QUITMAN — Fourth-ranked Pierce County rode the legs of preseason Class AAA all-state selection Jae’Veon Williams to run past Brooks County, 47-26 here Friday night at Veterans Stadium, spoiling the Trojans’ home-opener.
Williams rushed for a career-best 307 yards on a career-high 35 carries and scored four times on jaunts of 63, 34, 10 and three yards (one touchdown in each quarter). His previous career-high was 283 yards against Ringgold in a first-round home playoff game last year.
The 307 yards is the second-highest single-game effort in school history trailing only the 330 yards of Caden McGatha in a 2023 home playoff win over Fitzgerald. D.J. Bell was the first Bear to crack the 300-yard barrier with 304 against Dawson County in the 2021 playoffs at home.
Williams’ mark also bested the regular season total of 289 yards by Bell vs. Appling County in 2021. It was the 12th straight game Williams has rushed for more than 100 yards, trailing the 19 straight by Bell during the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
The four-touchdown night broke the tie with Bell for consecutive multiple touchdown games with the new mark now 14. Williams is within one game of tying Bell’s mark of 15 straight games with at least one touchdown run.
Pierce County finished with 389 yards rushing on 57 attempts and 408 yards of total offense. PCHS’s 60 snaps ate up 35 minutes and four seconds of clock time.
“The offensive line is where it all starts,” said head coach Ryan Herring of the outing by Williams and the Bears. “They all had to play decent — that’s no secret for any team’s success. We still have to execute better moving forward.”
The Bears’ defense, aided by a couple of bad snaps, threw Brooks County for minus-48 yards rushing on 13 attempts. The school record is minus-63 yards against Charlton County in 2023.
Brooks County managed 110 yards of offense with 158 via the pass. The Trojans only snapped the ball 28 times and finished with just 12:56 in time of possession on eight offensive series.
The Bears defense now has totaled minus-82 yards on 37 carries (minus-2.2 per attempt) and just 76 total yards through two games.
“I’m proud of you,” Herring said to his team afterwards. “We (coaches) told you it was going to be tough and it was.” Herring said he started mentally preparing his squad for a physical and brutal game August 23.
“It was brutal on both sides,” he stated. “This was the first time we’ve had to play four quarters. We had the jamboree (August 7), a scrimmage against Wayne County (August 14) and basically a scrimmage last week (August 21 at Coosa Christian).
“It was very humid tonight. We had some guys cramping up. We also had a lot of guys going both ways. There was no way around it (cramping). We (coaches) just have to make sure our players are getting a lot fluids down moving forward.”
Brooks County, which historically has played great defense since 1959 inception of a county school from Quitman High, is now 0-2 after allowing 47 points or more in consecutive games.
The Trojans, who were playing their 775th game, had only four prior instances (1963, 1965, 1990, 2023) of opponents scoring 40-plus points in consecutive regular season games. PCHS actually made it a school-record three straight games dating to a 52-16 loss to Lincoln County in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs last year and a season- opening 49-35 loss at Worth County.
The Bears scored on their opening possession capped by Williams’ 63yard run off left tackle on a fourth-and-three play with 8:27 left in the first period. Fleming Cochran connected on the conversion kick for a 7-0 lead.
Brooks County took advantage of great field position on the kickoff to answer with a four-play, 54-yard drive. Wide receiver George Lamons, who’s committed to Auburn scored from two yards from the “Wildcat” formation. Andy Galvez tacked on the PAT knotting the score at 7-7 with 6:41 left in the quarter.
PCHS, after punting on its next possession, got its second defensive score of the season when Dylan Johnson undercut a firstdown pass intended for Lamons and sprinted 40 yards with the interception for a 13-7 lead with 1:46 remaining in the opening period. Cochran pulled his PAT left before suffering a leg injury on the ensuing kickoff.
Johnson returned a Brooks County punt 20 yards after a three-and-out setting up Pierce County at the Trojans’ 42.
Three plays later, Williams, who had 199 yards rushing on 20 carries in the first half, flipped the ball to the officials following a 34-yard sprint off left tackle on a third-and-two play 10:01 before intermission. Johnson connected with Ocean Henderson on a two-point conversion pass upping the lead to 217.
After forcing a second straight three-and-out, the Bears were in the midst of a seven-play drive when disaster struck. Brooks County defensive back Jeremiah Gordon stripped Jack McClellan, who was fighting for extra yardage during a nine-yard run, and sped 44 yards for a touchdown. Galvez’s kick with 4:19 left in the half cut the deficit to 21-14.
PCHS moved 70 yards for a final touchdown in the opening half with Mc-Clellan (eight carries, 45 yards) scooting 18 yards for the score up the gut of the Brooks County defense on third-and-two with :50.2 seconds on the clock. Williams ran the two-point conversion extending the margin to 29-14 at the break.
The second half was all Pierce County as the Bears’ defense took over. The Trojans totaled nine yards of offense on eight snaps covering three possessions.
PCHS opened the second half with a 11-play (all runs), 75-yard drive consuming 6:23 of the third quarter clock. Williams’ seventh carry of the possession was a 10-yard touchdown run on thirdand-four with 5:37 left in the period. Johnson’s pass on the two-point conversion was incomplete leaving the score at 35-14.
Lamons, following a foot stop of the bounding ensuing kickoff, spun out and away from four would-be tacklers and sped down the home sideline for a 78yard touchdown return just 15 seconds later. Galvez pulled the PAT left to keep the score at 35-20.
The Bears answered with a nine-play, 70-yard drive covering 5:28 that spilled over into the final stanza. PCHS scored on a first down pass on the initial snap of the fourth period covering 19 yards from McClellan to Chance Williams, who playing for the first time after an injury the week before the opening scrimmage in Brunswick.
The Bears failed on the two-point conversion try with the score remaining 41-20 with 11:54 to play.
Two fumbles on consecutive third- and fourthdown snaps by the Trojans totaling 38 yards in losses set PCHS up at the Brooks nine-yard line. Williams did the honors with a three-yard run on thirdand- goal for the Bears’ final touchdown with 7:17 to play. The score remained 47-20 after another two-point pass conversion was incomplete.
Brooks County answered with a four-play, 52-yard possession for the game’s final points. Lamons tallied his third score of the night after hauling in a 47-yard pass from quarterback Jamarion Crumity on a fourth-andfive play with 4:51 on the clock cutting the margin to 47-26. The two-point pass attempt fell incomplete.
PCHS then sapped the remaining clock after the kickoff with seven running plays.
The Bears enjoy their first bye week of the season ahead of the September 11 home-opener against Swainsboro.
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