John Milledge Academy dominated winless Piedmont Academy last Friday in Monticello, scoring 49 unanswered points in the first half en route of a 49-7 victory.
The Trojans’ defense even contributed to the scoring, thanks to a fumble recovery returned for a touchdown by defensive back Lane Rhodes.
Head Coach J.T. Wall said he was pleased with his team’s overall performance, but still wants to see some mistakes cleaned up.
“Offense was a little sloppy for me. We like to start fast, and we didn’t start fast enough tonight,” Wall said. “We’ve got a lot of stuff we need to clean up, operational stuff, but we got a lot of stuff tonight that we were trying to work on, and we felt like the guys responded well. Defensively, we played really good.
Special teams were really good. Just offensively, we’ve gotta clean a lot of things up.”
After not surrendering any points through the first three quarters, the Trojans’ backups allowed Piedmont’s only successful drive of the night as the clock ran out in the fourth quarter.
It was evident by the reaction of the starters how badly the Trojans (3-0) wanted the shutout, but it was felt on the field by the young players who gave up the score, too.
“Oh, we wanted it bad,” Wall said with a big grin.
“These guys get free pizza if we get a shutout. They were still trying to get it with the young guys in there playing, and some older guys in there too.
Everybody was playing hard.
Next up is the home opener this Friday night vs. Bulloch Academy.
Bulloch has not been as dominant as JMA, but the Gators have shown plenty of potential this season by earning three wins by at least 36 points. Bulloch promises to be one of JMA’s toughest opponents this season, with their speed on offense being their biggest asset.
Bulloch played JMA tough last season down in Statesboro. The Trojans won 27-18, but it was one of only three games in 2025 that JMA didn’t win by at least two touchdowns.
“They’ll be the biggest team up front we’ve seen – the fastest team we’ve seen. They’re disciplined, a well-oiled machine, a big squad,” Wall said. “So, we’ve got our hands full, and it’s our first home game. We haven’t played at home, but luckily we’re gonna be able to play this whole month (September) at home. Just gotta keep taking it one week at a time and one game at a time.”