Gordon Lee falls short in its playoff opener on the road
The Gordon Lee Trojans trailed by just seven points at halftime on Saturday night, but saw host WashingtonWilkes use two third-quarter touchdowns to pull away for a 27-7 victory in the opening round of the Class A Public School state playoffs.
The Tigers took a 6-0 lead less than four minutes into the contest as Nick Harkins plowed in from a yard out, though the two-point conversion attempt failed.
Jamarquez Tyson added to the lead at the 7:31 mark of the second quarter on a 3-yard touchdown run. This time the conversion attempt was successful and the Tigers increased their lead to 14-0.
But the Trojans would respond late in the half as Holt Roberts capped a drive with a 4-yard scoring run with 1:06 left to go. Montgomery Kephart’s extra point would pull Gordon Lee to within 14-7 at the break.
Dalen Cobb, WashingtonWilkes’ dual-threat quarterback, broke loose for a 27-yard TD scamper with 7:20 left to play in the third
quarter. Another failed conversion attempt kept the margin at 20-7.
After halting the Trojans on downs, the Tigers would put another drive together. Tyson got his number called on the final play as he scored from 11 yards out.
Cobb would kick the extra point to account for what became the final point of the contest with 37 seconds left in the third.
Cobb finished with eight carries for 96 yards, while adding 136 more on 11 of 16 passing. Tyson carried 15 times for 81 yards, and De’Amonte Grant led all receivers with six catches for 85 yards.
Washington-Wilkes (92) will host Brooks County in the second round of the state playoffs.
Gordon Lee got 85 yards on the ground from Holt Roberts, who carried 27 times. Nate Dunfee had 12 carries for 37 yards and Conner Whitman had 21 yards on six attempts.
Whitman also had 46 yards passing on a 5 for 8 night and was intercepted once. Robert Henson had one catch for 20 yards and Ryan Swaney hauled in two passes for 11 yards.
Gordon Lee closed out the 2021 season with a 5-6 overall record.
Region 6 finished 2-2 against Region 8 on Saturday. In addition to the win by Washington-Wilkes, Lincoln County shut out Mt. Zion, 30-0. However, Bowdon posted a 35-0 blanking of Commerce, while Trion ran past Social Circle, 55-21.
Bowdon will play host to Turner County in the next round, while Trion will be on the road at Wilcox County.