Apalachee High School became the first Barrow County team to win a game this season on Friday when the Wildcats pounded Madison County High School 45-9.
“It’s just a struggle,” said AHS coach Shane Davis. “We’re in a position we haven’t been in a long time. But what I’ll tell the kids is that we’re in a position we haven’t been in a while, we’re 1-0, and we’re going to try to get to 2-0.”
The Wildcats broke loose offensively Friday with five offensive touchdowns. Three of them came from sophomore Stanley Williams, another from junior Zay Henry and the last came late in the game from sophomore Jody Mathis.
Williams also added a 58-yard punt return for a touchdown to the Wildcats’ effort, bringing him to a total of four touchdowns on the night.
Williams carried the ball 13 times for 135 yards on the ground, Henry had 75 yards on twelve carries and junior Eric Tanner added 72 yards on six carries.
Madison County got the initial lead with a 26-yard field goal off the foot of sophomore Joey Sandres with 6:34 left in the first quarter, but that would be the only lead the Red Raiders had throughout the night.
Apalachee answered on its next drive with Williams scoring from nine yards out, capping off a 12-play, 64-yard drive to take the lead 7-3. After a three-and-out for Madison County on its next drive, the Wildcats scored once again on a 41-yard touchdown run by Williams, pushing their lead to 14-3 with 6:29 left in the second quarter.
“We changed the offensive line coming into this game,” Williams said. “We came out and played great tonight. We came out after them and got the win.”
Madison County only found the end zone one time throughout the night, coming on a one-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback Trey Burton. The touchdown came right before halftime and capped off a long 16-play, 74 yard drive.
It was the only drive in which Madison had success moving the ball down the field. Apalachee held Madison’s standout quarterback Burton to only 53 yards on the ground.
“I think three weeks in a row we have played great defensively,” said Davis. “When you’re playing Madison County, you have to prepare for a lot of different stuff so I am proud of our kids.”
The Wildcats defense forced four turnovers on the night. One came on downs along with two fumbles and a late interception by senior James Landing. Junior Johnny Thompson also had two sacks.
Madison County fumbled the ball on its first possession of the second half, giving the Wildcats the ball at the Red Raiders 32-yard line.
AHS then needed just one play when Williams raced 32 yards for the score, his third touchdown of the game. This time the offense spread out with four wide receivers and Williams was alone in the back field. The sophomore broke through the line as he hit a crease and went left for an exciting touchdown.
The Wildcats then forced another three-and-out and got the ball back, although the offense never took the field. The Red Raiders punted the ball to Williams who received it at his own 42-yard line. After getting past the first two defenders, he went towards the left sideline and found himself in a tight spot. After breaking a few tackles, he hit a little seam and raced past everyone for the touchdown.
The touchdown was 58 yards in total and gave the Wildcats a commanding 31-9 lead.
Henry added a touchdown to the Wildcats’ total when he scored from two yards out. It finished off a short 36-yard drive where Henry had four of his carries for 27 yards.
“The offensive line did real good, they’ve been working hard in practice and they did real good picking up their blocks,” Henry said after the game.
Apalachee got its final touchdown with just over five minutes left in the game when sophomore Jody Mathis scored on a broken play that saw the ball snapped over his head, Mathis recovered the ball and made a few defenders miss on his way to score a 20 yard touchdown.
After four games with tough losses, the Wildcats picked up their first win of the season. Their next contest is against the struggling Bulldogs of Rockdale County High School, who have also only won one game so far this season.
“We just have to come out and play like we played tonight,” said Williams. “We have to come out and play hard, take care of the ball on offense and get stops on defense.”
