DeKalb Schools Football: Week 12 Recap

Senior receiver Blake Tibbs kept telling his defensive teammates from Martin Luther King Jr. that the game wasn’t over and his 89-yard kickoff return with 16 seconds remaining proved it as he propelled his Lion teammates to a thrilling 50-49 Region 2-AAAAA championship victory over the rival Stephenson Jaguars.

Mike Davis had put the Jaguars on his back after Stephenson surrendered a 43-26 second half lead to fall behind 44-43 on a 59 yard pass and run from King’s Jonquel Dawson to Joshua Sanford put the Lions ahead with 3:32 to play in the game being played in front of an overflowing crowd at Hallford Stadium and a television audience on Comcast Sports South.

Davis, who finished with 176 yards and two touchdowns on 36 carries, had six carries for 54 yards in leading an 8-play, 75-yard drive to take the lead on Davis’ four-yard touchdown run to make it 49-44 with just 24 seconds remaining.

The Jaguars kicked away from Tibbs on the ensuing kickoff, but the ball bounced out of bounds and the Lions elected to have Stephenson re-kick. The kick was high down the left hash mark to a waiting Tibbs who faked left and went right to race 89 yards down the Jaguar sideline for the winning score.

Lion linebacker Justin Peterson sacked Stephenson quarterback Justin Hollman to run out the clock and preserve the thrilling 50-49 victory and give M.L. King its second straight Region 2-AAAAA title while evening up its series record with Stephenson at 3-3.

The Lions jumped out 12-0 on a pair of early miscues by the Jaguars only to see Stephenson rally to take the lead on a Hollman 38-yard pass to Demarcus Sweat, a safety on a sack of Dawson by Raphael Kirby and an 18-yard touchdown by Davis on the way to a 36-20 halftime lead.

Dawson had touchdown passes of 41 yards to Cornell Boyd and 28 and 13 yards to Tibbs (who had four in the game) to rally the Lions to within 38-43 with 8:39 to play before the go-ahead pass to Sanford.

Dawson finished with 295 yards passing on 15 of 35 with six touchdowns while his Stephenson counterpart Justin Hollman finished with 203 yards on 6 of 9 passing with three touchdowns, two to Demarcus Sweat (4 receptions for 127 yards). Tibbs finished with 9 receptions for 120 yards and four touchdowns to go with his kickoff return for the win.

Week 12 Results
Wednesday, Nov. 2
Dunwoody (6-4) 49, Douglass (0-10) 8

Thursday, Nov. 3
Miller Grove (6-4) 28, Carver-Atl (2-8) 14
Mays (8-2) 34, Chamblee (4-6) 14

Friday, Nov. 4
New Manchester (2-0) 45, Cross Keys (1-8-1) 6
Stone Mountain (8-2) 41, Druid Hills (4-6) 0

SW DeKalb (8-2) 25, Lithonia (4-6) 9
M.L. King (10-0) 50, Stephenson (9-1) 49
Marist (9-1) 57, Redan (3-7) 29
Riverwood (5-5) 27, Arabia Mountain (3-7) 13
Columbia (6-4) 35, Grady (7-3) 7
Cedar Grove (7-3) 20, Washington (5-5) 15
McNair (1-9) 32, North Springs (0-10) 0
Towers (2-8) 18, North Atlanta (2-8) 15

Saturday, Nov. 5
South Atlanta (5-5) 46, Clarkston (2-8) 2

Mark Brock is the Statistician and Information Officer for DeKalb County Schools Athletics