Northeast forces five turnovers, rides key second half to 29-0 win over ACE

It’s not often that a head coach immediately brings up penalties after a 29-0 win on the road against an undefeated region opponent.

That’s exactly what Northeast head coach Jeremy Wiggins did Friday night after the Raiders defeated the ACE Gryphons by that score at Perkins Field in Macon — after all, Northeast had a near-perfect night aside from a litany of illegal shift calls.

“First of all, having an off week last week we just had those penalties. We had almost everything else we wanted, but we just couldn’t get our receivers set right. I was upset about that,” Wiggins said. “We’ll clean that up going into next week.”

The Raiders defense netted five turnovers, which turned out to be more than enough cushion for freshman quarterback Jordan Wiggins. The head coach’s son threw for 311 yards on 21 of 29 passing with three touchdowns and one interception to help Northeast improve to 3-1 on the year and 3-0 in GHSA Region 2-A Division I.

He might have had even more yards were it not for snapping the ball early a few times, causing those flags to fly.

“He’s got to work on the little things. Everybody’s got some stuff to clean up. We’ll work on that into next week,” Jeremy Wiggins said. “We had a good game tonight. Our defense looked really good. We’ll be ready for next week.”

The five turnovers, including three interceptions and two fumble recoveries, helped Northeast solidify the win against an ACE program that was undefeated and red-hot coming into the game following wins over Dodge County and Wilkinson County.

“I just told the team that when we executed, we were right there with the best team in the region and one of the best teams in the state,” ACE head coach Keith Hatcher said. “We did that at times, but we just made too many mistakes on both sides of the ball. A lot of those mistakes were self-induced and not inflicted by Northeast. We have to learn how to eliminate those mistakes.”

The Gryphons, now 4-1 overall and 3-1 in Region 2, played far closer to Northeast’s level this season than in years past. The Raiders won the last two meetings by scores of 46-0 and 52-26, but this year’s 29-0 final score did not reflect the way things played out early. ACE only trailed 10-0 at halftime and only allowed the truly explosive plays in the second half.

“We just had a good plan,” Hatcher said of his team’s first half performance. “We played really well. I mean, their one touchdown in the first half was the turnover that they took down to the 5-yard line. They just wore us down in the second half, but those big plays can’t happen. If we stop those, we’re still in the game in the fourth quarter.”

Things looked good for the Gryphons out of the gate, as they intercepted Jordan Wiggins to end Northeast’s first possession to start the game. 

ACE could not take advantage of the turnover, however, and gave momentum right back when big Northeast lineman Harold Simms, who rumbled about 40 yards inside the ACE 5-yard line to set up the Raiders’ only touchdown of the half when Glover punched it in on the ground.

The Gryphons then had another weak possession before Northeast got the ball moving again on its next drive. It looked like ACE would hold the Raiders when they forced a fourth-and-15 play, but Wiggins hit a 30-yard pass that eventually netted them a field goal to make it 10-0.

The Gryphons then embarked on a lengthy drive that took up more than nine minutes and drained almost the entire second half. ACE converted several fourth downs with clutch throws by Ace Hatcher but missed a field goal from about 45 yards out.

Northeast drove with three minutes left before halftime and got all the way ACE’s 9-yard line, where Jordan Wiggins appeared to have a touchdown with nine seconds left. The quarterback ran for the end zone but appeared to slip on the 1 while still in bounds, ending the second quarter in unceremonious fashion and keeping the score at 10-0 into intermission.

Things went downhill fast for the Gryphons in the second half. Ace Hatcher threw an interception on the first play of the third quarter, and Northeast easily scored its second touchdown from after the turnover when Wiggins connected with Tavares Tinsley Jr. from 29 yards out to make it 16-0.

Later in the third quarter, it seemed like the Gryphons’ last shot at starting a comeback had arrived. On fourth and two, ACE ran a successful fake punt with William Winters — usually a defensive standout — darting up the middle for a huge gain. Northeast’s Emmanuel Thorpe delivered a gut-wrenching blow to ACE’s hopes, though, stripping the ball from Winters right at the end of the run to force another turnover.

From there, Northeast coach Jeremy Wiggins gave son Jordan freedom to air things out to ice the game. The freshman passer dotted two touchdown passes to receiver Scottavian Thomas in the final quarter, one for 40 yards and another for 36.

The Raiders needed all the tuning up they could get, the head coach said, heading into a key showdown with region rival Dublin next week. The Fighting Irish, who were Northeast’s only region loss last season during its 11-3 season, will come to Thompson Stadium for a rematch Thursday.

“It’s a huge game for us on a short week,” Wiggins said. “We just have to make sure we do what we do. We’ll get ourselves ready for that.”

ACE, despite the loss, remains in excellent position in the region with its 3-1 mark. The Gryphons travel to Dublin to take on East Laurens next week.

“We’ll take all the things we did well against a really good football team and build on that, and we have to fix all the mistakes,” Hatcher said. “I told all the guys, you have to come in here Monday ready to go — we’re 3-1 in the region with all our goals in front of us. You have to get past this one and get back to it.”