John Milledge Academy had as dominant a start to region play as it could have hoped for last Friday at home.
The Trojans defeated rival First Presbyterian Day 31-7 to improve their record to 7-0. JMA is the only remaining undefeated team in GIAA AAAA/AAA District 6.
J.T. Wall continues to be a major thorn in FPD’s side. When Wall was a player at JMA, the Trojans won two-out-of-three matchups in the series. As JMA’s head coach, Wall is now 4-1 against FPD. Taking Wall out of the equation, however, JMA has never defeated FPD, losing all 17 games when Wall wasn’t a player or coach, dating back to 1973.
JMA’s defense dominated all four quarters last Friday, allowing only one touchdown in the final seconds of the game. The offense continued to thrive, including 299 yards of total offense and three rushing TDs and one passing.
Wall said he was happy with his team’s performance in the first half, but would like to see better play in the second half.
“We like to break the season down into three seasons,” Wall said. “You’ve got your non-region schedule, which is our first six games, then we have a bye, and now we’ve got these four and we kind of lock in on these four games.
“You can’t win them all if you don’t win this one. Great job by these guys coming out and taking care of business, first region game. Just super proud of them with the way they work, the way they responded. We didn’t start super fast, but we scored 24 points in the blink of an eye.
“We like to come out and see more in the third quarter to kind of put these guys away. We had a good drive but we couldn’t finish it,” the coach continued.
“Great kick by (Allman) Burrell to send us into halftime, big time field goal for us. Just proud of the way everybody is playing.”
Wall said he was also very proud of his defense, which has allowed just 61 points through seven games this season “They answered the bell,” Wall said.
“We kind of put them (FPD) in a bind.
Going in I think looking at what they were trying to do, they were trying to slow the game down, run inside zone and be happy with three yards. But when we’re up 14 or 21 that’s kind of hard to do. Great job by special teams coordinator coach Whitlock getting us some turnovers on special teams . Just relying on that defense and those guys up front playing great.”
JMA will look to improve its record this Friday on the road in Macon, where they will face the Tattnall Square Academy (4-3) Trojans.
The other Trojans had a disappointing start to their season, going 2-3 through their first five games, but the Trojans have gone 2-0 since, including a 27-6 win over rival Mount de Sales.
Tattnall is coming off of a bye week, giving them an extra week of rest and preparation for JMA. But Wall is not worried about the extra time Tattnall has to prepare and knows the challenges they present every season.
“Legendary program,” Wall said.
“They’ve got some playmakers over there, Hall of Fame coaches and we know we’ve got our hands full especially with them having a bye week. We’ve gotten used to it over the years, everybody having a bye week before they play us. They’ve got two weeks to work on us just like we had two weeks to work on FPD, so we’ve got to know that in the back of our minds and be ready to roll.”
The two Trojans will meet this Friday at Barney Hester Stadium in Macon at 7:30 p.m.