LaGRANGE, Ga. — Troup celebrated Senior Night with a workmanlike 33-6 win over Kendrick at Callaway Stadium. The win sets up a showdown next Friday with cross-town rival LaGrange for home-field advantage in the first round of the state AAA playoffs.
The Tigers (6-3, 4-1 Region 2-AAA) pulled away in the second half after leading 7-0 at halftime. Quarterback Jaquante Holloway accounted for three touchdowns; running for two and throwing for another.
“A lot of times you can get distracted with all the festivities; Senior Night and all that kind of thing,” Troup coach Bubba Jeter said. “Kendrick has good athletes, they’re well coached and we didn’t look sharp in the first half.”
Troup allowed Kendrick 132 yards of offense in the second half, but only 37 in the second half. Reuben Foster led the defensive charge for the Tigers with 11 total tackles. The Tigers had only 97 yards of offense in the first half, but finished with 228 yards on the ground in the game.
The Cherokees (1-8, 0-5) held the ball on the opening drive of the game for almost eight minutes. Kevis Pledger ripped off runs of 33 and 11 yards to get the Cherokees down to Troup’s 26. Pledger had a game-high 112 yards for the Cherokees.
The drive ground to a halt after the Cherokees were penalized back to the 16 after quarterback Willie Farley’s run to the Tigers’ 6. Farley was sacked twice by the Tigers, the last by Brandon Worle on fourth down back to the Troup 29.
From there, the Tigers would march 71 yards on 14 plays, all on the ground, for the only score of the first half. The biggest run was Deshundre Miles 14-yard run on a reverse down to the Kendrick 2. Two plays later, Holloway bulled in from the 1 with 10:15 left in the half. Jordan Vann added the first of his four extra points for a 7-0 lead.
Kendrick threatened at the end of the half. Pledger ran for 36 yards on a third down play to the Troup 24. The Cherokees moved to the 12, but Troup’s defense stiffened. Foster tackled Will Rutledge at the 7 on a fourth down play as the half ended.
Troup took control from the start of the second half. The Tigers marched 55 yards in eight quick plays to go up 14-0. Facing third-and-8 at the Kendrick 21, Holloway found Eric Hutchinson just inside the goal line for the touchdown and a 14-0 lead. It was Holloway’s only completion of the night.
The Tigers put the game out of reach with two touchdowns in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. Holloway capped his night with a 12-yard scamper around the right side on the second play of the quarter. The run capped a short 18-yard drive set up by a Cherokee punt that did not get past the original line of scrimmage.
The Tigers needed to cover only 35 yards for the second touchdown. Brandon George went up the middle of the line; broke a tackle at the 20, then broke to the outside to complete a 25-yard touchdown run to up the lead to 28-0.
Kendrick was able to put together a 6-play 60-yard drive against the Tigers’ reserves to avoid the shutout. Pledger had a 33-yard run to the Troup 15. He finished the drive with a 3-yard run to make it 28-6.
The Tigers closed out the scoring on a 43-yard field goal by Vann with 1:12 left. The Tigers picked up a safety in the final seconds as the Cherokees fumbled the ball out of the end zone.
“Next week will be a big game, we’ll enjoy this one for a little while and then get started getting ready for LaGrange,” Jeter said. “It’s good to be in a position to be battling for that No. 2 seed and not the number 4 seed.”
Friday at Callaway Stadium
Kendrick 0 0 0 6—6
Troup 0 7 7 19—33
Second Quarter
T- Jaquante Holloway 1 run (Jordan Vann kick), 10:15
Third Quarter
T- Eric Hutchinson 21 pass from Holloway (Vann kick), 7:41
Fourth Quarter
T- Holloway 12 run (Vann kick), 11:10
T- Brandon George 25 run (Vann kick), 7:39
K- Kevis Pledger 3 run (Run failed), 4:12
T- Vann 43 field goal, 1:12
T- Safety, ball fumbled out of end zone, 00:43
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