Sonoraville football players put up solid numbers
In its first year in the 4A classification, the Sonoraville High School football team had a very good season.
The Phoenix won six games, were extremely competitive in the stout Region 7-4A and made the playoffs for the first time in over a decade.
And throughout the season, the players put together some terrific statistics that are indicative of a winning team.
Junior quarterback Jaxon Pate, finished the regular
season as one of the top 4A passers in the state, closing
out with just over 2,000 yards on the season while throwing 21 touchdown passes.
Senior running back Zach Lyles, who did not get a carry in the playoff game against North Oconee but was healthy enough to get on the field, wound up as the fifth leading rusher in the league, picking up over 700 yards on over 100 carries and he scored 10 touchdowns.
And Pate was right him behind in the Region heading into the season finale against Southeast Whitfield, having rushed for 629 yards. That put Pate atop the leader board in the league in all-purpose yards as he finished with nearly 2,700 combined between his passing and throwing.
Senior running back Wyatt Springfield was their tailback in the playoff game against North Oconee and he rushed for just under 100 yards and a touchdown in a solid performance against the Titans.
But between Lyles and Pate, the Phoenix were consistent enough on the ground to be able to throw the football when they wanted/needed to.
And Lyles was one of the 7-4A’s top scorers, notching 16 touchdowns all together to finish third in the Region. And Pate had six more rushing scores.
In the receiving category, the Phoenix didn’t have anyone with huge numbers, other than junior Keegan Townsend averaging 30 yards on his 15 catches, but that was only because Pate used all of his pass catchers and several had very good years.
Tight end Ridge Redd led the team in receptions with
26 for just under 450 yards or an average of more than 15 yards per grab. He also had five touchdown receptions.
Lyles was also lethal with his catching out of the backfield, ending with 24 receptions for 513 yards and five scores. He averaged over 20 yards per catch and his biggest play of the year was a 64-yard touchdown.
Senior Brant Bryant completed his high school career with just over 20 receptions and five touchdowns and he also had an outstanding year defensively, starting every game in the secondary and he finishes his career with nearly 40 starts for the Phoenix.
Going into the last game of the year, Townsend had just 15 catches, but they were of the big-chunk kind where he got behind the defense or was breaking into the open and he turned those 15 grabs into 446 yards or an average of 29.7 yards with each catch. And he is a junior who should be back next year for Sonoraville.
All four of those players were in the top 11 in the 7-4A in receiving, meaning the Sonoraville offense was spreading the wealth around.
Senior Tristan Mullins, who did not play in the North Oconee playoff game, was
second in the Region in tackles, finishing with 115 on the year in nine games. He was second to Cedartown linebacker Eli Barrow, who finished with 130 and now has nearly 150 after the Bulldogs’ first-round playoff game last week.
Mullins was a tackling machine every week, averaging just under 13 a game and securing 90 solo bringdowns by himself.
One of the team’s top priorities defensively next year will be trying to find someone like Mullins, who led the Region 6-3A in 2021 in tackles as a junior as well.
The only other Sonoraville player to be in the top 10 in the 7-4A in tackles was senior linebacker Zach McAfee, who was 10th with 70 tackles. And he too was good at getting people on the ground all by himself, closing with 58 solos.
Senior lineman Dawson Young along with Bryant also had good numbers with Young securing nearly 60 tackles and Bryant had over 50 more. And both did a great job in the open field with Young having 40 solo tackles and Bryant securing 39 more.
Young also led the team in quarterback sacks with six.
In the kicking department, junior Mateo Trullio was one of the best with the PATs, making 26 of his 31 attempts this year.
The Phoenix were 6-5 this year and 3-2 in Region 7-4A.