It was another dominant Friday night for John Milledge Academy (JMA) Trojans last week, as they defeated the Mount de Sales (MDS) Cavaliers 49-17 in Macon. It marked JMA’s third district win and improved them to 9-0 on the season, keeping their nation-leading winning streak alive at 58 straight games.
Before kickoff head coach J.T. Wall said he hoped the Trojans would be able to put the game on ice, unlike their previous game against First Presbyterian Day, which they won by less than a touchdown.
“Hopefully we’ll do what we haven’t been able to do recently and that’s put somebody away if we are given that opportunity tonight,” Wall said.
He also mentioned that he would like to see the team get some more interceptions and more “NOTs” meaning “non-offensive touchdowns.”
“We’ve got to create some more turnovers. We did a good job (last) Friday night of winning some downs defensively, but we never got an interception, and we never forced a fumble and we’ve got to do a better job of creating those turnovers and converting some of those into “NOTs.’
“We love to score any way we can score, whether it’s a defensive guy scoring or a special teams score, that’s where we need to clean up,” Wall said. “We need to clean our special teams up and focus in on the little things that are going to win ball games in November and early December.”
The Trojans began their night strong with a 40-plus-yards run to the Cavaliers’ 35-yard line. Javian Butts got the handoff, and his brother Jalan got the carry on the goal line and went 9 yards to score a touchdown that put JMA up 7-0 after Jacob Noles kicked the extra point.
On defense, the Trojans were able to force a turnover on downs after a short-lived Cavaliers drive. The Trojans then drove back down to the MDS goal line again and handed the ball off to Javian Butts who went five yards to give the Trojans a two-touchdown lead with the extra-point kick.
Javian Butts would score again with a one-yard rushing touchdown on JMA’s next offensive drive.
The Trojans’ defense also continued its domination of the Cavaliers’ offense early in the second quarter prior to the Trojans putting together their fourth-straight scoring drive.
JMA quarterback Kolt McMichael completed his only passing touchdown of the night to Jalan Butts for a 40-yard touchdown play to give JMA a 28-0 lead. A pair of touchdowns by brothers Javian and Jalan Butts put the Trojans up 42-3 at halftime.
Mount de Sales’ firsthalf points came on a 26-yard field goal by Cavaliers kicker Irvin Cardenas.
With reserves in to gain some game-time experience in the second half, the Trojans slowed down a little and the Cavaliers took advantage and scored on a trick play with receiver Lawton Hall completing a 49-yard pass to fellow receiver Marcus Wilson for the Cavs’ first touchdown of the night.
After the Trojans tightened up and didn’t allow another third-quarter score, the Cavaliers’ defense made its first big play of the night and intercepted a Bryce McDonel pass. The interception set Mount de Sales up for a big 32-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Zavion DeShazier (called “a great young quarterback” by Wall prior to game start), to Cavaliers’ receiver Davien Williams.
JMA answered back with McDonel making up for his earlier mistake and completing a 19-yard pass to Bradyn Harrison for the final touchdown of the night and the 49-17 ending result.
John Milledge Academy stands alone at the top of the District 6 standings with a 3-0 district record and a 9-0 overall record. In their final regular season contest, JMA will host Tatnall Square Academy (4-5, 2-1 district) for the District 6 championship this Friday with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Trojan Field.