Against one of the better defenses in the state, the Thomson Bulldogs were having trouble holding onto the ball in the second half of the Class 2A championship Friday at Center Parc Stadium, fumbling several times. Luckily for them, they had a familiar face come to the rescue.
Senior Jontavis Curry carved up the Fitzgerald Purple Hurricane with four rushing touchdowns, including long go-ahead and game-sealing scores, to lead Thomson to a 32-27 win and give the No. 4 Bulldogs (14-1) their first state title since 2002, and sixth since the program’s founding in 1912.
Curry finished with 243 rushing yards on only 17 carries. With 12 seconds left in the third, he ran 61 yards to give the Bulldogs a 26-21 lead. With a minute left in the game and Thomson facing third-and-11, he ran a counter and slashed across the middle, outrunning the pack for 86 yards to put the game away, giving the Bulldogs a 32-21 lead.
He also had a 57-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, and he entered Friday with more than 1,000 all-purpose yards through four playoff games.
Curry said he refused to let his team lose.
“I can’t,” Curry said. “This is our first time in about 20 years coming to state, and we always promised we were going to hold ourselves accountable. Today, we just came out here and balled out. We never gave up.”
The Bulldogs fumbled three times in the second half, losing two of them, one of which the Cane converted into a Ty Solomon 6-yard rushing touchdown, giving the Cane a 21-20 lead with 0:51 left in the third quarter. The Bulldogs lost another fumble on their ensuing possession, but forced a Fitzgerald turnover-on-downs. Thomson took over and, after a 5-yard false-start penalty, Curry took it to the house to give the Bulldogs the lead for good.
“I’m proud of our kids for not getting rattled,” Thomson coach Michael Youngblood said. “They got a little off-balance, but we kept chipping away and chipping away and, man, it’s good — 2022 state champions.”
Youngblood also lobbied for a scholarship offer for Curry, a 5-foot-8, 170-pound athlete who has yet to receive one despite dominating the 2A playoffs.
“We’re sending film out,“ Youngblood said. “Probably five schools have been by Thomson this year. Only five. Colleges are in the transfer portal, but it’s a shame when you’ve got a kid that electric that can flip a game at the snap of a finger. He can play slot receiver, running back — he can do it all. ... People like recruiting winners, and this group right here is a winner. That’s all that matters.”
Curry’s long run opened the scoring with 4:24 left in the first quarter, and the Cane responded their next drive with a 58-yard pass from Sultan Cooper to Vic Copeland on a second-and-15 play-action pass to tie the score. Curry then scored on a 1-yard run to start the second quarter, making the score 14-7. An 80-yard pass from Jah’Klaus Jones to Jaquan Hart highlighted the drive.
The Cane again responded, this time with a Sylon Davis 2-yard run, to make the score 14-14.
To squash Fitzgerald’s push for momentum, Thomson’s Jordan Lane returned the ensuing kickoff 75 yards to put the Bulldogs back ahead 20-14, a score that would hold through halftime.
After Curry’s final fourth-quarter score, a flurry of Thomson penalties — unsportsmanlike conduct, illegal procedure, and a personal foul — totaling 45 yards allowed the Cane to start their final drive from the Bulldogs 16 with less than a minute remaining, and they were able to score as time expired to bring the score to its final margin.
The top-ranked Cane (14-1) were denied their first 15-0 season in program history, as well as the distinction of being 2A’s first repeat champion since Buford won four in a row from 2007-10.
The Cane played their style of football, winning the turnover battle 2-0 and time of possession 33:28 to 14:32. They also had 15 first downs to the Bulldogs’ seven. But Thomson outgained Fitzgerald with 383 yards on 32 plays, compared to the Cane’s 264 yards on 67.
It was the third year in a row the Cane reached the championship, and they’re 1-2 in that stretch.
“I’m proud of our kids,“ Cane coach Tucker Pruitt said. “I know everyone is upset we came up short. I’ve got 78 kids that are heartbroken right now. But they’ve given us everything they’ve got. They played their heart out. They didn’t quit. They played until the last whistle, scored on the last play. I don’t know if I could have asked a whole lot more from them other than to play a little better, but it’s like that sometimes in life. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
“We’ll take this, we’ll learn from it and we’ll come back stronger.”
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