Woodward Academy found itself trailing second-ranked Thomas County Central after just 21 seconds of the Class 6A championship game Tuesday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
That’s not a good place to be when facing the top defense in the classification, one that gave up just 8.3 points per game in its first 14 games.
Things got worse for No. 10 Woodward Academy from there as Thomas County Central jumped out to a 28-0 lead and went on to a 49-28 victory to claim its first state championship since 1997 and sixth overall.
Jaylen Johnson was 6-of-8 passing for 135 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 105 yards and two scores, and Trey Brenton ran for 154 and two touchdowns in leading the Yellow Jackets to a 15-0 season for the second time in school history.
The state title completed a dramatic turnaround orchestrated by head coach Justin Rogers at one of the state’s big-name programs that had suffered some substandard seasons over the past decade. Rogers is 27-1 in his two seasons after inheriting a team that had not had a winning season in the five years before his arrival. The 27 victories are the most of any Class 6A team in that two-year period.
“It’s not one thing, it’s everything,” Rogers said. “Our administration wanted it. They allowed me to bring in a bunch of staff, change some things in the way we do stuff in the weight room. They’ve been so supportive there. Then it goes into the players’ buy-in, and we had good players when I got here. Then you add the community support, financially and you saw it in the crowd emotionally.
“If you’re missing one piece, it’s hard. When you’ve got all the pieces you’ve got a shot.”
Woodward Academy, which came into the game giving up just 11.3 points per game, third-best in Class 6A, finished the season 12-3 and came up one win short of its first state championship since 1980.
Dee Reddick returned the opening kickoff 59 yards to set Thomas County Central up at the Woodward 40-yard line, and Brenton followed with back-to-back 20-yard runs to give the Yellow Jackets a 7-0 lead with 11:39 to play in the first quarter.
A blocked punt by Walter Reddick that was recovered at the Woodward 21 led to the Yellow Jackets’ second touchdown, a 20-yard pass from Johnson to Malachi Thomas midway through the first quarter.
Credit: Jason Allen/For the AJC
Credit: Jason Allen/For the AJC
Johnson added second-quarter touchdown runs of 1 and 31 yards for a 28-0 lead.
Although Woodward Academy was able to move the ball throughout the game, the War Eagles weren’t able to overcome the early deficit.
The War Eagles reached Thomas County Central territory on four of their first six possessions but got no closer than the 40-yard line until the last one of the half, which ended with Landon Walker’s 1-yard touchdown run on the final play before halftime that cut the lead to 28-7.
Woodward opened the second half with its best drive of the night, moving 80 yards on 10 plays in 6:08 and cutting the lead to 28-14 on a 6-yard pass from Walker to Lucas Farrington.
Thomas County Central responded with a 57-yard touchdown pass from Johnson to Tre’von Pringle 38 seconds later to restore the lead to 21 points, and Woodward Academy never got closer than 14 points the rest of the way.
Thomas County Central’s ability to take advantage of short fields early in the game, combined with Woodward Academy’s sustained drives, led to the War Eagles having a big lead in time of possession - 30:10 to 17:50. The total-offense numbers were much closer, with Woodward leading in that category 418 to 398.
Walker was 22-of-43 passing for 309 yards and two touchdowns. Ben Grice had nine receptions for 137 yards and a touchdown.
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