of the third quarter with Justice’s punt return starting the surge.
After the punt sailed longer than he expected, Justice retreated to pick up the bouncing kick before picking his way through defenders to get to midfield. He was able to elude the final man when Baker sprinted ahead to provide a shield block around the Jones County 20 extending the lead to 34-7 with 10:16 on the clock.
On the first play after the kickoff, Johnson intercepted Anderson, who was under heavy pressure, for a first down at the Greyhounds’ 25. Bates converted the linebacker’s theft into points with a 34-yard field goal to opening up a 37-7 advantage with 7:52 left in the third quarter.
Jones County got its final points of the night when Anderson got a pass away in the face of a heavy rush to Stewart off a crossing route on a third-and-5 play. The 5-foot-9, 165-pound junior, raced untouched to the end zone on the 81-yard catch-and-run slicing the deficit to 37-14 with 6:17 on the clock.
It took the Gators only three plays to get those points back when Smith connected with Hayes on a screen pass for a 35-yard touchdown with 5:45 left in the period as the lead reached 30 points at 44-14.
Another interception, this one by Hall, led to the Gators next touchdown on the first play of the final quarter and a commanding 51-14 advantage.
“We were able to keep getting pressure on the quarterback,” Strickland said of his team’s second-half defensive effort that led to the Greyhounds’ errors and offensive inefficiency.
“We got (Anderson) uncomfortable. You’re not going to trick that head coach and offensive coordinator. They’ve seen everything. You have to trick that 16-year-old quarterback.”
Smith hit a wide open Loriston on a 5-yard fade to open the fourth period. After forcing another punt, Dennis rambled 54 yards for the Gators’ final touchdown to bring on a running clock for the game’s final nine minutes.
