Wednesday, November 29, 2000
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Wednesday, November 29, 2000 |
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Teams advance to next round of playoffs following nail-biting wins By MICHAEL BOYLAN The high school football playoffs are still going on and three of our local teams are still going as well. East Coweta and Starr's Mill both remained undefeated as they upset their opponents Friday night. The Indians hosted Northside and won 14-7, while the Panthers defeated Warner Robins 21-7 on the road and in overtime. Northgate, the top seed from 5-AA, edged out Putnam County 17-14 to make it to the quarter-finals, while Sandy Creek lost to Shaw 8-7. East Coweta (12-0) recovered two Northside fumbles in the first quarter and quickly built a 14-0 lead. The score remained the same until the third quarter, when the Indians fumbled a punt, setting up a Northside touchdown. East Coweta's defense teamed up with the sloppy conditions to throw the Eagles' offense out of whack. Northside is a powerful running team but was forced to throw more than usual and was unsuccessful. The Indians have now set a school record with their 12-game winning streak. The only other squad in school history to advance this far was the 1994 team, which lost in its next game. East Coweta will host Parkview this Friday and a win could put the Indians in the Georgia Dome the following weekend against the winner of the Shiloh - Westside, Macon game. Starr's Mill (12-0) played against the Warner Robins Demons in similarly poor conditions, but things got considerably brighter for the Panthers in overtime. Starr's Mill got two touchdown runs in the overtime, one from Jason Laney and one from Reuben Houston, to vault the Panthers into the quarter-finals with a 21-7 win. Houston finished with 168 yards, while Laney finished with 139 yards. Each win for Starr's Mill puts another page in the history books. This team is the first to have a playoff win, the first to make the quarter-finals and the first with a 12-game winning streak. The Panthers will play at fifth-ranked Brookwood (11-1) Friday night. A win would pit them against the winner of the Mt. Zion, Jonesboro - Harrison game. Northgate (11-1) played Putnam County Saturday in foggy conditions. The Vikings got 123 yards rushing from Kenny Strozier and two quarterback sneaks of a yard for touchdowns by Mitch Stewart to secure the 17-14 win over Putnam County. The Vikings (11-1) will travel Friday night to face Americus, which defeated East Laurens last week, 48-0. A win against Americus would put Northgate in the semifinals against the winner of the Charlton County - Cartersville game. The results were not as kind to the Sandy Creek Patriots. Sandy Creek faced the Shaw Raiders in Columbus Friday and lost in overtime 8-7. It was the second time the Patriots faced Shaw this season and it was the second time they lost. Shaw also was the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last year. Sandy Creek finished 9-3 and made it further than any team in school history. The Patriots struck first, scoring off a 77-yard run by quarterback Andre Green in the first quarter. Shaw answered several plays later and the two teams remained deadlocked until the second overtime period. Shaw advanced to the Sandy Creek 13-yard line and won on penetration. The Patriots had their share of opportunities in the game, recovering four Raiders turnovers, but could not score. They had 159 yards of total offense, while Shaw ran up 267 yards of offense. |
