It was 42-0 at halftime, and the home folks at Barney Hester Stadium were stunned.
Indeed, John Milledge thoroughly dismantled old foe Tattnall Square 49-7 last Friday night in Macon.
A video of junior Asa Wall refusing to be tackled and knocking five different Tattnall players to the ground has now been viewed on The Baldwin Bulletin’s Facebook page more than 30,000 times.
Milledgeville’s Trojans showed great firepower in both the passing game and the running game, with four touchdown passes and three rushing touchdowns. Quarterback Nathan Snow passed for 146-yards and four TDs, with an average of 20.9 yards per completion. Trojans running back Jamel Cooper rushed for 119 yards and two TDs, and Parker Soltay hauled in two touchdown passes.
Meanwhile, Wall rushed for 122 yards on three carries, while catching two passes for 76 yards and two touchdowns. Wall averaged 39 yards every time he touched the ball on offense.
JMA’s defense forced three tackles for loss, including a Garrett Greene sack, as well as a Parks Higham interception that led to the Trojans’ fourth touchdown of the night.
As a player, J.T. Wall didn’t have much success against Tattnall, and the Trojans lost all three games when Wall was in high school. As JMA’s head coach, however, Wall has been on a revenge tour against all of the old Macon schools. His coaching record against Tattnall is now 5-2, with all five wins coming by double digits.
Wall said that physicality was the Trojans’ biggest asset on Friday night.
“I was proud of the way the guys came out and played hard and physical,” Wall said.
Snow had the best game of his career, to date, completing seven of eight passes, four of which went for touchdowns. Wall had high praise for his firstyear signal caller, who seems to have come into his own as the season has progressed.
“He (Snow) is a hard-working young man that’s getting better each week,” Wall said.
Now, the Trojans look to improve to 3-0 in region play, continuing this Friday against the upstart Mount de Sales Cavaliers, who have been the surprise team in the region so far this season. The Cavs have struggled going 0-2 in the region but still own a respectable 5-3 overall record, although lost to Tattnall in their first region game and lost to the defending GIAA 4A state champs Stratford Academy last Friday. Much of the Cavs’ success is tied to their returning head coach, Robert Slocum.
“Coach Slocum has them playing at a high level,” Wall said. “They are big up front and have speed everywhere.”
Slocum was originally named head football coach at MDS in 1991 and won a state title five years later in 1996. But after 23 years in Macon, Slocum retired from his head coaching position in 2014. Late last winter, after 11 years in retirement, MDS announced Slocum’s return as head coach, and the results have paid off.
Wall is 7-0 vs. the Cavs in his career, and Slocum’s all-time record vs JMA is 8-10. The Trojans and Cavaliers have waged hardfought battles, dating back to 1981, and the all-time series record proves that at 15-15. JMA has won the last four meetings, and MDS has not beaten JMA since 2010 but will look to pull off the upset this Friday.
The two schools will renew their rivalry this Friday at 7 p.m. at Ted S. Smith Stadium in Milledgeville.