>> JOHN MILLEDGE ACADEMY
A 45-21 win last Friday over Tatnall Square Academy (TSA) gave John Milledge Academy (JMA) another perfect 10-0 regular season. It marked the sixth-straight perfect regular season and sixth-straight Region 6 title for the home Trojans.
“It was a big win. I feel like these guys came out and played hard and played with a lot of emotion,” JMA head coach J.T. Wall said. “We challenged guys up front, offensive line especially, to come out and try to take control of the football game and they did.”
Tattnall Square came into the game with a 4-5 record, but their record did not indicate how good the visiting Trojans were. Three of TSA’s five losses came against public schools, two of which won their regions this year.
JMA’s defense came out last Friday night and dominated the first half against a team that had been putting up good numbers offensively.
“Defensively, they answered the bell, especially early on in the game they came out and played really well,” Wall said of his team’s effort.
TSA star player Antone Johnson was a key player for the visiting Trojans. JMA needed to shut down Johnson's explosive play abilities and they did just that, holding him to just 108 yards rushing on 16 carries. Johnson had been averaging 162.1 yards a game and 12.2 yards per rush.
JMA also held the total TSA offense to just 325 yards, its third-lowest total offense this season.
JMA’s offense went for 217 yards rushing, with Javian Butts earning 185 of those yards. Javian Butts averaged 9.3 yards per rush and totaled four touchdowns to go along with his impressive total yards on offense. His brother, Jalan Butts, had 99 yards receiving and one touchdown catch against the visiting Trojans while averaging 24.8 yards per catch on four receptions.
JMA quarterback Kolt McMichael also had another solid game, going 9-for-14 through the air while throwing for 177 yards. McMichael has surpassed 1,500 yards of offense so far this season.
JMA got out to a big lead early, scoring on its first two drives, including a 44-yard rushing touchdown from Javian Butts. To start the second quarter, McMichael connected with Jalan Butts, which put JMA inside the red zone. The Trojans were unable to break through to the endzone, however, and settled for a 22-yard field goal from Jacob Noles to extend JMA’s lead to 17-0.
To start the second half, the visiting Trojans came out quickly and scored on a 30-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Caden Faulk to William Stuart.
JMA answered with a touchdown as Bud Veal went 33 yards to the endzone.
Faulk then scored again for TSA, this time going one yard on a quarterback sneak across the goal line to cut JMA’s lead to 24-14.
The fourth quarter belonged to JMA, however, as they scored 21 unanswered points. McMichael threw a short pass to Javian Butts that turned into a 60-yard touchdown for the Trojans.
Solomon Burney then recovered a fumble on the following TSA drive, leading to Javian Butts scoring his third touchdown of the game. Butts would score once more on a 17-yard run to give JMA a 45-14 lead before TSA scored a late touchdown to make the final 45-21.
“We feel good. You always want to peak at the right time, we feel like we’re getting close,” Wall said about his team heading into the playoffs. “Obviously, we’ve still got some work to do. We’ve still got to clean up some of these penalties.”
With a bye this week, JMA will next play the winner of the Tiftarea vs. St. Andrews matchup. The St. Andrews Lions will travel to Tifton to play the Panthers of Tiftarea to decide who will make the trip from South Georgia to play JMA Nov. 17 in Milledgeville.