November 14, 2008

Wayne County holds off Maroon Tide 27-20

by Carey Meitzler

Waynesboro--Wayne County held off a late Picayune rally to secure a 27-20 win and advance to the third round of the Class

4A South State playoffs before an estimated crowd of 5,500.

The War Eagles scored on their first possession marching 73 yards in 7 plays getting the touchdown on a 10 yard pass from

Demarcus Henderson to Malik Loftin.  Storme Seawright's point after made it 7-0 with 8:28 left in the quarter.

The Maroon Tide responded marching 96 yards on 9 plays.  Quarterback Jacob Kennedy had runs of 38 and 12 yards in the

drive and completed it with a 19 yard touchdown pass to Reginald Bailey with 3:38 left.  Nick Riso converted the PAT to

tie the game at 7-7.

Wayne County took the lead on a 78 yard run by Tracy Lampley with 10:52 left in the second quarter.  The PAT was good

by Seawright and the War Eagles led 14-7.

After a Maroon Tide punt, Wayne County struck again on a 49 touchdown pass from Henderson to Davonte Linear with 8:08

left.  The extra point hit the right upright and was no good leaving the score 20-7.

Picayune responded when Kennedy hooked up with Chris Nixon on a 79 yard pass to pull the Tide to within 20-13 with

Riso's point after with 6:26 left in the first half.

The Maroon Tide took the second half kickoff and marched 75 yards in 9 plays with Nixon scooting into the left corner of

the end zone on a wingback reverse from 2 yards out.  A big play in the drive was a third down catch of a Kennedy pass

by fullback Gabe Hinojosa for 17 yards that put the ball at the War Eagle 22.

With the score tied at 20-20, Wayne County took the lead on Lampley's two yard run with 2:56 left in the quarter.

Seawright's point after made it 27-20.

On two occasions early in the final quarter, Picayune drove into Wayne County territory but came away without any points.

One drive ended in a missed field goal from 47 yards out and the other on a Tide fumble at the War Eagle 26 yard line with

7:51 left.

Picayune got the ball back with 5:04 left when Reginald Bailey pounced a War Eagle fumbled at the Tide 30.

Behind the running of T'Darryl Grays and the passing of Kennedy, Picayune moved to the Wayne County 13 yard line

with 1:05 left.  Kennedy's fourth down pass was complete to Chris Burton, but Burton was stopped just short of the first

down at the War Eagle 5 yard line.

Kennedy passed for 153 yards completing 12 of 18 passes and he rushed for 51 yards for Picayune (9-3).

Henderson completed 6 of 11 passes for 115 yards and ran for 102 yards on 7 carries. Lampley paced Wayne

County (11-0) with 166 yards on 16 rushes.

Wayne County will travel to take on arch rival West Jones in the next round at Soso.