On Friday, September 26, the Appling County High School Pirates Football team traveled to Fitzgerald to take on the Fitzgerald High School Purple Hurricanes football team. This game was back and forth with both defenses standing strong most of the night, but the Pirates came out on top with a 15-14 win.
The first quarter was scoreless as both defenses came out ready to play. There was a total of three turnovers on downs by both teams in this first quarter, with the Pirates giving up one and Fitzgerald giving up two.
The Pirates were the first to get points on the board early in the second quarter when Alan Ramirez kicked a 40-yard field goal. With 10:02 left in the second quarter the score was 3-0.
The next score would come closer to the end of the quarter. Alan Ramirez kicked a whopping 49-yard field goal. Pirates increased their lead 6-0 with 2:33 left in the first half.
The Purple Hurricanes captured the lead right before the end of the first half on a 20-yard touchdown pass. Their kicker made the PAT, giving them a lead of 6-7 at the end of the half.
During halftime, the Pirate Brigade did an excellent job as always with their halftime performance. This would be their last chance to perform in front of a crowd before their first competition this year, in Pierce County, at the Sound of Silver Competition. Travel over to Pierce County to cheer on the Brigade as they push for Grand Champs at their first competition of the year.
The third quarter was a scoreless quarter as well, with the Pirate defense making a big stop and blocking a 40-yard field goal attempt by the Hurricanes.
Fitzgerald would make their next attempt at scoring points as they run the ball into the endzone for a nine-yard touchdown. The Hurricanes extended their lead 6-14 with 11:23 left in the game after a good PAT.
The Pirates wasted no time closing the score gap on the Purple Hurricanes. After Rett Thomas returned the opening kickoff from the Pirates five-yard line to their own 20-yard line, Jaiden Knight took the ball and ran it into the endzone for an 80-yard touchdown run. The Pirates went for the two-point conversion to try to tie the ball game, but Harrison Hickox’s strong run was stopped just inches from the goal line to make the two-point conversion. The Pirates still trailed 12-14 with 8:45 left in the game.
On the last play of the game, after Jaiden Knight and the offense gave it all they had to get the ball from the Pirates own 12-yard line to get down to the Purple Hurricanes four-yard line.
Alan Ramirez lined up to kick the ball on the last three seconds of the game for a 19-yard walk-off field goal. The Pirate players, Cheerleaders, Band, and fans all exploded with excitement as they watched that ball go through the goal posts for a good field goal to give the Pirates a 15-14 win over the Purple Hurricanes. This was a great win for the Pirates, especially heading into region play next.
The Pirates football team will be off this week and will be back on the road again next week as they travel to Crisp County to open region play against the Cougars.
Still, plenty of football is going on in Appling County this week as the Pirates take off. First, the Middle School Rams Football team will be hosting its conference semi-final game this Wednesday at Jimmy Swain Stadium. Come out and cheer on the Rams as they push for a conference championship and a perfect season. The game is slated to start at 5:00 p.m.
On Thursday, the High School JV football team will host the Fitzgerald Purple Hurricanes at Home before their last game of the season the following week, when they travel to play Brunswick High School. Their games are also slated for 5:00 p.m. Go check out all of these future Pirates play this week. GO PIRATES!
Statistics:
First Downs – ACHS 15; FHS 12
Rushing – ACHS 34/236/1; FHS 34/169/1
Passing – ACHS 5/8/42; FHS 5/7/91/1
Total Yards – ACHS 278; FHS 260
Penalties – ACHS 4/40; FHS 12/107
Individual Statistics:
Passing – Harrison Hickox completed five of eight passes for 42 yards.
Rushing – Jaiden Knight rushed 21 times for 210 yards and one touchdown; Titus Wallace rushed one time for 23 yards; Javechez Johnson rushed one time for 18 yards, Bryson Mickens rushed one time for one yard. Dareon Hood rushed six times for negative two yards, Devonte Poole rushed two times for negative two yards, and Harrison Hickox rushed two times for negative 12 yards.
Receiving – Rett Thomas caught his only pass for 16 yards; Jack Lee Courson caught his only pass for 10 yards. Devonte Poole caught one of four passes thrown to him for nine yards; and Jaiden Knight caught the two passes thrown to him for seven yards.
Defensive Standouts:
Jack Lee Courson had nine tackles; Jaiden Knight had eight tackles; Karson Johnson had six tackles; Titus Wallace and Edwin Burt both had five tackles each; Javeches Johnson had four tackles; Rett Thomas had three tackles; Jaylin Lee, Bryson Mickens, Devonte Poole, and number 47 (The News-Banner does not have a name for a number 47 on any of the rosters we currently have) all had two tackles each; and Deondre Mims, Dareon Hood, and Cameron George all had one tackle each.
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