Friday night’s football games offered a little bit of everything from tightly played, close games to blowouts. Three local teams have made the state playoffs and two of the Friday night wins earned region championships, guaranteeing home games for the first three rounds, if they can keep on winning.

Starr’s Mill won a region title with a 48-0 win over Fayette County on Friday. The Panthers struck early and often, capitalizing on Tiger turnovers and putting points on the board. Keegan Hanie started things off with a 31 yard field goal and Bradley Conner scooped up an interception on the next drive, leading to a three yeard touchdown run from Antonio Brown. Branden Lewis had an interception for the Panthers on the next drive. Early in the second quarter Brandon Witta blocked a punt and Chad Gloer picked up the loose ball and ran it in for a touchdown. Andrew Thompson recovered a Tiger fumble later in the quarter and Brown capped off the drive with a three yard touchdown run. Quarterback RobbyDavis would find Witta with a pass that Witta ran 49 yards for a touchdown to give the Panthers a 31-0 lead at the half. Parker Dupont added a touchdown in the second half and another touchdown and field goal gave Starr’s Mill their 48 points.

The Panther offense was efficient and their defense was stifling. Fayette County had trouble sustaining a drive and generating a ground attack. Quarterback Jeremiah Enloe connected with his receivers on a number of occasions, but never frequently enough to put points on the board. Jeremy Fowler and Jarett Crittenton each had good nights on defense, getting involved in numerous plays.

Starr’s Mill (8-2) will host Brunswick (6-4) on Friday. The Pirates have won three of their last four games but lost to Glynn Academy 17-12 last Friday. The winner of this game will take on the winner of Tri-Cities and Colquitt County.

Landmark Christian earned their fourth straight region title by handing Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy a 26-9 loss. Quarterback Matt Moody rushed for 80 yards and a touchdown and threw for 155 yards and a touchdown. Tyler Chapman rushed for a score for the War Eagles and Jimmy Eden caught a touchdown pass in the win. The entire Landmark defense deserves a ton of credit though for slowing down a talented Charger offense and for stopping Eagle’s Landing from capitalizing on two interceptions. The War Eagles balanced attack and solid defense was too much for the Chargers. Landmark had five different receivers catch passes and four different people run the ball.

Landmark Christian (7-3) will host Temple (4-6) on Friday. The Tigers closed the season with wins over Trion and Tri-County. The winner of this game will meet the winner of Washington-Wilkes and Athens Academy.

Sandy Creek played an incredibly tight game with Creekside and fans who watched the broadcast on Comcast last Friday saw a pretty good game. A turnover on the one yard line proved to be very costly for the Patriots as they lost 14-6 to the Seminoles. Khiry Battle scored the lone touchdown for Sandy Creek, but coach Chip Walker saw good play from wideouts Tim Russell and Terrance Roberts and a solid defensive game from Aybid Coleman.

The Patriots (7-3) will travel to Griffin on Friday to take on the Griffin Bears (9-1). The Bears were the team that knocked Sandy Creek out of the playoffs last year and they have won seven games in a row to close out this season.

The McIntosh Chiefs closed out the 2005 season with a 14-7 loss to Chapel Hill. McIntosh held Chapel Hill to 86 total yards of offense on the night but allowing the opening kickoff to be retuned to the Chiefs’ three yard line and fumbling a ball near the middle of the field in the second half gave the Panthers the opportunities they needed. The Chiefs’ lone touchdown came from Cameron Wallis catching a 20 yard touchdown pass from quarterback Drew Webb. Defensively, Mcintosh got another outstanding team effort.

“We don’t have any superstars on defense, just 11 guys that get to the ball and play hard,” said Coach Butch Prosser. The team will return five defensive starters and six offensive starters next year. The loss gave the Chiefs a record of 3-7, while the win put the Panthers at .500.

Our Lady of Mercy’s 2005 season came to an end with a 21-6 loss to Mt. Zion, Carroll. The Bobcats battled a lot of adversity this season; bringing in athletic director Bill Schmitz as the interim coach in the summer, losing several key players to injuries that kept them out for most, if not all of the season, and facing an early schedule against some of the toughest teams in Class A and AA.

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