Penalties pester Northeast in 24-6 quarterfinal loss

Northeast’s southbound revenge tour to Lyons ended in gut-wrenching fashion Friday night after the Raiders were hampered by penalties in a 24-6 loss to the Toombs County Bulldogs in the GHSA Class A-Division I quarterfinals, ending what was nonetheless another milestone season for Bibb County’s top football program.

The night was — much to head coach Jeremy Wiggins and the Northeast fans’ chagrin — defined by Northeast’s 16 total penalties, which deadened an already sputtering offense and often gave the Bulldogs’ offense a boost. Most of the fouls were false starts or encroachments.

“It was just penalties. Way too many. It wasn’t our night, we didn’t play well,” Wiggins said. “Just not our night.”

It was the Raiders’ lowest point total since a 41-0 playoff loss to Appling County in the 2023 playoffs. Prior to that game, Northeast had not scored six or fewer points since a 9-6 loss against Bleckley County in 2021.

Northeast’s offensive woes did not sting as much thanks to its defense, which stepped up in crucial situations to stop Toombs County inside the red zone multiple times early on, even if the Bulldogs eventually found their footing later behind running back Justin Powell’s three touchdowns.

Defense played a much larger role than it did in last season’s A-Division I championship game between the two teams, which Toombs County won 38-18 thanks to an explosive offense.

“I don’t think the cold was a factor, I just think a lot of it was self-inflicted,” Wiggins said. “The penalties wore our defense out because the offense couldn’t get anywhere after the false starts.”

The loss ends another stellar season for Northeast, which won 10 games for the second straight year and took home its first region championship since 2009. It was also Wiggins’ first region title as a head coach, a milestone for the architect of the Raiders’ recent success.

That was something the head coach wanted to focus on, even after a heartbreaking defeat.

“You just have to build off that, look at what you did well and take the offseason seriously. 10 wins back-to-back and the region is a big accomplishment for this school. We just want to take a step back and see what we need to re-evaluate,” Wiggins said. “We want to look at ourselves.”

The team was led by a stacked senior class. Reginald “Bam” Glover” was a driving force for the Raiders, the team’s quarterback during last season’s run to the title game and Northeast’s passer during the playoffs after an injury to Jordan Wiggins in the regular season finale.

“He’s just played a lot of football and played really well. We’re proud of him. There’s so many guys on this team that put everything into football,” Wiggins said. “We just need to recognize this senior class and celebrate them.”

Amari White and Tailen Sampson were two other standouts Wiggins mentioned, though the entire group was clearly crestfallen as their final season in the red and black came to an end.

It seemed like the Raiders could play around the penalties in the first quarter because of their defensive prowess. The Bulldogs came away with no points after their first two trips inside the 20-yard line, then had to settle for a field goal despite getting inside the 5 in the second quarter.

Those three points were the only ones scored by either squad in the first half, which saw Northeast struggle to move the ball. The Raiders committed a whopping eight false start or encroachment fouls in the first half in addition to a holding call.

Even disregarding the mental mistakes, the Northeast offense fell flat. The Raiders’ typically explosive passing game dried up almost entirely. Glover managed only 29 yards through the air in the opening half on 3 of 11 passing.

The Raiders crossed the 50-yard line only once in the first two quarters, and it was with about two minutes left until halftime. The drive stalled after more flags were thrown, keeping the score at 3-0 headed into halftime.

The exhaustion Wiggins mentioned kicked in during the second half. Despite a big 38-yard catch from Scottavian Thomas that seemed like it would break Northeast out of its slump early in the third quarter, the Raiders still failed to kick things into gear.

Toombs County punched in the game’s first touchdown on a 14-yard run from Powell with about two minutes left in the third quarter.

An interception by Northeast’s Tayvon Shivers early in the fourth set up a slick touchdown on a double pass from Glover to Jacory Sherman to Kortnei Williams, but it was all the offense the Raiders could muster.

Powell and the Bulldogs took advantage of a worn-out Northeast defense and chewed up the rest of the fourth quarter with relative ease, scoring a touchdown to put the game out of reach with about five minutes left and then tacking on another for emphasis in the final two minutes to wrap up the 24-6 victory.