As the

season winds down for the county AAA teams, the stakes

get higher. Starr's Mill traveled to Woodward Academy on

Friday night to put their 7-1 record on the line. The

Panthers knew they had a good shot at making the playoffs

with only two games remaining in the season, but they

never expected to come out so flat.

Woodward

Academy (6-2) scored on their first two possessions,

which came after a Panther turnover and a Panther punt.

Down 14-0, Starr's Mill played better on both sides of

the ball. The usual suspects on offense, Craig Maddock,

Drew Cofty, and Brad McClaren drove the team down the

field but could not score. The defense held off the War

Eagles on one possession but allowed a touchdown and no

extra point. The Panthers got the ball back with the

clock ticking down. They drove down to the 10 yard line

but could only score a field goal.

Both

offenses could not get started in the third quarter until

there was only four minutes left. McClaren hooked up on a

large pass to Cofty and the drive was capped off with a

touchdown run by Craig Maddock. Woodward Academy opened

the fourth quarter with a touchdown and then intercepted

a pass on the Panthers next drive. Woodward scored two

more field goals in the match and won 33-10.

Both

Starr's Mill and Woodward Academy are both 7-2 now. The

Panthers will travel to Forest Park (4-5) this Friday,

while Woodward hosts Jones County (4-5). Those games will

determine the seeding in the upcoming playoffs.

Sandy

Creek's game with North Clayton (7-3) started similar to

Starr's Mill's game. The Patriots, like the Panthers,

found themselves in a hole early. The difference was that

Sandy Creek came back and stopped North Clayton from

scoring the rest of the game. The difference was Gavin

Bourgeois.

Down 13-0

on their Senior Night, Sandy Creek's defense got fired

up. Bourgeois recovered a fumble on North Clayton's

goalline, ran it in for a touchdown and kicked the extra

point. The score was 13-7 and on North Clayton's next

drive Bourgeois came through again. This time he

intercepted a pass and ran it in for a touchdown. With

the extra point the score was 14-13.

Neither

team scored during the rest of the game, but both of them

came close. North Clayton threatened to break the hearts

of the Patriots with a field goal attempt in the closing

seconds of the match. Jermaine Harris got a hand in the

way to block it and Sandy Creek won the game. They

improved their record to 6-3 and are still in the playoff

hunt. The Patriots will host Jonesboro (2-7) on Friday

night.

Assuming

that Starr's Mill, Woodward Academy and Sandy Creek all

win, all three teams should make the playoffs. Woodward

would be the second seed for beating Starr's Mill head to

head and Sandy Creek and North Clayton would both be 7-3,

and the patriots have the head to head advantage. None of

the games will be easy and the teams could use large

amounts of fan support.