John Milledge Academy (JMA) and Brentwood renewed their rivalry last Friday night in Sandersville, where JMA banked a 31-7 win in a highly anticipated battle of 2025 state champions.
It began as a sloppy but competitive game that quickly turned lopsided. The Trojans received the opening kickoff and returned the ball to their own 29-yard line, then quickly began moving with efficiency into the War Eagles’ red zone.
However, upon reaching Brentwood’s 10-yard line, Trojans tight end Asa Wall fumbled on the next play, with Brentwood recovering the ball. That missed opportunity quickly turned into seven points for the home team on a 79-yard touchdown pass from Baylor Cobb to wide receiver Quez Collins.
Despite the turn of events, Trojans running back Jamel Cooper responded with a 25-yard rushing touchdown to tie the game 7-7 early in the second quarter. But it was special teams that came through and swung momentum of the game in the Trojans’ favor the rest of the night. Amarion Shivers blocked an Eagles punt attempt, which quickly was recovered inside Eagles’ territory and led to a second rushing touchdown for Cooper, giving JMA a 14-7 lead.
The Trojans received a serious blow not long after the blocked punt, however, when starting running back Javaris “Duke” Hurt sustained a right knee injury that kept him out of the game the rest of the night.
“We don’t really know what’s going on with Duke,” JMA head coach J.T. Wall said later. “It’s kind of a lower-leg issue. He’s a big part of what we do.”
The Trojans shut out Brentwood the rest of the way. Scoring included a third-quarter fumble recovery by Asa Wall to set up his first of two rushing touchdowns for the night. Wall finished with a team-high 122 yards and two TDs on 15 carries.
Cooper finished the night rushing for 103 yards on 10 carries, also for two touchdowns, with Wingfield gaining 58 yards rushing on nine carries.
At the linebacker position Asa Wall also led the JMA defense with six solo tackles and eight overall, including two tackles for loss and a fumble recovery. In his Trojans debut, Parks Higham was second in tackles with six total, plus a fumble recovery.
Meanwhile, the Trojans’ battle at quarterback continued as both Nathan Snow and Lane Rhodes took snaps throughout the night.
“I thought they both did some good stuff; they both did some sloppy stuff,” J.T. Wall said. “They are doing a wonderful job navigating what we’re doing, being able to know where we’re at, because a lot of plays where we’ve got Asa in the wildcat and they’re still on the field and we’ve got to tag them and they’ve got to know where to be.
“But they’ve swapped in and out at practice, rapid fire, so if we were coming out of this game trying to name one I still can’t because both of them do great things,” Wall added of his quarterbacks.
Overall, Wall said he was pleased with his team’s performance against a tough opponent in Brentwood, but also saw plenty of room for improvement.
“I felt like we played sloppy in spots,” the coach said. “But we are thrilled to death with a 31-7 win. I felt like we got tired, but I think we were in a little better shape and it showed.
“These guys have bought in and when you’ve got a bunch of seniors up front on the offensive line you can lean on them. Coach (Justin) Mills and the defensive staff did a great job with their defensive guys, and Coach Whitlock and special teams got us the blocked punt early. We felt like that really swung the game.”
This Friday night, the Trojans will visit Tiftarea Academy in Tifton for the Panthers’ opening game of the new season.