The Irwin County Indians were one game away from completing their dream season with a state championship. It truly was a dream season as they defeated neighboring rival Fitzgerald for the first time since 1999. They completed the regular season undefeated and had defeated their opponent in today’s game, Clinch County, en route to that undefeated season. They were actually one quarter away as they took a 13-10 lead into the fourth quarter. But the Clinch County Panthers rallied for 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter en route to the 27-20 victory in the Class A state championship at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
The Indians actually finished with more total yards than the Panthers (280-236) but were careless with the football at times. Officially, they only had two turnovers but they also had two critical mistakes on special teams. The last one was a recovered kickoff by the Panthers early in the fourth quarter after Zach Robbins had tied the game at 13-13 with a 40 yard field goal. After recovering their own kickoff, Clinch County quarterback Tyler Morehead found 6’7 junior receiver Jeremiah Johnson from 20 yards out for the go ahead score. Later in the quarter, Morehead and Johnson hooked up again, this time from 59 yards out on 3rd and 22 to put the Panthers up 27-13. The Indians did score with 1:36 left in the game on a 16 yard touchdown pass from Zach Smith to Javon Stanley but the Indians were unable to successfully complete the onside kick.
Earlier in the game, it seemed like the Indians were in control. They got on the board midway through the first quarter as Jamorri Colton took a screen pass from Smith the distance from 58 yards out to get the Indians on the board. The Panthers would score 10 points in the second quarter to take the lead into the half 10-7. After the break, Jamal Paula would score from 10 yards out to give the Indians the lead again and it seemed all the momentum was on the side of the Indians. But the Panthers, who won their third state championship in four years, got off the deck and battled back.
A big crowd from Ocilla made the trip up to Atlanta to support their team and their school. Nearly 1,500 tickets were sold in Irwin County over the past week.
Junior D.J. Lundy finished the game with 127 yards rushing on 15 carries. There were times where he seemed to be far away the most dominant player on the field. Paulo finished with 65 yards rushing. On defense, senior Davion Pollard capped off a fine playing career as he led the team with 6.5 tackles. The Irwin County defense held UGA commit Trezman Marshall to 24 yards on 10 carries.
Irwin County finishes their season with an overall record of 13-1. This senior class finishes with an overall record of 43-11-1 and berths in three state championship games.
