After playing second-fiddle to the other schools in Houston County forever, Perry finally has a state football championship of its own.
The Panthers, after watching Warner Robins and Northside hoist trophy after trophy, finally clutched one of their own after beating Stockbridge 38-27 in the Class 4A championship game on Tuesday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium
The gold-and-black clad Perry fans, who turned out in droves to fill their side of the lower bowl of the arena, stayed and cheered and hugged while the players did the same thing on the field, in the tunnel leading to the locker room and behind closed doors.
“It’s a great feeling, you know, with all these guys is special,” said Perry quarterback Colter Ginn. “Especially since this is the first state championship in school history. It’s just a great feeling.”
No. 7-ranked Perry (13-2) won it with resolve. Each time the momentum seemed to be ready to turn, the Panthers found a way to make a play and keep things going their way.
“We knew we would work through those hard times that we had in the second and third quarter and push through and we got it done,” Ginn said.
Ginn completed 16 of 27 passes for 261 yards and one touchdown, with Dakarai Anderson catching seven balls for 148 yards and a touchdown. Ahmad Gordon ran 17 times for 82 yards and three touchdowns and caught three passes.
No. 6 Stockbridge (12-3) was also looking for its first championship. The Tigers became the first Henry County school to play for a state football title.
Stockbridge was led by Jayden “Duke” Scott, who rushed 28 times for 125 yards and one touchdown. The N.C. State commit finished the season with 2,482 yards and 34 touchdowns.
Quarterback Cobey Thompkins completed 16 of 27 passes for 155 yards and three touchdowns, all of them to Jayden Howard, who caught nine passes for 82 yards. Thompkins also ran 16 times for 123 yards.
Stockbridge took the opening kickoff and drove 84 yards in 15 plays, scoring on a 7-yard slant pass from Thompkins to Howard. Perry answered with a touchdown, as Gordon scored from the 4 after the Panthers got in position thanks to a 69-yard pass from Ginn to Anderson on the opening play of the drive.
The Stockbridge defense rose up to limit Perry to a field goal after a shanked 1-yard punt gave the Panthers the ball at the 10. After three incomplete passes, Perry’s Zack Peacock made a 26-yard field goal to give his team a 10-7 lead at 8:39.
Stockbridge regained the lead with 1:43 left on a 21-yard play-action pass from Thompkins to Howard, who had his defender beaten by a step in the end zone.
The lead was short-lived. Perry’s Rodarius Lewis took the ensuing kickoff and fumbled at the 21. After the ball bounced around and through hands of players from both teams, Gesha’nn Heard picked it up and ran 54 yards for a touchdown. Perry led 17-14 at the half.
Perry upped the lead to 24-14 by scoring on the opening drive of the third quarter, a 4-yard run by Gordon. Stockbridge responded after MaLik Caswell’s interception and cut the margin to 24-21 on Duke Scott’s 19-yard touchdown run.
But Perry answered with back-to-back touchdowns, a 5-yard toss from Ginn to Anderson and a 14-yard run by Gordon, which gave the Panthers a 38-21 lead with only 4:14 remaining. Stockbridge added a 23-yard touchdown pass from Thompkins to Howard, but it was too little and too late to matter.
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