Columbus area high school football scores, highlights: Hawks’ pick-6 stuns Blue Devils

The Columbus Blue Devils came in with a two-game winning streak, but the Hardaway Hawks had won the past two meetings against their midtown rival.

Friday night at Kinnett Stadium, history stymied momentum as the Hawks conquered Columbus 14-7 in stunning fashion.

Hardaway senior safety Que Vazquez broke a 7-7 tie by scoring the winning touchdown with 40 seconds left on a 45-yard interception return.

It was a fitting end because the key to the game, said Hardaway coach Michael Woolridge, was the Hawks improving their defensive, especially in the secondary.

“Columbus has a high-scoring offense, so to hold them to seven points, that’s huge,” Woolridge said. “We took away a lot of their big plays. We wanted to control the ball on offense and keep their offense off the field. We hurt their passing game. We had great pass coverage. We had young kids back there, and we challenged them this week.”

After recovering Hardaway’s failed pooch kick, the Blue Devils had a chance to pull off their own stunner, moving from the Hardaway 37 to the 9. But the Hawks stopped Columbus on fourth down to preserve the victory.

Freshman cornerback JQ Hardaway (born to play for the Hawks with a last name like that) also delivered a clutch interception to stop a Columbus drive. Other highlights for Hardaway were junior quarterback Javion Toney’s 4-yard touchdown run and senior running back Ja’ron Early rushing for approximately 150 yards.

Caleb Bailey’s 15-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter was the lone score for Columbus and tied the game with 5 minutes before halftime.

Muscogee County School District athletics director Jeff Battles confirmed Saturday that Dougherty hasn’t recovered enough from Hurricane Michael to reschedule its game with Hardaway, giving the Hawks a win via forfeit. (Carver’s game against Westover still is expected to be rescheduled.) So the Hawks (5-3 overall, 3-3 in Region 1-AAAA) are back in playoff contention, vying for one of the four spots in the nine-team region. Columbus (4-4, 3-3) still is in solid position.

Central 49, Jefferson Davis 0

The Central Red Devils (9-0 overall, 5-0 in Region2-7A), ranked No. 1 in Alabama, scored three touchdowns in the first quarter Friday night against the Jefferson Davis Volunteers (1-7, 0-5) and cruised from there at the Cramton Bowl in Montgomery.

Central senior quarterback Peter Parrish (committed to LSU) completed 12 of 13 passes for 159 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. He added 28 yards and one touchdown on three carries.

The game was so much in hand, senior running back A’montae Spivey (committed to Arkansas) had only four carries for 25 yards and one touchdown.

Showing their dominating depth, the Red Devils used three quarterbacks, had eight running backs gain double-digit yardage and had 15 players catch at least one pass.

The Red Devils outgained the Vols in total yards 429 (163 rushing, 266 passing) to 48 (34 rushing, 14 passing).

Carver 42, Shaw 14

The Carver Tigers (7-1 overall, 5-1 and second place in Region 1-AAAA) solidified their standing, while the Shaw Raiders significantly hurt their chances (3-5, 2-5 and in seventh place) with only one region game left in the season, Oct. 26 at Cairo.

Shaw hung with Carver into the second quarter Thursday at A.J. McClung Memorial Stadium, when it was tied 8-8, but the Tigers trounced the Raiders the rest of the way.

Spencer 22, Temple 18

The Spencer Greenwaves led 22-11 at halftime, then held off the Temple Tigers in the second half Friday night at A.J. McClung Memorial Stadium.

The Greenwaves (2-6 overall, 2-2 Region 5-AA) moved into the fourth place in the region, in position for the region’s final playoff spot with two more games left in the regular season: at third-place Bremen on Oct. 26 and against fifth-place Jordan at Kinnett Stadium on Nov. 3. Last-place Temple fell to 1-8 and 0-5.

Westside-Macon 37, Kendrick 0

The Kendrick Cherokees (1-8 overall, 1-4 in Region 4-AAA) had a rough road trip Friday night. The Westside-Macon Seminoles (6-2, 4-0) showed why they are in first place as they led 15-0 at the end of the first quarter and 30-0 at halftime.

Harris County 31, Thomas County Central 15

Friday’s game at Tiger Stadium already was set to be extra emotional with Senior Night. Then on Wednesday, Harris County School District superintendent Roger Couch announced that, in a halftime ceremony, the football field would be named after beloved educator Danny Durham, who was the school’s athletics director and an assistant principal when he died after collapsing while jogging on the stadium’s track Aug. 16.

So by the time the ceremony was conducted, the Tigers led 24-3 and held on in the second half.

Harris County improved to 3-6 overall and 1-2 in Region 1-AAAAA, stopping a two-game losing streak and giving itself a chance to grab one of the five-team region’s four playoff spots. The Tigers are in fourth place with one more game left in their regular season: Oct. 26 at second-place Bainbridge.

TCC fell to 5-3 and 0-2.

Park Crossing 46, Russell County 9

The Russell County Warriors (1-8 overall, 1-5 in Region 2-6A) fell into last place in the region with this road loss against the Park Crossing Thunderbirds (5-3, 4-1).

The Warriors trailed only 13-7 at the end of the first quarter, but they were outscored 33-2 in the final three quarters.

Brookstone 48, Central-Talbotton 8

The Brookstone Cougars (6-2 overall, 4-1 in Region 4-A) led 42-0 at halftime against the winless host Central-Talbotton Hawk (0-8, 0-5).

Brookstone strengthened its hold on second place in the region’s Division A.

Chris Edmonds scored three touchdown, each a different way: 10-yard run, 9-yard catch and 72-yard punt return. Jeremiah Burgess also scored three touchdowns, rushing for 121 yards on only five carries.

Manchester 38, Greenville 8

The Manchester Blue Devils (5-3 overall, 3-2 in Region 4-A) retained third place in the region’s Division A. They allowed the host Greenville Patriots (2-6, 1-4) eight points in the first quarter, then shut them out the rest of the game.

Glenwood 35, Lee-Scott 6

The Glenwood Gators (4-5 overall, 3-2 in AISA Class AAA Region 1) moved into a tie for second place in the region with this home victory, while the Lee-Scott Warriors (0-10, 0-5) remained winless.

The Gators scored two touchdowns apiece in the first two quarters and led 28-0 at halftime.

Community 48, Calvary 6

Mark Rice, 706-576-6272, @MarkRiceLE.

This story was originally published October 19, 2018 at 10:41 PM.