CUSSETA, Ga. — The Chattahoochee County Panthers have made the state playoffs in each of their four years. But for the first time, the Panthers will host a playoff game after clinching the No. 2 seed in Region 4-A Friday night with a 29-14 victory over also playoff-bound Marion County.
With the Panthers’ offense still reeling from last week’s season-ending injury to senior receiver Teddy Gibson, who had 901 yards receiving with eight touchdowns before breaking his ankle against Stewart County, it was the Chattahoochee County defense that stepped up to key the victory in the Panthers’ regular-season finale.
Tyquan Bazemore and Daquavious Barbin each returned interceptions for touchdowns, and the ChattCo defense forced five turnovers on the night.
The normally high-powered offense struggled, though, with just 147 yards of total offense and only 34 yards rushing on 23 carries. They had just six first downs.
“We were really good at what we were doing,” Chattahoochee coach Josh Kemp said of his offense before the Gibson injury. “Now we’ve got to get really good at something else. I felt it was gonna be hard this week, but now we get two more weeks to work on it.”
But all that mattered at the end of the night was the win.
“It’s huge,” Kemp said of clinching home-field in the first round. “We’ve made the playoffs each year and gotten closer and closer and closer.”
Leading 14-7, the Panthers opened the second half with a five-play, 65-yard scoring drive capped off by Niko Jones’ 1-yard run. Later in the quarter, Bazemore’s 55-yard return of Marion quarterback Brett Montgomery’s third interception of the night made it 29-7.
Marion’s Solomon Jones returned a Bazemore fumble with 5.7 seconds left in the quarter for the final score.
Marion County rolled up 154 yards of total offense in the first half to just 66 for Chattahoochee County, but the Eagles hindered themselves with four turnovers, including an interception that the Panthers’ Barbin returned 68 yards with 5:05 left in the half to give Chattahoochee a 14-7 lead at intermission.
The Panthers’ potent offensive attack was held without a first down until the first play of the second quarter on quarterback David Cochran’s first completion of the game, a 23-yard strike to Eric Ziegler. The play keyed a seven-play, 62-yard scoring drive that culminated on a leaping touchdown catch by Birdie Jones at the 9:47 mark. Stone Aguirre’s point-after kick gave the Panthers at 7-0 lead.
Chattahoochee appeared to have seized momentum by forcing a three-and-out on the Eagles’ next possession. But the Eagles’ Solomon Jones recovered a muffed punt at ChattCo’s 15-line to set up Marion County’s first-half score three plays later on a 1-yard touchdown plunge by Ykeem Wells. Casey Hess’ point-after kick made it 7-7 with 7:00 left before halftime.
@z-BR Agate Bold Centered:Friday at Chattahoochee County
Marion County 0 7 7 0—14
Chattahoochee 0 14 15 0—29
@z-BR Agate Bold Centered:Second Quarter
C—Birdie Jones 22 pass from David Cochran (Stone Aguirre kick), 9:47
M—Ykeem Wells 1 run (Casey Hess kick), 7:00
C—Daquavious Barbin 68 interception return (Aguirre kick), 5:05
@z-BR Agate Bold Centered:Third Quarter
C—Niko Jones 8 run (Aguirre kick), 9:24 kick
C—Tyquan Bazemore 55-yard interception return (Cochran run), 3:56
M—Solomon Jones 6 fumble return (Hess kick) :05.7
Team records: Marion County 7-2 (5-2 Region 4A); Chattahoochee County 8-1 (7-1). Next: Greenville at Marion County, Friday; Chattahoochee County bye week.
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