BAXLEY — Appling County never let Brantley County settle in here Friday night at Jimmy Swain Stadium in a Region 3AAA matchup.
The fourth-ranked Pirates (5-0 overall, 2-0 region) had five different players score at least one touchdown in pulling away to a 45-6 win over the visiting Herons (2-3, 11).
“We got busted up pretty good,” said head coach Matt Hickox afterwards. “Appling County really controlled the game from the start. Their (Pirates) coaches did a good job of exploiting things against our defense and their defense was very physical.
“I’m really proud of how our guys competed all night. We got off to a slow start defensively and made a couple of mistakes on special teams. But we did force Appling County to do some things they normally don’t do.
“That effort is something we can be proud of and build on because we represented our school, the logo on the side of the helmet and the community.”
Appling County led 200 after the first quarter and 35-0 at the half. The Herons did not score until Tallan Collins (six rushes, 35 yards) broke a 20-yard run with 2:13 left in the game. With the running clock, that was the final play of the game.
The Pirates’ first drive (four plays, 37 yards, 1:21 time of possession) started at the Brantley County 37 after Collins’ 23-yard punt.
Jaiden Knight (six carries, 98 yards did the heaviest lifting on the night. He gained nine, then Harrison Hickox (9of-13, 156 yards, five carries, 31 yards) hit Hudson Gjone for 25 to the BCHS three.
Knight gained a yard before Hickox took it in from two. Eduardo Delgado’s extra point was blocked leaving the score at 6-0 with 8:25 on the first quarter clock.
Roldahn Ramirez’s perfectly executed pooch kick was recovered by Antonio Conoway at the Herons’ 32. Hickox found Titus Wallace for six on the first snap. Conoway (four carries, 61 yards) broke off a 26-yard on the ensuing snap for the score. The run for the two-point conversion was stopped by the Brantley County defense leaving the score at 12-0 with 7:41 remaining in the opening stanza.
After Brantley County went three-and-out, the Pirates got the ball back on their own 43. The Herons made their best defensive stand of the night.
Hickox threw a strike to Rett Thomas (three catches, 100 yards) for 37 yards to the BCHS 20 on the first play. That was as close as the Pirates got on the possession.
Hickox lost three yards on first down, then was sacked for the first time in five gains for an 11-yard loss. On third-and-24, Hickox was harassed throwing the ball away, forcing the Pirates’ first punt of the year.
The feel-good stand was short-lived as Hickox’s punt sailed to the three. The punt was muffed with Appling County’s Carson Britt pouncing on the loose pigskin three yards up the field at the Brantley County six.
Conoway scored on the next snap with Knight running in the two-point conversion upping the margin to 20-0 with 1:33 left in period one.
Brantley County got its initial first down on the ensuing series moving from its own 20 out to the BCHS 38 before stalling. A punt was downed at the Appling County 36.
Following a five-yard penalty, Knight ripped off a 69-yard burst straight up the middle of the Brantley County defense and outran Heron defenders to the end zone for the score. Titus Wallace ran in the two-point conversion extending the margin to 28-0 with 9:32 left in the first half.
Getting deep into the playbook, Brantley executed a double pass (Collins to Jayden Byron to Malachi Saunders) for 38 yards. Brantley County fumbled the ball away two plays later with Appling County making the recovery at its own 41.
The Pirates were driving when with Knight running free in the BCHS secondary. He was caught and went down in pain, fumbling the ball. The Heron’s Dallas Jackson scooped up the fumble and returned back to the Appling County 28.
Brantley County could not move the ball and turned it over on downs at the Pirates’ 36 losing eight yards from the original line of scrimmage.
It took just one play for the Pirates to score as Hickox hit Thomas on a 64-yard bubble screen. Eduardo Delgado’s kick was good with the Pirates extending the lead to 350 with 2:22 left in the half.
The second half saw a running clock with the Pirates scoring a touchdown on Dareon Hood’s threeyard run with 9:17 remaining in the third quarter capping a fiveplay drive to open up a 420 advantage after the Delgado kick.
Delgado capped an 11play, 6:47-drive that spilled over into the final period with a 26-yard field goal with 9:25 to play.
Brantley County averted the shutout with a lengthy drive ending with a Collins 20-yard run with 2:13 to play on the game’s final snap.
The Herons will host top-ranked and unbeaten Toombs County (5-0, 2-0) this week. The Bulldogs scored three second-half touchdowns to beat then second-ranked Pierce County 28-7 at home.
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