Miller Grove 35, Jackson-Atlanta 22
Miller Grove led 14-0 early and then weathered a comeback from Jackson-Atlanta to secure the victory in the opening game of the day at the fifth-annual Great Atlanta Bash at Eddie Henderson Stadium at Midtown in Atlanta Saturday with both programs feeling the stifling heat.
“Pickle juice and Pedialyte,” said Miller Grove coach Melvin Brown, laughing about handling the sweltering conditions at Henderson Stadium. “Half the guys came back to the school right now and cramped up, it was so hot.”
A touchdown run from Ta’Jon Corbitt with 3:27 left in the game extended Miller Grove’s lead to 35-22, putting the game away.
“We had a bad loss last week and I just love the fact that these young men came back and just fault,” Brown said. “He’s such a physical runner, so I knew we would be able to wear them down, especially in the second half.”
Amonte Harden passed to Ali Dargan to give Miller Grove a 7- 0 lead with 5:45 left in the first quarter. Dragan caught the ball on the 21-yard line, found an opening, and rushed 80 yards for the touchdown. Ta’Jon Corbitt scored on a short run with 11:02 left in the first half to extend the Miller Grove margin.
Jackson-Atlanta began its comeback on a short touchdown run from Rashad Harp with 5:20 left in the half. The Jaguars tied the game on a 45-yard pass from Harp to Ricky Dorn with 1:30 left in the first half.
“I just told them to keep fighting,” Brown said of when Jackson tied the game. “The game plan was to get them to the second half. Get them to the second half when they are tired and it’s really hot. Jackson is a really good football team, but we realized they didn’t have much depth. So we got out guys on the field when there was nothing coming off the bench to help Jackson. We continued to lean on them with Ta’Jon and take the shots with Ali and others.”
Miller Grove retook the lead with 7:39 left in the third quarter on a short pass from Harden to Dargan. The Wolverines extended the lead on a 10-yard run from Corbitt with 2:19 left in the third quarter to make it a 28-14 advantage. Facing a fourth-and-four situation, Jackson-Atlanta cut the deficit on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Harp to Jarvis Reed Jr with 11 minutes left in the game.
Douglas County 48, Mays 42
Douglas County trailed 20-7 at the half before controlling each facet of the game in the second half and then hanging on through a Mays comeback to secure the victory over Mays in the second game of the Great Atlanta Bash at Eddie Henderson Stadium in Atlanta
“I just told coach Slaton to not call me anymore, we aren’t playing them anymore,” said Douglas County coach Johnny White, with a smirk. “They just kept fighting, we found a way to win, but we have a lot of things to clean up.”
Douglas County led 42-20 entering the fourth quarter when the Raiders scored on a 70-yard run from four-star defensive end and Georgia-commit Quintavious Johnson, who also features at quarterback, with nine minutes left in the game. His ensuing 2-point try made it a 42-28 game.
Mays got the ball back with seven minutes remaining on fumble recovery by Kwasi Casey after he stripped the ball from Douglas County quarterback Sire Hardaway. The Raiders cut into the lead 42-35 on a touchdown run from Johnson with six minutes left in the game. But Douglas County secured the victory with a touchdown run from junior Michael Hastie.
Mays scored with less than a minute left in the game on a short run from Johnson, his fourth of the night, but the game was out of reach.
“I thought we came out and played well in the third quarter,” White said. “We were up 20 but I’ve got to give credit to Mays. They didn’t quit. But I’m still happy we won.”
Mays built the 21-7 lead from a touchdown passes from Semaj Martinez, on his second varsity start, to Jeremyah Johnson and Clayton Coppock and a touchdown run from Johnson. Douglas County cut into the deficit with a 1-yard touchdown run from Rah’Keith Kelly.
Douglas County cut into the deficit 20-14 on a touchdown pass from Hardaway to Aaron Gregory with 9:40 left in the third quarter. The Tigers took the 21-20 lead on a 61-yard pass from Hardaway to Johnson with 5:50 left in the quarter to cap a 6-play, 80-yard drive in 1:52.
The Douglas County defense expanded the lead to 28-20 with an interception returned for a touchdown with 4:44 remaining in the third quarter. Johnson rushed in from three yards with two minutes left to expand the lead to 35-20 and with under a minute left, the Tigers expanded the lead on a 12-yard pass from Hardaway to Gregory on a slant from the right side.
“Aaron played well on both sides of the ball today,” said White. “I know he’s tired in this kind of heat and we kind of asked a lot from him today. Him and James Johnson. I know they stepped up to the challenge. We came in here missing four defensive backs from injuries so they had to play both ways and they did a good job.”
Douglass 27, Washington-Atlanta 0
Douglass earned the program’s 31st victory in the rivalry against Booker T. Washington – which dates to 1968 — to close out the fifth-annual Great Atlanta Bash at Midtown’s Eddie Henderson stadium in Atlanta and sophomore back Antoine Watkins had a day.
Junior Darien Harden scored on a 15-yard run to the left pylon to put Douglass up 8-0 after the 2-point conversion run from sophomore Watkins, who was fighting a tweaked ankle through the victory.
“He was resilient,” Douglass coach Stanley Pritchett, a Douglass graduate and 9-year NFL veteran. “He gave everything he had and the effort, the discipline that we look for in a young man and I am just proud of them.”
Watkins scored on a 10-yard run with 6:20 left in the second quarter to expand the lead to 14-0 after a missed 2-point conversion attempt. Watkins scored on a 15-yard run with 5:55 left in the game to push the lead to 20-0 for the Astros, who opened with a 21-18 victory over Mays in its season opener last week.
“Well, it’s good to win our neighborhood rivalry back-to-back against Mays last week and this week in the Westside Classic,” said Pritchett.
With 3:54 left in the game, Kenneth Johnson returned an interception 50 yards for a touchdown to put the game away.
After his playing career at Douglass, Pritchett went to the University of South Carolina and then entered the 1996 NFL Draft as a 6-foot-1, 245-pound full back where he was selected in the fourth round (pick 118) by the Miami Dolphins. He played for the Eagles and Bears before retiring as an Atlanta Falcon in 2004.
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