The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lee County 14, Northside-Warner Robins 0
Shaundarious Kimbrough ran for two touchdowns, and defending state champion Lee County recorded its sixth shutout of the season with another stifling defen- sive effort in a 14-0 victory over Northside-Warner Robins in an all-Region 1 Class AAAAAA final Tuesday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The win makes Lee County the first team to win back- to-back championships in the second-highest classifi- cation since Northside did it in 2006 and 2007 and the first to finish 15-0 in a season since Creekside in 2013. The Trojans also are the third consecutive state champi- ons from Region 1-AAAAAA, including Valdosta in 2016.
The loss ended a some- what improbable run through the playoffs for Northside (9-6), which was ranked No. 5 despite a 5-5 regular season and was the only third-place team to reach the finals in any classification.
The fourth consecutive state championship did not come easily for Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy.
The Chargers found them- selves in a strange place at halftime of their title game on Wednesday. They were behind.
It didn’t last long. Two quick scores to open the second half were all ELCA needed to flip the momentum, and the Chargers wound up rolling to a 44-17 win over Athens Academy in the Class A Private final at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The Chargers became only the third team to win four straight championships, joining Buford (2007-10) and West Rome (1982-85).
“This one is a little sweeter,” admitted ELCA coach Jonathan Gess. “Last year we were supposed to win. This year everyone thought we were supposed to win, but we replaced 13 starters off that team, and we only had 13 seniors. This one is sweet for what we were able to do, buckle down and work hard. We really had to fight this year to win.”
This year’s championship was a rematch from last year’s final, which ELCA won 41-3. Only this time it was Athens Academy that jumped out to a 10-0 lead thanks to a 40-yard field goal from James Williams and a 54-yard run from Len Whitehead.
Gess didn’t say much at halftime.
“I prayed a little,” he said. “And I was just hoping we could get a spark, something would happen. We talked to the team about how we’ve got big-time players, and bigtime players have to make big-time plays. You saw that in the second half.”
ELCA took the second-half kick and drove 64 yards in eight plays, with Justin Menard scoring on a 23-yard pass from Brayden Rush.
The Chargers then fueled the momentum when Jack Buckley intercepted a Palmer Bush pass and returned it 27 yards to the Athens 14. Two plays later Rush flipped a pass to Justin Robinson in the left flat, and he beat two players to the corner for a 14-yard touchdown.
“Going into halftime, we talked about how it was only a touchdown and a field goal,” Menard said. “We were going to go in and turn up the game. So we went in and scored two touchdowns.”
After forcing Athens Acad- emy to go three-and-out, the Chargers scored again. Rush threw to Menard, who went 50 yards for a touchdown and a 20-10 lead. In less than seven minutes, ELCA had gone from 10 points behind to 10 points in front.
Rush, one of the ELCA players who has experienced all four championships, said the preparation began a long time ago.
“Every year you start in January and everybody has the same record,” Rush said. “We worked so hard. And it doesn’t matter what class … I think we have the best coach in the state. He makes us better.”
Eagle’s Landing Christian (13-1) finished with 490 yards of total offense, 256 of it com- ing in the second half.
Athens Academy (13-1) was led by Whitehead, who ran 13 times for 104 yards and two touchdowns.
CLASS AA
and highs both came against the Rockmart Yellow Jackets, with the highest point being a 27-6 win to claim the Class AA state championship on Wednesday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The win for the Braves (132), ranked No. 3, was redemption for their 33-0 loss to second-ranked Rockmart (14-1) on Sept. 7 in which they quit at halftime, with lightning triggering game delays they chose not to wait out. That dropped them to 1-2 — their lowest point — which was part of a two-game skid in which they were outscored 66-3, including a 33-3 loss to Hapeville Charter.
They wouldn’t lose another game along the way, claiming Region 5-AA and the first state championship in a program history that dates back to 1972.
“It’s a blessing,” said senior running back Aaron Beasley, a Tennessee commit who had a game-high 147 rushing yards on 31 carries, including two touchdowns. “It started after the semifinals when we found out we were playing Rockmart again.”
The Braves never trailed and were in complete control the entire game, scoring the game’s first 27 points and nearly shutting out a Jackets team that came in averaging 45.8 points. The Jackets brought the score to its final margin on a 21-yard touchdown pass by Dylan Bailey to Juke Boozer with 3:53 remaining.
“The defenseplayed lights out,” said Braves coach Tim Barron, in his 17th season at Heard County. “The kids did a great job and the defensive staff did a wonderful job putting together a game plan, because we struggled against Rockmart the first time we played them.”