Northeast thrashes Central 61-6 in bounceback home win

In an all-Macon region game, the Northeast Raiders bounced back from their last game and thrashed the Central Chargers 61-6 at Thompson Stadium in Macon Thursday night.

The Central Chargers remained winless on the season after the loss to the Raiders, who remain tied for first in GHSA Region 2-A Division I. The Raiders moved to 6-2 with the win, which was a much-needed rebound after a heartbreaking 14-13 loss to Bleckley County on Oct. 3.

Even though the Raiders were up big by the second half, head coach Jeremy Wiggins made it clear to keep things cleaner.

“Keep playing and keep dominating, clean up in the second half – and make sure we don’t get any penalties that can hurt us,” Wiggins said.

It was another brutal loss for the Chargers, but head coach Jarrett Laws saw some bright spots in his team regardless.

“We’re young. In a lot of key places, we don’t have depth and the depth we have is injured,” Laws said. “But it’s kind of a glass half empty glass half full because I saw some young kids who shouldn’t even be playing varsity football step up tonight and show some character and heart.”

The Raiders got off to a hot start in the first quarter with 35 points. Reginald Glover ran 35 yards for a score to start things off. A couple minutes later, Northeast’s Keandre Jackson recorded another rushing touchdown to boost the lead to 14-0. 

As Central’s offense continued to struggle, Northeast added more with a three-yard rushing touchdown from Shunjaya Hill, making the score 21-0.

Even with the first quarter winding down, Northeast only boosted their lead with yet another rushing touchdown for 17 yards by Kortnei Williams and a five-yard touchdown pass to Amari White. By the end, the Raiders boasted a 35-0 lead over Central.

Then came a bit of a dry spell until about two minutes to go in the second quarter when Northeast extended the lead again when Reginald Grover returned a kick for an 82-yard score. But Central finally got points on the board with a passing touchdown, making the score 42-6 after a missed extra point.

However, it didn’t take long for the Raiders to respond with a 55-yard rushing touchdown by Keandre Jackson. Even with the missed extra point, Northeast held a comfortable 48-6 lead.

Right before the half ended, Northeast’s Jordan Wiggins completed a pass to Scottavian Thomas for a 11-yard touchdown pass to increase the lead to 55-6.

Both offenses struggled for the third quarter. Northeast was plagued with penalties that cost them some scoring opportunities. Although both teams reached the red zone, neither cashed in any points.

This continued until late in the fourth with under a minute to play. Northeast gained a 15-yard rushing touchdown, which led the final score of 61-6 over Central.

The Chargers will face a tough final stretch of games with matchups against 5-2 Dublin and 6-1 Bleckley County. The Raiders will wrap up their season with a competitive 6-1 Dodge County and 3-4 East Laurens.

Pariss Nicholson and Kasey Hoyt are interns at The Melody through the Reg Murphy Center for Collaborative Journalism at Mercer University.