The 2012 DeKalb County high school football season came to an end on Friday as the Tucker Tigers and Stephenson Jaguars both fell in Class AAAAA state playoff road games.
The No. 5 ranked Tigers pushed the No. 1 ranked Northside-Warner Robins Eagles to the final seconds before the Eagles pulled out a 23-20 victory in Warner Robins on Friday night.
The Tigers needed one last defensive stand with Northside threatening from the 10. Tucker’s Stephen Reynolds looked to have ended the threat on third down when he pulled in an apparent interception which was ruled out of bounds in the end zone. The play set up a fourth and seven at the Tiger seven.
Northside quarterback Glenn Smith came through on the fourth down play as he lofted a pass just over a Tucker defender which was hauled down by Bryan Dyson for the score. Tignor’s extra point made it 23-20 with 24 seconds to play.
A screen pass on fourth down with only one second to play went from Williams to Dominick Sanders who got inside the Northside 40 before being forced out of bounds as time ran out.
The Tigers led most of the game and rallied to take a 20-16 lead with 1:22 to play as Juwaan Williams scored his third touchdown of the night on an 11-yard run to complete a 13-play, 75 yard drive. The big drive came following Northside’s taking its first lead of the night on a seven yard run by Curtis Martin with 7:29 to play.
The Tigers lead 7-0 early on a 16 yard run by Williams with 4:17 to play in the first quarter. Northside made it 7-3 at the half on a 23-yard field goal by John Tignor with 4:04 to play in the first half. Tucker opened the second half driving 72 yards in three plays as Williams scored on a 23-yard run around the left side to give the Tigers a 13-3 lead less than two minutes into the second half.
Martin cut the lead to 13-10 with a 55-yard run for a score with 9:15 to play and his go-ahead touchdown came following a fumble return by linebacker Tray Payne down to the Tiger 13.
Tucker finished 10-3 on the season.
Ware County 14, Stephenson 0
Ware County advanced to the Class AAAAA semifinals with a big defensive effort against the Stephenson Jaguars to win 14-0.
The Jaguars could not get into the end zone while Ware County scored in the first and third quarters to secure the victory.
Stephenson finished the year 9-3 overall.
Class AAAAA State Playoffs
Northside-Warner Robins (13-0) 23, Tucker (10-3) 20
Ware County (12-1) 14, Stephenson (9-3) 0
Mark Brock is the Information Officer/Statistician/Web Manager for DeKalb County Schools Athletics
