Northeast overcomes halftime deficit, defeats Bleckley County 33-30 in key region game

For a half, Bleckley County’s game plan was working.

Quarterback Kam Everett was on point with the short passing game, one going for 68 yards, and the defense stuffed Northeast’s duo of Nick Woodford and Reginald Glover and held them to 53 yards on the ground.

That led to a nine-point lead at halftime.

Northeast appeared to flip that script a little coming out of the halftime locker room, only for Bleckley County to do some rewriting during a second-half battle. But Woodford’s score two minutes into the fourth put the Raiders on top, and they survived the Royals and themselves for a key 33-30 win Thursday night at Thompson Stadium in Macon.

Northeast improved to 5-1 overall and 5-0 in a crammed Region 2-A Division I, while Bleckley County fell to 2-4 and 1-3 in the region. All the Royals’ losses have come by a total of 11 points.

“It was a game we had to win,” Northeast head coach Jeremy Wiggins said. “We had to win an ugly game.”

There was a whiff of upset in the air as Bleckley County was sharper and more versatile en route to a 23-12 halftime lead.

“We played pretty good,” Bleckley County head coach Von Lassiter said. “We got better tonight. We’ve struggled with some things, and we cleaned those things up.”

Wiggins said his team might’ve been a little gassed in the first half, and the timing of the break favored the home team.

The Raiders executed their base offense coming out of the break and went 55 yards on 11 plays, Reginald Glover hitting Zahkie Denson from the 7 for the score, the PAT pulling Northeast within 23-19 at the 6:58 mark of the third.

Northeast’s defense held for Bleckley County’s first of two three and outs of the night, and Woodford covered 67 yards on two plays. Demontae Dunn hit the needed PAT for the second straight time for a 26-23 lead with 5:13 left in the third.

Bleckley County did some editing and retook the lead seven plays later on a 10-yard pop pass from Everett — who had 205 yards passing in the first half but was slowed in the second half — to Connor Cairney to go up 30-26 with 2:01 left in the third.

The teams exchanged painful turnovers. Northeast was driving before it simply dropped the ball at its own 35-yardline. The Royals gave it right back on an interception on the first play.

Bleckley County swiftly paid for the miscue three plays later when Woodford took the direct snap and cruised all but untouched for a 21-yard score and 33-30 lead over the Royals less than two minutes into the fourth.

Misfortunate came Bleckley County’s way again, as it was converting a third and 4 only for a huge hit to force a fumble that went backward and just out of bounds for a net 2-yard gain, but still fourth down.

Then Northeast got a little foggy starting on its 3 with two straight procedure penalties, but saved the drive when Wooford passed to Glover for 15 on third and 11. A high snap for a 9-yard loss forced a punt, however.

The Raiders then put pressure on Everett, and his lofted pass was picked off by Kortnei Williams with 5:05 left at Northeast’s 36-yardline.

In less than two minutes, the Raiders punted from a staggering fourth-and-24 hole, leaving the door open for the Royals. They got to the Northeast 32, but the boot from Ford Childers — one of Middle Georgia’s top overall kickers — was just wide right from 42 yards with 1:12 left.

“That’s a good football team,” Lassiter said. “You can’t turn the ball over, and you’ve got to tackle. Those two things we struggled with at times.”

The Raiders got going first after a defensive stop on fourth and 2 by Jakwon Woodford and Amari White, and went 66 yards on seven plays. Woodford took a short pass from Glover 40 yards, Glover bobbling a high snap and avoiding a big rush with the short pass. The Raiders missed the PAT kick.

No problem.

Everett threw a perfect pass on a perfect slant to Joshua Stanley, who hit the accelerator and outran pursuit for a 68-yard score on the Royals’s first play.

No problem.

Northeast returned the kickoff from its 10 to the Royals’ 6, and Woodford — who finished with 210 yards on 32 carries — went in two plays later, the lead at 12-7 after another missed PAT.

No problem.

Zyion Love opened the Royals’ drive with a 28-yard blast through a big hole, and two plays later, Deondrez Robertson did the same behind the same sized hole for the 23-yard touchdown 58 seconds into the second quarter.

The pass failed, but the Royals had the lead.

The Raiders went three and out, sabotaged by an open-field drop, and Bleckley County answered with an 87-yard drive capped by Everett’s playfake and keeper to the right for a 22-yard score.

Childers’ kick made it 20-12 with 5:25 left in the half.

Both teams blew chances after that, with Northeast driving to the Bleckley County 34 only for Marty Beck to end the possession with an interception before the Royals stalled and punted on the resulting sequence.

Northeast took only 36 seconds before punting, taking over with 1:40 left and leaving the Royals time and decent position at their 35.

       They settled for a 37-yard Childers field goal with 18 seconds left, and took a 23-12 lead into the locker room.

“They did some stuff that gave us problems up front,” Wiggins said. “Just stunting and moving. We needed a crease to get through.

 “We settled down on defense and started playing. We were all over the place on defense.”