Williams scores 6 times in first half
BEARVILLE — Secondranked Pierce County tuned up for its upcoming battle against top-ranked Toombs County with a dominating 48-6 home win over Johnson-Savannah in the Region 3-AAA opener on Recreation Night.
Senior Jae’Veon Williams tied a school record with six touchdowns, all in the first half, finishing with 301 yards on 17 carries for his third consecutive 300-yard game. Williams scored on runs of 60, 34, 13, 1, 51 and 41 yards to tie the mark of D.J. Bell set October 21, 2022 in a 49-14 home win vs. Windsor Forest, also scoring all six times in the first half.
Williams’ first score set the school record for consecutive games with a rushing touchdown at 16 besting Bell’s mark of 15. Williams also holds the school mark with 16 consecutive games of scoring at least two touchdowns.
The victory marks the Bears’ eighth (five straight) 4-0 start in nine years and their 12th consecutive win in region openers since a 17-16 loss at Cook High in 2014.
PCHS raced out to a 480 halftime lead en route to a second game (55-0 vs. Coosa Christian) being shortened in the second half. Friday’s game was cut to two 10-minute quarters with a running clock. The Bears’ season opener in Gadsden, AL, was played with two sixminute periods and a running clock.
“I’m glad we didn’t overlook them (Atomsmashers) in the first half,” said head coach Ryan Herring of the potential trap game sandwiched between Class AA 10thranked Swainsboro and top-ranked and unbeaten Toombs County. “It’s easy to look ahead and play sloppy, but we (coaches) challenged the players all week to keep their foot on the gas, and they did that.”
The offensive pedal was pressed for the opening 24 minutes. PCHS scored on all seven of its first-half possessions to build a 480 halftime advantage.
Pierce County piled up 326 yards on just 18 snaps. The Bears finished with 366 yards on 26 plays and faced just one third down play all night, that coming with a running clock near the sixminute mark in the final period.
The Bears’ defense allowed just 11 yards in the first half, forcing six punts which included a block by Noah Delaney. Four of Johnson’s seven first-half offensive series were three-and-outs.
“The starters didn’t give up a point,” said Herring. “That’s always a good thing. The only negative thing from tonight was guys playing just one half. You don’t get in better shape playing just one half. A positive to that is we got some No. 2s on film so we (coaches) can look and see where they are at.”
The Atomsmashers’ lone score came on a 63yard pass play in the third snap of the third quarter against backups.
The game was over one play after the coin toss. PCHS won and opted to receive.
On the game’s first snap, Williams bounced through a hole at left tackle and sped 60 yards scoring just 20 seconds in. Peyton Perez hit on the first of his six PATs for a 7-0 lead with 11:40 showing on the clock.
The score steadily got worse from there.
After the first of six punt attempts, PCHS strung together its longest possession of the night with a six-play, 60-yard drive in 2:41. Dylan Johnson covered the final 23 yards off left guard going in untouched on his only carry upping the lead to 13-0 with 6:35 remaining in the first quarter. Perez doinked the PAT off the left upright.
Johnson-Savannah’s first three-and-out was followed by a 53-yard scoring series. Williams carried on all four plays with the final attempt a 34-yard jaunt off left tackle with 2:24 to play in the opening stanza. Perez split the uprights extending the margin to 20-0.
Delaney’s block of an Atomsmashers’ punt with 30 seconds to play in the period set up a one-play score. Williams drug Atomsmasher defenders the final five yards on the 13-yard run for the score on the final play of the first period. Perez kicked the margin to 27-0.
Johnson’s 26-yard return of a 29-yard punt in the second period set PCHS up at the Atomsmashers’ 29. Williams did the rest scoring on the third snap with his shortest run of the game — a one-yard plunge — with 9:50 left in the first half. Perez tacked on the PAT as the lead increased to 34-0.
PCHS followed Johnson’s next punt return of 13 yards with a one-play, 51-yard scoring jaunt from Williams off right tackle with 5:10 showing on the second quarter clock. Perez was true with the PAT pushing the margin to 41-0.
The Bears’ would score one more time before intermission following a final three-and-out by the Atomsmashers. Williams needed two carries to cover the 50-yard distance with the touchdown run covering 41 yards just 1:13 before intermission. Perez closed out the PCHS scoring with the PAT for a 480 advantaged.
Johnson-Savannah scored on its third snap of the third period when quarterback Shamari King hooked up with Jayden Young on a 63-yard go route with 7:35 showing on a running clock. King’s pass for the conversion fell incomplete in the back of the endzone.
Pierce County’s only offensive series of the second half consumed 11:55 of the 20 minutes played. The Bears moved from their own 45 to the Johnson-Savannah one. PCHS had a 36-yard touchdown run by Colton McCook (five carries, 49 yards) negated by a penalty.
Three plays later, facing the only third down play of the night, an interception ended the possession.
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