The GHSA Football State Championships are presented by the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, reminding you, heads up, Georgia, Park your phone while you're driving.

It saves lives.

As we welcome you back inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the 5-A state championship game.

As the 14-0 Thomas County Central Yellow Jackets take on the 12-2 Gainesville Red Elephants.

And good evening, I'm Matt Stewart, joined by former Auburn Tigers All-American NFL first round draft pick and 15 year pro Wayne Gandy and Wayne Thomas going for their second 15-0 state championship in the last three years.

Head coach Justin Rogers has returned the Yellow Jackets to those glory days of coach Ed Pilcher and those five state championships in the 1990s.

Meantime, for Gainesville, what a road they've been on since the second round.

Suspensions after that brawl, appeals court injunctions, delays, two big wins on the road against Langston Hughes in Rome.

And now tonight, they're in the state finals for the second time in four years under head coach Josh Niblett.

Coach Niblett playing that us against the world kind of card.

Thomas County Central they got all the horns.

Now I believe they're in the jackets.

They hit them when they came in.

I saw them, but they got a great complete team.

The Southern Dawgs are in the house.

Yeah.

TCC head coach Justin Rogers, one of the great offensive minds in the state, the Yellow Jackets averaging 53 points per game, led by a three year starter at quarterback Jalen Johnson, who won a state title as a sophomore.

Back to do it again here as a senior.

Mr.

Cool, this young man is cool under pressure.

He's big.

63, 220 can make all the throws, has all the intangibles.

What's great about him 37 touchdowns.

Only four interceptions.

He spreads the ball around.

And the thing as far as the team goes he keeps everybody calm.

His patience.

He's going to need that tonight against this pass rush of Gainesville.

And on defense.

The defensive end Cam Brooks signed with Florida State.

Finally healthy here in his senior year and playing like.

It.

64, 230 the three star sky is the limit for this young man.

He's just becoming a tremendous pass rusher.

He has great kickoff.

He has 11.5 sacks on the season.

He's a matchup problem.

He has to be double teamed in passing situations now.

Gainesville semifinal win at Rome last Thursday night, they lost their star running back Nigel Newkirk Dwight Lewis.

The sophomore stepped up and rushed for over 200 yards.

Mr.

Lewis is what I call him.

This young man dominated his last game over 228 yards, three touchdowns.

He's just a physical downhill runner with a burst of speed.

They are going to count on him to run the ball tonight.

They like to run the ball to set up the play action.

He was bedridden this week.

He was sick for three days.

They finally got some fluids and food in him.

He is ready to go tonight.

Expect to see a big Dwight Lewis performance this evening.

Defense.

One of the top defenders in the entire country, the five star Xavier Griffin signed with Alabama.

Rated as high as the number 1 linebacker in the country.

I can't say the rest, but this young man is a dynamic player.

He is the number 1 prospect in the state.

He's great against the run.

He's dynamic against the pass.

This defense, anyone, everyone on defense makes plays and he's the biggest star.

Gainesville and Thomas County Central 5-A final should be a great ball game.

Third member of our team is Cody Chaffins down on the sideline.

Yeah Matt Gainesville road here to Mercedes-Benz Stadium has been well documented.

You mentioned all those bud buzzwords incident appeal, suspensions, injunctions, delays.

Well, for Josh Niblett, the head coach at Gainesville, he said all of that stuff has really brought his team together.

He compared it to a church revival.

He said it's lit a fire with his fan base, with his team, with the alumni of this program.

He says he's really thankful for that.

On the other side.

Well, for Thomas County Central head coach Justin Rogers, he has seen that from afar, he said.

He has watched this Gainesville team get galvanized.

He says they now have wins in their sails that he hasn't seen all year.

And he said that makes them a dangerous team.

Talking about the coaches this week about their strategy for this game, they both said, I just want to play a clean first half and I want to get that team into the fourth quarter and see what they're made of.

Both feel like the other hadn't been tested in the second half of games recently, so we'll see if this game stays tight.

We've had a week full of great games.

Expect another one here tonight between the Red Elephants and the Yellow Jackets.

Absolutely been an extraordinary run of great finals here at Mercedes-Benz Stadium over the last three days.

All of them have been competitive and great games.

Expect nothing less here in the 5-A final.

Here comes Thomas County Central.

And here comes the Gainesville Red Elephants.

Josh Niblett won seven state championships in Alabama.

They hired him away from Hoover High School to try to bring a state championship to Gainesville.

They've been in the state finals.

This is the tenth time they've won it only once.

And that was in 2012 when head coach Bruce Miller and quarterback Deshaun Watson led the Elephants to their one and only title.

It's Red elephant.

Team really has picked up momentum after all that controversy.

They're riding that wave and they're playing complete and total football on both sides of the ball.

And what a job Justin Rogers has done in Thomasville with Thomas County Central.

His record 52-3 since 2022.

This Yellow Jacket team just drives up here.

It's just a team full of dogs, guys that feel like they're overlooked.

Under recruited.

But look for them to play fast and try to get this game into that fourth quarter.

Thomas County Central has become the beast of the South for all the great teams in region one.

6-A would be hard to challenge the fact that this has been the best team in South Georgia since Justin Rogers took over.

And here is the book on Justin Rogers.

Born in Greenville, Alabama, went to Troy State master's degree from Augusta State.

Has coached at Jones County, Colquitt County and Thomas County Central.

And don't forget, he was the offensive coordinator for that prolific Griffin Bears team that won the state championship a little over a decade ago.

And this is a guy that knows how to scheme up an offense.

Opening kickoff is brought to you by Heads Up, Georgia.

Park your phone while you're driving.

It saves lives.

DCC won the toss.

They have deferred until the second half, so Gainesville on offense to start this 5-A final.

And here we go.

Goes over the head of Wilmont into the end zone.

So Gainesville starts at the 20 yard line.

You and I called that semifinal in Rome last Thursday night.

It was extraordinary what we saw with Nigel Newkirk going down on the second play of the game.

Great concern that Gainesville's offense might be in trouble until Dwight Lewis took to the stage and stepped into the spotlight.

Only one Curry there for Newkirk.

And then this young man, Dwight Lewis.

He was nervous on those first couple of carries.

He said Newkirk told him to go out and ball out for him, and that's just what he did and had a great game.

Three rushing touchdowns.

Oh, and don't forget about Kharim Hughley.

He's a four star rated as high as the number 5 dual threat quarterback in the class of 2027 and committed to Clemson.

That's Wilmont in motion behind the line.

Hughley wants to go to the air on the first play.

Got time now going to run and Hughley going to pick up six on the play.

Ware making the tackle for TCC and it's going to be second down and four.

Great protection right here.

Just nowhere to go with this ball.

Good job by TCC on the back end Noah Ware surveying the field went through his progression.

Decided I just go get a couple of yards.

Big physical runner six feet 195 aspect.

He doesn't really lean into a lot, but he does have that in his back pocket.

Second down and five.

That's Williams in motion behind the line.

He's a great wide receiver.

Handoff goes to Lewis.

Lewis trapped in the backfield.

Still gets positive yards until Trevon Pringle comes up and puts a helmet on him.

Let's take a look at the impact players brought to you by Breda Pest Management.

When Gainesville has the ball.

Williams a tough, big play receiver down the field.

Cam Jones physical blocking tight end with sneaky speed.

Issac Andrews part of that twin combination inside high motor, physical Amari Stephens headed to Kennesaw State, getting a steal.

The leading tackler for this defense.

Third down and four.

Hughley ball batted up into the air.

Great penetration on defense and it was Isaac Andrews the name you just mentioned who got his paws on it.

Great job right there.

The penetration here by 11.

Watch how he works right here.

Just getting that hand up.

Only 61.

But the instincts he's watching the quarterback.

Eyes right there.

Just getting enough to knock that pass down.

So punting situation you see DJ white the wide receiver standing deep to return this kick.

And Ruben Gonzalez will punt standing at his 12.

Gets it out of there kicks it away from white and it takes a bounce for Gainesville.

And rolled dead at the 29 yard line.

That's Xavier Griffin down there on the punt coverage to down the punt.

Very interesting.

White didn't even move towards the ball.

Looked like they were just going to let the ball and take it wherever it went.

And now the high powered offense behind Jaylen takes the field.

The Under-recruited Jalen Johnson.

You see his career numbers 81 touchdowns, 15 interceptions, 11 offers including West Georgia, Alcorn State, Florida A&M and Georgia State.

That kind of size you would imagine his recruitment would be up 63, 220.

It's baffling.

And that's exactly what Justin Rogers says.

I don't understand it.

Ball comes out here on the edge and it's complete.

Rodney Dunbar, who signed with Pitt on National Signing Day with the Catch.

Short gain on the play.

Getting the ball out quick there.

The defensive line.

So talented up front for Gainesville.

So much pressure.

They create Jamarion Matthews inside.

Pitch goes.

To deuce.

Deuce Lawrence the wake Forest signee and he's up to the 37 yard line.

Let's take a look at the impact player.

Breda Pest Management when the Yellow Jackets got the ball.

Maybe the best player on the field.

Deuce Lawrence Jabari Watkins electric.

Big play, great after the catch.

Darryn Williams just a tackling sideline to sideline linebacker and Aidan Cain the penetration.

One of those throw you out of the club kind of defensive tackles.

Yeah number 99 who signed with Duke on National Signing Day.

Lawrence first down carry tackled right there by Caden Fossung, who signed with Tulsa.

In a three star edge in the 2020 class.

Signed with Tulsa.

Over 21 total offers.

He played in the 2022 state championship game as a freshman, running a jet sweep.

Lawrence first down.

Reid option right here.

Jaylen Johnson soft edge, handing the ball off.

Got to keep your eye on the Wake Forest signee right here.

Good blocking by the receiver to spring him.

Beusse Lawrence capable of taking any distance with the speed that he has picked.

The Demon Deacons over 30 total offers.

Took an official visit to Pitt as well.

Johnson clean pocket now going to run it.

Flag comes out as Johnson tackled by Fossung.

He's going to have a holding here on Aiden Cain as Johnson worked up into the pocket, grabbing a little jersey wouldn't let him go.

Jimmy Hughes is our referee.

Holding offense.

Ten yard penalty from the previous spot.

First down.

Right there.

The right guard Zyon Garlington so hard as a lineman trying to protect the runner.

As you see, that Jersey flash just holding on too long.

There you have a player like Aidan Cain not not a bad idea to try to get your extra cloth.

So first down and 20.

Now ball back at the 39 yard line.

Johnson going to swing it out here to Lawrence on the short side.

And Lawrence out of bounds as the corner.

Zach Ingram got him out of bounds.

Just a little swing pass safe pass out on the edge and extended pitch play to get the ball into Lawrence's hands.

And you see early on here they're going to get the ball into their best player's hand.

25 rush touchdowns coming into this game seven catching the ball as well.

Consensus three star running back in the class of 20:26 Second down and 14.

Johnson going to fake a pitch and run it and Johnson down to the 45 yard line.

Going to bring up third down and short as we take a look at the starting lineup for the Yellow Jackets up front, Cooper two Korchagin.

Great story.

Garlington and King Lawrence the running back Dunbar Watkins and Everett the wide receivers and Gary Pringle a good looking sophomore tight end.

Nice job there pulling that ball.

Got to keep the defense honest by running the ball as Johnson.

Third down and four.

Johnson to the air.

Missed his man.

Wide open there.

Gary Pringle the young sophomore out in the flat.

Just missed his target.

There you can see the frustration on Jaylen Johnson's body wide open here.

Good route by Pringle playing out of that slot right there.

Just an out route.

Just missing him.

Keep the offense on the field.

Fourth down and four line to gain the 41.

With the hard count.

Trying to draw the defense.

In a situation where you could just take penalty, but snapping the ball, getting out on the edge here, the deuce Lawrence.

Lawrence turns the corner, has the first down and more knocked out of bounds by Elijah Watson.

But that's a first down.

Takes out our cameraman.

Hopefully he's okay.

Issac took the hit.

Again.

Just getting deuce Lawrence out in space.

Long pitch play that much green grass and his speed.

You can see just a pitch play out there.

Good job blocking down there.

By Jabari Watkins well executed play.

Isaac standing in there and getting the shot.

That's what you do as a pro.

Carry right there by D.J.

White.

Jet sweep action there to get the ball in the white hands.

Young sophomore has six touchdowns on the season.

He's giving deuce Lawrence a little break now he's back in action.

Second down and seven.

Lone up for the deep pass.

And it's caught by Pringle.

Touchdown Yellow Jackets.

Well executed.

Drive right there by TK.

The defense really kind of was throwing out of sync.

It looked like the offensive play was not going to happen.

And a great ball by Johnson leading Pringle into just a seam route.

Dropping the ball in the bucket there to Pringle.

Morales on for the P.a.t puts it up and in.

Impressive opening drive for Thomas County Central.

Time-out on the field.

Yellow on top.

First here in the 5-A state championship game.

Football Fridays in Georgia is presented by the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, reminding you to park your phone while driving saves lives.

Heads up, Georgia.

You wouldn't take a call during the big game.

Oh hey what's up man?

You wouldn't be texting while cheering on your team.

Jacket.

And you definitely wouldn't want to watch a video while marching with the band.

So why would you drive a car while distracted driving isn't a game when you lose on the road, it could lead to a crash.

So when you get behind the wheel, put the distractions aside, drive hands free, and save lives.

Heads up Georgia.

Welcome back to the 5-A Championship game, where Thomas County Central has taken an early 7-0 lead in that TCC fan base exploded after that touchdown, but there's not the same buzz in the atmosphere as there was a couple of years ago when Thomas County Central played in the state championship game.

That's because on that night when they would beat Woodward Academy, the fans were armed with those plastic horns, vuvuzelas that created such a buzz in this building.

Well, since then, the GHSA has banned those horns and any artificial noisemakers for games played inside, which of course is tonight.

So those noise makers not in attendance tonight, but that fan, the fan base has still had plenty to cheer about so far.

Yeah, it looks like they're armed with light sticks and pom poms tonight.

They've got the rainbow colored lights flashing in the stands, so.

And now they've got a virus blowing on the sideline.

Bringing the smoke.

The fans are excited.

Hype squad on.

Holy smokes.

We got a fire extinguisher on the sideline.

There'll be a new.

Rule next week.

No doubt the GHSA probably not going to like that on the return Wilmont to the 15 16 yard line.

At first I thought they were doing the LeBron James thing with baby powder, and then I saw they actually have a fire extinguisher on the sideline.. Two fire extinguisher extinguishers.

The crowd is hyped here.

A lot of TCC fans, as you would expect, long drive.

Are in attendance and they are having something to cheer about here early.

I think the GHSA officials, the police are down there looking to see what's going on.

First and ten ball at the 16 yard line.

Handoff goes to Lewis.

Lewis tries to bounce it outside and gets driven out of bounds as Trevon Pringle the brother of Gary who just caught the touchdown pass, makes that tackle.

Right there.

Lewis showing you the strength getting out of that tackle initially of Isaiah Andrews getting ran down by Treyvon Pringle a good yardage there on first down.

Any time you can get 4 yards running the ball.

So second down and six.

Offensive line is back.

Physical runs inside Dwight Lewis they're not going to get away from that.

Hughley rolling.

To his left and throwing on the run.

This Wilmont let's take a look at the Johnny's Pizza offense for Gainesville for the five guys up front have power conference offers Ford Hurt Moledor, who's committed to Georgia Tech, signed with Georgia Tech Studivant and Mathis Lewis, the running back Porterfield Williams, Wilmont.

And then James, the tight end, who had a 46 yard touchdown catch against Rome on Thursday.

Third and six right here.

You got to keep your eye for Cam Brooks.

Great.

Get off.

He is the guy that applies the pressure.

Also Isaiah Andrews inside eight sacks for that young man this season.

And a Time-out is going to be called by Gainesville.

Gainesville is.

Their first charge.

Time-out of the half.

Matt you get the feel that this is a big drive right here.

Another three and out.

Give the field a short field a TCC coach Niblett wants to think about it.

Make sure they get the proper play in the big moment in this game.

Although momentum for TCC.

Coach Niblett 44-8 since he took over in 20:22 Second state finals two region titles.

His 26th season overall with 280 wins in just 26 losses.

Seven Alabama state championships, six of them at Hoover High School.

And the Book of Niblett.

Let's open it up and take a look inside.

So third down.

We'll get to that book after it's up high on the shelf.

And I have to jump up there and get.

It.

Big third down here facing early in this game for Gainesville.

Hughley steps up to avoid the rush.

Bounces off his offensive lineman and goes down.

Ran right into Bryson Hurt and gets sacked on the play.

Prince Che what a sophomore this young man is.

Che right here, just working.

Nowhere to go with the ball.

Trying to get out of the traffic.

Ran into the back of Tyler Ford and into the arms there of Che.

Another one of those young sophomores.

Six, three, 270.

Sophomore physical.

The next big thing for the Yellow Jackets on defense.

With the emphasis on big.

Yeah.

17.5 TfL this season.

Gonzalez the punt high kick but short going to take a bounce for the Red elephants.

And a really good bounce for the Red Edwards and dies at the 32.

And that's where Thomas County Central goes back on offense.

And another interesting right there.

Never going to move.

He just staying on the spot as CJ White ball that he could have filled and saved about 10 yards.

But TCC with his high powered offense that first drive.

Jalen Johnson running the ball in between the tackles, Duce Lawrence doing work out on the edge.

This is one of the things that's been common in all these finals games.

The quarterbacks who haven't run during the season but can are running in the state championship games, and the star players are playing both ways.

Yeah, there's no tomorrow, so you can empty the cabinet, put everything out.

Handoff goes to Lawrence and Lawrence gets tackled right away.

By Aidan Cain.

The consensus three star defensive lineman who signed with Duke over 15 total offers.

This physical, strong gets off blocks inside his Cain 62, 275 to Duke.

He puts that next 20 pounds on.

It's just going to be hard to move inside.

Second down.

Lawrence gets it again, bounces it outside, picks up the first down as Watson grabs him by the ankles and dumps him on the sideline.

That's a first down run.

Nice block.

Corey King right tackle here.

Just patience.

Good block there on Marshall Leonard open that hole there for Duke.

Lawrence.

So first and ten from the 44.

Eight run four pass so far for the Yellow Jackets as they have a 7-0 lead.

Speed sweep now a reverse.

And now it's the pass downfield they go and it's going to be caught.

Rodney Dunbar on the pass from Jabari Watkins.

And no one went with Rodney Dunbar.

The big target down the middle.

A little reverse pass here.

Trickery.

Defense just fooled no one.

Watch three when he leaves the line of scrimmage.

Patiently stalk blocking and then he takes off.

Nice job that was thrown like a quarterback right there.

Nice throw.

Handoff goes Lawrence Lawrence cuts in there, gets 3 yards.

And Watkins who threw that pass is actually the highest rated wide receiver on this team.

He's committed to Nebraska already over 27 total offers.

This is a a great Gainesville defense, but TCC is having their way right now.

Staying very balanced.

Being able to run between the tackles, get out on the edge and right there with the big play down the field.

Swindell Mack run.

Jalen Johnson touchdown Thomas County Central strikes again.

It's 13 to nothing.

As you alluded to Matt.

Quarterbacks are running only 68 carries coming into this game for Jalen Johnson.

But already paying dividends.

Counter right there.

Nice kick out block there by the fullback Frank Garbett.

Too easy baby.

Paytee by Morales Thomas County Central has had the ball twice.

They've scored the ball twice.

Running the counter here.

Watch 47 with the kickout block.

Nice job there by Garbett.

Finished the block just following his blockers.

Big body once again.

Very well executed there by the fullback.

Tight end and the offensive line.

Clean lane for their quarterback.

Mr.

Ku to get into the end zone.

Thomas County Central has put the pressure on Gainesville.

The red Elephants need to come up with an answer on offense.

We felt that last three and out that some of their strategy of trying to call that Time-out to pick it up Coach Niblett sensing all the momentum on TCC sideline.

You saw the five play, 68 yard drive, red ribbon 365 curriculum DBHDD scoring drive.

The big play in that drive was the pass by Watkins to Dunbar.

Nice job, well executed and a great being patient by Dunbar.

He kind of stalked blocked like he was going to block and then took off Watkins having the arm to get it downfield to him.

So Morales kicking off again.

Wilmont from the two.

Wilmont cuts through a couple of defenders and goes down at the 24.

And now Gainesville a little pressure.

Now they got to generate some offense.

They have not been able to do that yet.

They've run six plays and gained 9 yards while Thomas County Central has 15 plays for one 50-0, we found that book on Niblett.

Here it is.

From Demopolis, Alabama.

Dad was a coach at Demopolis and of course he was a star quarterback playing for his dad, a three year letterman at Alabama, playing for coach Gene Stallings college nickname was Hollywood.

His nickname still is Hollywood.

Will Edwards coached.

All the way he dresses for the game on the sideline.

First and ten and the pass is complete to Kam James.

The tight end tightropes the sideline a little bit further and he's out at the 43.

Nice job, Kam James, known for his blocking.

Kind of a hybrid here.

Good blocking up front.

Nice route.

The ability to stay in bounds and finish the play by James.

Ball at the 43 first and ten.

Got to get the run game going.

That's what everything everything this offense wants to do.

Handoff.

This time it goes to the number 2.

Back in the rotation tonight with the injury.

The Newkirk that was Elijah Watson I think.

Is that Watson or was it 18.

Might have been Demari Bailey.

It was Demari Bailey I think threw me off a little bit.

There.

Nice job there.

Jacoby Herring back, middle linebacker, just scraping to the outside with a big hit.

Second down and six.

They're coming at you.

He gets away from it.

Throws downfield.

Jump ball intercepted at the six yard line.

Kobe Carnage.

What a great job here by Carnage.

Head around eyes up.

He's a former running back.

Finally getting comfortable over there at safety at first.

Beat clean there by Philip Williams.

But look at the ability of him to climb the ladder and get this interception.

Good body control.

Great job.

Strong hands being able to catch that ball and hold on to it.

Huge pick.

Carnage first interception of the season.

You love a defender who's got a last name.

Carnage.

It's just a just a great name.

Those things you can just mark it Nigel all day right there.

TCC back on offense.

Ball goes to Lawrence out there on the edge and he gets thrown forward to the 11 yard line.

Tackle made by Jamarion Matthews.

The Alabama signee rated as high as the number 6 edge in the country in 2026.

Yeah, this defense right now seems like it's just caught off guard.

The tempo, the physicality of TCC coming right at him.

Looks like a different defense than the one we saw Thursday night in Rome.

Second down and six Johnson going to run it.

And Johnson's going to pick up the first down.

And now let's take a look at that.

Johnny's pizza defense for Gainesville Fossung Cain and Matthews up front.

Leonard Griffin Williams and Cheeks on that second line.

Williams is actually or Leonard is actually a defensive end.

Ingram, Holder, Sims and Watson.

Johnson on the sprint out looking downfield and going to pick up the first down.

Big pressure there.

Working on the right tackle.

Coming underneath.

Almost a holding Austin watch three working underneath, forcing him out of the pocket.

Jaylen Johnson once again using those legs.

Not really sure.

Getting more and more.

Just this first quarter.

Confused why this young man is not recruited.

How's that?

Steve McNair kind of instinct that size at 63, 220.

Yeah.

Three year starter at quarterback going for his second state championship, too, in the state of Georgia.

No easy thing to do.

Ball is lifted out of bounds.

They do drop a flag.

There's a flag sitting on the ground at the 21.

Good holding here inside.

Cooper there at that left tackle spot.

Holding offense.

Ten yard penalty.

First down.

That's the kind of pass rush we're used to up front.

They have some guys that can individually hunt that you can just rush.

Four guys right here.

You can see.

Oh yeah.

That's holding right there Aidan Cain.

That's a good hold right there.

He got him around.

The neck and then pushed him down.

Right.

I think that little finish is really what got it called.

But these guys up front we've seen him.

They get after the quarterback.

You have to stay out of those second and third and long situations.

First down and 20.

Now following the penalty.

Johnson on the run man he has been big in this game plan tonight.

That is his fifth run from scrimmage.

That will put him up over 40 yards rushing.

He is setting the tempo and this team is following him.

The physicality in these runs, his ability to improvise, getting outside the pocket, making it happen.

He's playing with the kind of identity you want your quarterback to have in this big game.

To win the state championship.

Second and 11 Johnson goes far, side complete and that's Dunbar again with another catch 32 total offers for Dunbar when he signed with Pitt, took an official visit to Duke.

Consensus three star wide receiver.

Two great receivers, Dunbar at 64, Watkins at 6:02.

Both of them have size to make themselves big targets for Johnson, and here third and long got to protect up front by the offensive line to have a chance.

Watkins in motion right there in the middle.

They go to Watkins.

Picks up the first down I think.

Yeah he got the first down 39 yard line.

Nice job.

Watkins just sitting down in the zone a little stop route here.

Watch him work out his slot up top.

Just sits in the zone.

Makes himself available.

Gets upfield.

Just enough to get that first down.

It has been all Thomas County Central so far in this first quarter.

Ball in the air and it goes out of bounds.

Remember this is kind of what they did to Woodward Academy in the in the at the time I think it was the 6-A final back then in 2023.

Jumped out to a big 28-0 lead at halftime and kind of coasted to the victory in the second half.

Really handling his defensive front man for man.

One of the better D lines.

Jaylen Johnson is the difference maker right now in this game.

Lawrence on the handoff.

Stutter step.

Gets up to the 42.

He got three on the play.

Nice job there by Xavier Griffin.

Playing the proper technique staying home not getting caught up in the traffic.

Getting in there making that play.

Norwood Elephants on defense.

Now you got to get off the field here.

You got to get yourself you you play a lot of plays here in this first quarter.

Got to get yourself off the field.

Third down Jalen Johnson on the sprint out.

Here comes the rush.

He gets it out of there and misfires.

Trying to get the ball to Dunbar.

Late dog came in there and incomplete.

They'll punt it now.

Late dog by Griffin.

Such exceptional elite speed by that young man six for 215 he interesting how he is used when he gets to Alabama.

He come off that edge.

Will they stand him up?

But he has the athletic ability to do both.

Jake Jones on the punt.

Got the big boys.

In protection.

Jake Jones kicks it out of there.

Returnable for Philip Williams at the 23.

Williams will shake and bake.

Goes down.

Omari Stephenson making the tackle.

I think that was Omari Stevenson.

Maybe not.

It was Jacoby Herring who made the tackle.

Take a look at the Gainesville read Elder and their resume.

2012 State Champions.

We talked about it a number of times.

Sean Watson, record setting quarterback in the state of Georgia, of course, went on to Clemson and now in the NFL.

Eight time state runners up.

They've been close a lot of times.

33 region titles in this program started way back in 1905, making this the 112th season of Gainesville Red Elephant Football.

Black.

Overman inside there on that offensive line.

Just can't have those kind of plays.

False start offense five-yard penalty.

First down.

Trying to start a drive.

Right now the defense is dictating the tempo and you put yourself five more yards behind the sticks.

Guessing that coach back in 1905 was not blinged up like Coach.

Niblett.

First and 15 ball at the 23 yard line.

Hughley on a drag right there in the middle.

And that's the tight end.

Landon Williamson with the catch and run.

Some protection up front.

Good job.

Late drag route here by Williamson.

As you can see him coming across the defense.

Nobody going with him.

Good job getting the ball and getting upfield for 7 yards.

Second down line to gain is the 38.

Final minute of the quarter.

Dwight Lewis.

Oh.

Submarine tackle and then threw the seat belt on him to Dannell.

Jester.

This young man headed to Delaware.

A guy that loves to play run defense.

He plays safety coming out of a cannon right there to deliver the blow to the young sophomore.

Dwight Lewis the Blue Hens.

I think they're playing in a bowl game tonight or tomorrow night against the Ragin Cajuns of Louisiana.

That's his new home.

Following this season.

Third down and one.

James in motion.

Hand off goes to Lewis.

Lewis on the cutback.

Didn't get there.

What?

Penetration?

Omari Stephenson cut him down on the final play of the first quarter.

Once again, Dannell Jester in there with the big hit setting the tempo for TCC.

End of the first quarter.

Officials time out for a measurement.

And Thomas County Central has come out smoking 14-0 As we head to the second.

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And that's how close they came to picking up the first down.

But they didn't get it.

So now it's going to be fourth down and inches.

What do you think Wayne?

You going for it right here down 14-0 right here.

You got to you got to roll the dice.

I really believe your defense has just been out there the entire game.

You got to you got to play a little wild and loose.

Coach Niblett got a line.

This big offensive line up and give the ball to Dwight Lewis.

Somebody just won some loot down on the field.

Mills Kyles once again holding up traffic.

Get off the road.

Get off the road!

It's Chick-Fil-A.

This is their hometown.

Atlanta is their hometown.

They get to do what they want to here.

So fourth down inches.

Hughley on the run.

First down and more.

That was wondering when would we see Kareem Hughley get involved in the run game?

Another guy with great size and speed getting to the edge right there.

Good blocking there on that right side.

Cam James following his blocker.

Trey Diggs doing a good job as well.

Hughley has not run the ball hardly at all this season, although he certainly capable.

You see just 279 yards rushing for the entire season.

He's rated the number 5 dual threat quarterback in the country.

Haven't needed it tonight.

They might Hughley guns it in the middle.

Broken up trying to squeeze it in a tight spot to cam James.

And that was Dannell.

Jester there to break it up again.

Dangerous pass there by Hughley trying to squeeze this ball in there.

Two defenders right in that area.

Getting it.

Nice job that right hand by Jester knocking it down.

Jester is one of three players playing tonight that started and played in that 2023 state championship game.

Physical safety likes to mix it up.

Holston coach Rodgers says.

He's just a guy that likes to get down in the box, get dirty.

Second down ball sitting on the 50.

Job right there.

Isaiah Andrews two young d-tackles inside using that athleticism and leverage to get off the block and make the play.

That was Demari Bailey with his second carry of the ball game.

Big loss for this Gainesville team when Nigel Newkirk went down.

Please reset the game clock to 11 minutes 34 seconds.

Please reset the game clock to 11 minutes 34 seconds.

He is a bonafide stud.

Three star running back 32 offers Georgia, Auburn and Alabama.

They miss him greatly.

Empty backfield set right here.

You got to keep your eyes on Kharim Hughley running the ball.

Hughley guns it in the middle again and nearly intercepted ball Pinballing around in the air as he tried to go to cam James again.

Great coverage there.

By Treyvon Pringle.

The three star headed to Jacksonville State.

Great coverage down the field.

Just a hybrid guy.

Linebacker type.

You can see coming underneath to knock that ball out of Philip Williams hands.

Exactly.

Philip Williams was the target, not Kam James right there.

They've done a really good job in their pass coverage tonight.

And the high kick is going to kick into the end zone.

Hit inside the ten and then just bounced into the end zone.

So the ball is going to come out to the 20 for Thomas County Central.

Stellar defensive presence there by the Yellow Jackets.

Great coverage downfield after the big run by Kharim Hughley to pick up that first down on that kind of emergency.

Fourth and inches call deep in their territory.

Now up front we've seen this defensive line start coming to work.

And there's Nigel Newkirk.

He is blinged up 1,474 yards rushing this season, 9100 games, 19 touchdowns.

We certainly wish him a speedy recovery.

First and ten ball at the 20.

Low snap play was blown dead.

Looks like movement once again inside.

Snap infraction offense.

Five-Yard penalty.

First down.

Number 69.

Artem Korchagin right there in the middle of that Thomas County Central offensive line.

The center.

What a story he is.

Their family moved from Russia to get away from the war.

So their son who was draft age would not get sucked into that conflict.

He has become a star football player at Thomas County Central was committed to Cal.

The Golden Bears had a coaching change.

He ends up signing with South Alabama.

Offense.

Five yard penalty.

First down.

He is really battle tested inside.

Great size 64, 300 pounds.

In the Ukraine draft.

Age of 16.

And that's why the family moved.

If dad's an engineer and has done a stellar job here for TCC, the bell cow on that offensive line inside.

First and 20 now from the ten yard line.

Stutter step move by Lawrence breaks another tackle.

Lawrence out to the 25 yard line.

Good job there by the offensive line.

That right side Kharim Garlington and King coming down.

Watch how they take the jerseys with them.

Good Poole block there by two.

And then the speed and just so dangerous in the open field is Duce Lawrence.

They've got two signees on that offensive line.

Cooper is signed with Tulane and Lawrence getting lathered up.

Lawrence reaches the 35.

Working on that right side once again.

Going to test this defense, not the biggest of fronts.

Explosive pass rushers, but right now trying to nullify all that by running the ball right at him.

Lawrence ten carries 76 yards in this first half.

Hits it again.

Going to get dragged down by Xavier Griffin.

Right there.

Getting off the block.

That's enough of that.

You're not going to keep coming to my side.

Nice job showing you the athleticism and the speed to work himself back outside.

Five star rated as high as the number 1 linebacker in the country.

Number 1 prospect in Georgia.

Number 13 overall.

National prospect.

Signed with Alabama.

Over 38 total offers.

Johnson going to get stopped.

They gang tackle him and takes a big loss.

Caden Fossung Jaden Cain.

That defensive line playing bully ball.

Good job playing technique.

Watch how this line and the hustle.

Great job.

By Cain working himself down the line.

Matthews working from inside for some clean cleanup duty right there.

Just a force to be reckoned with is Aidan Cain.

Had a big game in Rome.

Had three TfL in that victory over the Wolves on Thursday night.

Seems like a long time ago.

It was just less than a week ago.

They played that semifinal.

Johnston loaded up, got Dunbar streaking open and Dunbar cannot come up with it.

It was broken up back there.

Great defensive coverage to recover and get in front of Dunbar and deny him that pass.

Reception.

Elijah Watson nice job Dunbar is getting a step here.

Good protection airing it out down the field by Johnson.

And really right there a ball that you expect Rodney Dunbar to catch in that situation.

Going for the big play down the field.

Just couldn't come up with the catch.

His Dunbar.

So Morales on the punt Philip Williams we've seen him just last Thursday.

How dynamic he can be in the punt return game off the side of his foot and it goes out of bounds.

Let's see where they end up spotting this thing.

There was a moderate rush.

I think Morales just shanked it.

Pressure by Legend Wilmont coming right in the face of Morales.

Seeing that red jersey.

Just bad technique on that punt.

And now if you're the red Elephants, you have to capitalize.

You got the short field.

He's one of those times in the game.

This puts you back in it.

You got to capitalize.

Get in the end zone here.

Have it at the 43.

These situations a lot of times offensives get aggressive.

Try to work downfield.

Big play receiver and Collin Porterfield down at the bottom of your screen.

Lewis fakes the handoff to him instead.

Go to the near sideline and Porterfield is the intended target and a flag comes out.

Wattley Sewell one on one matchup there with Eddie Guerrero.

He's got his.

Hands up.

Feels like he's the one who got pushed off giving up some size.

Porterfield 63200 pounds.

Let's see.

Ball behind.

Interference defense 15 yard penalty for the previous spot.

First down.

Tight coverage.

Bump and run.

That's what Guerrero likes to play.

Headed to Old Dominion.

Coach from Thomasville, letting their displeasure be known.

15 yard.

Markoff gives Gainesville the ball first and ten at the 28.

Can you get this run game?

Offensive line.

You got to get a little more production here out of Dwight Lewis.

And 7 yards rushing so far.

High snap flag out.

False start offense, five yard penalty.

First down.

Always a killer right there.

Put you behind the sticks early.

Take away your momentum.

Scratching and clawing to get back into the game.

Here's Porterfield and Guerrero.

They are really having a battle.

That was where the penalty was thrown on the previous play.

Guerrero wants to know where's the face mask?

He's grabbing at my face mask.

And what?

What?

You just saw the whole stadium just saw in the halo board.

You heard the Thomasville Thomas County Central crowd react to that.

Another flag comes out.

False start offense.

Five-Yard penalty.

First down.

Back to back.

Presnap penalties.

Moving early.

Studivant inside at that.

Right guard.

Three.

Watch the screen.

Screen.

First and 20.

Heavy rush Hughley on the screen.

Pass.

Gets it to James.

James cam James first down.

Cam James touchdown.

Gainesville on the board.

Beautiful play design.

Middle screen to the tight end.

Cam James.

We talked about sneaky fast.

That's what he showed you right there.

Jacoby Herring 28.

Good play designed by the offensive line.

Bodies in front.

Watch how 28 comes in for the hit.

Didn't wrap up bouncing off the tackle is James for the touchdown.

38 yard touchdown pass.

Hughley to Cam James Gailey on for the Paytee.

They get it up and in 14-7 Gainesville finally showing some life on offense.

Time out.

Took advantage of the short field followed by following the shanked punt.

Cam James touchdown Gainesville.

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Come on, come on.

Oh, what a bad call.

Whistle no, we have no business being out there.

Terrible.

You know, I'm a person too.

14, seven Thomas County Central leading here in the second quarter.

But the Red elephants getting back in the game on the touchdown catch and run by Cam James.

Now down to Cody.

That was that Gainesville defense that set up the short field for the offense there.

And leading the defense is Xavier Griffin number 8.

He told me he quit football back in second grade.

He said he didn't like to get hit while he grew a little.

And then in seventh grade, he started playing football again.

And now he says that physicality is his favorite part of the game.

Now 64, 215 pounds already has six tackles tonight.

It's been back to back stops for this Gainesville defense.

We'll see if they can get one more right here.

80 total tackles on the season 13 TfL doesn't like to get hit, but he likes to hit.

Yeah, I tried to quit in the eighth grade because it was just too hot in Florida.

But.

My coach wouldn't let me.

He laughed at me when I said I was quitting.

Did you thank him later?

I did get a chance to thank you, coach Denmark.

Worked out well for you.

Lane.

Coach had your best interest at heart.

Ball going to kick into the end zone.

So Nonreturnable Thomas County Central going to bring it out to the 20.

Complementary football.

Gainesville defense goes out.

Force a punt.

Special teams get the short field.

You get in the end zone offensively.

And now little momentum shifting to the Red elephants.

TCC first down.

Always important.

Got to get that run game consistently going once again.

Whether it's Deuce, Lawrence or Jaylen.

Johnson using his legs.

Johnson six of ten passing 51 yards, 41 yards rushing on six carries.

Sprint out going to run it again.

Tackled great defense man.

Now this is starting to look like the Gainesville defense that we saw.

So dynamic.

As Aidan Cain working from the inside explosive off of the block right there.

Caden Fossung as well working down the line.

And this is that defensive front we saw a week ago.

When they get it going it's hard to block them.

Second down and ten setting up a screen to Lawrence.

He slips out of the tackle by Griffin and dodges another tackle and reaches the first down line at the 30.

All individual effort here by Lawrence.

Dead to rights there by Griffin.

Great job dipping underneath the tackle, showing you the strength right there to get out of that and then just getting upfield, getting that first down.

First and ten ball at the 30.

Lawrence another run Griffin another tackle.

Looks like we have.

Itself down in there.

It's center.

It's been laboring a little knee injury.

Yeah he can barely move right now.

Keep your eyes on that.

He is the linchpin in there inside in all phases.

Johnson guns it in the middle.

And it's going to be caught by Watkins Jabari Watkins across midfield at the 46 yard line.

Nice job right there.

Jesse Tew his body.

Body control by Watkins.

Ball is behind.

Look at the protection.

Look at the pocket.

Throw that a little behind but a good job by a four star receiver hitting Nebraska.

You expect him JB to make those plays.

Second catch for Watkins.

He's rated as high as the number 29 wide receiver in the class of 2027.

Came in with 50-1 catches on the year.

Johnson threw miscommunication on the route.

Perhaps they thought that Dunbar was going to break outside and Dunbar broke inside.

It looks like Beusse Lawrence right there yelling at Johnson.

Give him the ball.

He wanted him to hand it off right there, tried to pull it and get it on the edge to Dunbar just not on the same page.

Second down and ten.

Johnson being chased by Marshall and thrown incomplete to Pringle.

Another first down.

Complete quarterback Jalen Johnson able to throw the ball on the run here.

A little rollout action.

The speed of Leonard closing on him but able to find the receiver Pringle the tight end down the field.

Ball goes to Dunbar.

Dunbar muscles his way up for 9 yards.

Right there.

You got to be careful if you're Marshall Leonard close to a personal foul there, finishing the play.

It's a good job getting the ball out quick to one of your top players.

Let him make some yards.

Second down and one.

Maybe.

Coach Rogers is asking why isn't that a first down?

They moved the ball up about 6 ".

It looks like they're going to give it to him.

Yeah.

First down they change it.

And I'm sure Josh Niblett going to want to know why they.

Just moved.

He wants to know who got that 6 ".

The ruling on the field.

Is that the runner reached the line to gain for a first down.

That play is under video review.

And Josh Niblett hey man, what gives?

How did that happen?

Who gets that credit in the stat book?

6 ".

Two great coaches going at it.

Got a sense that there's a lot of respect between the both of them.

So you want to be a high school football coach, huh?

That's what you want to do.

Coach Rogers is only 32 and he's now.

Rodgers is upset that this delay has killed their momentum.

They were moving at a good clip.

Good pace, good tempo, and now they slowed him down.

Here for this review.

And he thought they had the first down to begin with.

Rocking the beard for the playoff run.

Says he's ready to get rid of it.

He's been itching him really bad.

That's become a tradition.

As soon as he gets to the locker room tonight, he's going to cut it off.

I don't know if he wins a championship.

It might still be on tomorrow.

And those things itch bad.

At least they do for me.

Fortunately, I don't grow facial hair.

Yeah.

You don't have to worry.

About it.

You don't have to worry about it.

After video review, the runner was out of bounds at the 27 yard line.

It'll be second down and one for Thomas County Central.

The clock will start on the snap.

Well, Justin Rogers is not going to be happy about that.

And Josh Niblett will be.

Get the feel that Coach Rogers would have rather than just left it there and kept the momentum he had right there.

You kind of pause the game for about 5 minutes.

Because this is where they originally spotted it, and then for some reason they spotted it as a first down.

So second down and one.

Johnson going up top for the end zone.

Watkins cannot come down with it.

But he was interfered with.

Jeremiah Proctor was there and made contact.

Just a tough cover here for Proctor.

Three star right there.

You can see that right hand clear pass interference right there.

Hand in the face.

Mask clearance defense.

That penalty is half the distance to the goal.

Right hand.

You can see just grabbing on the face mask before the ball got there.

Good call by the official.

Proctor is a big safety.

They play him at that star position.

It's a hybrid backer safety position.

He's 63, 195 and has 16 offers including Georgia Tech, Wake and Coastal.

He's in the 2027 class.

Ball goes to Watkins underneath and Proctor makes the tackle.

Nice job there by Jaylen Johnson and Jabari Watkins catching Proctor playing off about 10 yards.

Just ran a little quick stop route.

Got the ball out.

Picked up 4 yards.

Second down and six inside the ten.

Lawrence touchdown.

Deuce is loose.

First touchdown of the night.

Nice blocking up front by the offensive line.

So much patience here.

Shown by Deuce Lawrence letting the blocks happen in front of him.

And then just excel.

Nice kick out block watch 77 right there.

Just getting enough.

Getting two people Cooper as he Poole gets a little bit of Griffin and gets a hand of Paul there on the safety as well.

A walk in for Deuce.

Lawrence Morales Paytee and Thomas County Central has reestablished their two touchdown lead.

Here's a flag down after the P.a.t.

Great answer by Turk taking the momentum back in this game.

Offense getting out there.

Clicking.

Getting the run game going.

Able to play action down the field making some plays.

They get a big break with the penalty.

Proctor being able to run the ball in for the touchdown with Lawrence.

So Lawrence already has 107 yards from scrimmage, 13 carries, 87 yards and three catches for 20 yards.

There is no foul for hurdling on the extra point.

The extra point is good.

Rodgers is working.

The officials has been all night.

You would anticipate that in a state final.

Red ribbon 365 curriculum DBHDD scoring drive nine plays, 80 yards and they covered those 80 yards in 2 minutes and 38 seconds.

Quick strike right there.

And a great answer by the Yellowjackets.

Thomas.

Road to the finals.

Well, the road was all at home.

Walloped Woodstock in the first round, then blasted Villa Rick in the second round.

Woodward Academy rematch of that 2023 state championship game beat them by 30 in the quarters, and then Roswell came probably a little bit closer than the final score would indicate.

And Roswell falls in the semifinals 49 28.

That all playoff games for Thomas County Central were at home.

At the Jackets Nest.

They got all kinds of crazy things going on on the sideline.

Thomas County, Central.

Ball comes down at the ten and Wilmont on the return, and he makes it up to the 25 yard line.

They're also missing Newkirk.

Newkirk typically would be in the kick return game as well.

They took the horns away from the fans.

Then they grabbed the fire extinguishers.

Now they're kind of doing a table splash on the sign that says fight for life on the sideline.

So they came with back up plans for celebrations here as TC.

Yeah, they got a playbook for their celebrations.

Lewis seven carries 7 yards on four carries and Lawrence 87 yards on 13 carries.

Lewis has Lewis has not been able to get unleashed like he did in Rome on Thursday night.

And just as I say, that gets his best run of the evening as he picks up 8 yards.

Great feet, great vision here.

By Lewis playing downhill Jacoby Herring shooting the gap.

Lewis stepping into the next gap and getting upfield.

Shoulders square for 7 yards.

So second down and three.

Halfway through the second quarter.

Offensive line dominant last week.

Got to get some work in.

Got to get this run game going.

Hughley guns it too hot.

Going to Porterfield.

Big arm throw right here a little slant right there by Porterfield.

But you got to run on into that ball 63 big target.

Got to bring that down for your quarterback.

Spencer Strider fastball right there.

Didn't quite need 99 miles per hour on that pass on that.

Moore touch on that by Hughley.

Another big third down situation here.

Going deep into the play clock.

Still in the huddle.

Only 108 yards of offense for Gainesville Yellow Jackets 4-A rolled up 2-82 Dump off.

And that's going to be a first down catch for the tight end.

Ruiz.

Just enough there by Ruiz.

Good play design.

One on one situation out here.

As you can see, just a little out route.

Get the ball get upfield.

Another big hit by Jester.

He moves the sticks, keeps the drive alive.

First and ten now from the 37.

Lewis on the run.

Runs right into the teeth of that defense and Omari Stephenson drives him backwards.

Nice job stepping up there.

Kennesaw state signee.

Big physical, hard working linebacker.

It's tough sledding inside, running the ball in this first half for Dwight Lewis.

They've had some success in the kids to Kennesaw State, Taiwan.

Christopher, who was the star of their 2023 state championship win over Woodward Academy, landed there.

What a season for Kennesaw State, winning the conference USA championship and coach Jerry Max first season Hughley man didn't turn around.

Usually trying to go to that seam route.

There to Williamson.

Williamson just never turned his head around looking for the pass, and you can see Hughley there talking to him just right down off the play action, RPO and tight end is not available.

Third down and nine.

Jack doesn't like to sit back alert for the pressure.

Late Dawgs by the linebackers.

Hughley setting up a screen and it bounces off the hands of James.

Trying to get it out to James.

Tight coverage there by Stevenson.

Not really sure.

Even if he caught the ball right there.

Deandre Andrews in there 19.

As you can see, Stevenson tight coverage, little behind little high for James Turk is going to get another opportunity here before halftime.

Gonzalez with the punt line, drive, kick and returnable from the 30.

And DJ White was dropped almost immediately.

And so that's where Thomas County Central goes on offense again with 426 to play in the half.

And they're up 14.

Actually, the first time white has actually tried to field the punt right there saving that yardage.

Best part of that play for white.

That ball bounced and lose yardage for your offense.

Coach Justin Rogers said he has never coached a team quite this dominant.

Had to go back to that 2013 team at Griffin, where he was the OC.

Let's check in with Cody.

Artem Korchagin the center.

You saw him hobbling back into the game right there.

They retaped his left ankle last time he came to the bench.

This guy was a hockey player and a boxer back when he lived in Russia.

You know he's tough.

65315 he can be whatever he wants.

He can be a ballerina.

No one's going to dispute it.

Big kid, tough kid.

As Cody just pointed out, ended up signing at South Alabama after they had that coaching change at Cal.

Committed to the Jaguars over 13 total offers, but he's rated as high as the number 13 center in the country by ESPN.

He's earned the right to try to work through this injury.

The kind of player he is, the toughness the coaches know.

He'll let them know when he becomes a liability.

Right now, just fighting through that injury.

Big block by Korchagin right there.

Springs open the first down run by Lawrence.

Good job there.

Lawrence running behind his pass getting thrown into that first down on the tackle.

Drew TC you just want to run this ball short passes.

Want to get some points, but you want this to be the last possession in the game.

First ten and pass completed first last possession of the first half.

As you might say.

And that was Dunbar with another big catch.

But a flag is out as he reached the 39.

Ineligible receiver downfield offense.

Five-Yard penalty.

First down.

Expecting the ball to come out a little quicker.

There.

Corey King the right tackle down field.

That's one of those things that sometimes is a function.

When you run that RPO kind of game.

Justin Rogers stays engaged.

Got his son coop down on the sideline with him, just like he did a couple of years ago when they won it in 2020-23.

Coops, the official kickoff ball boy Lawrence on the pitch and run.

Aidan Cain grabs him at the 40.

Nice block out there on the edge by Jabari Watkins.

He's receivers.

Great job allowing Deuce Lawrence to get to the outside.

Go under 3 minutes now to play here in the first half.

Thomas County Central has been in control pretty much the entire game up to this point.

Jaylen Johnson gets it to Watkins Jabari Watkins tackled by Demari Cheeks at the 30.

Make that the 50 yard line.

What a weapon!

What is JB electric?

A no fear type receiver.

He enjoys taking those hits.

He's going to pay the price.

Great size to do it at 62, 194.

Catches for 40 yards.

Running option here.

And Jaylen Johnson does not get to the line to gain Marshall Leonard comes up there to deny.

Him right there if you're Johnson as that opens up you got to lure you're kind of running a little high right here as he sees it open.

You got to get those shoulders square.

Get a little low.

Good job there.

By Marshall Leonard getting the leverage and driving him back.

Fourth and one.

They keep the offense on the field.

Bring in some of the bigger package right here.

The jumbo guys try to pick up this 1 yard.

A couple of defensive guys going in there Isaiah Andrews the tackle Amari Stevenson in there at well.

Fourth and one.

Everybody bunched up trying to get this 1 yard.

And a time-out called by Thomas County Central.

Central with 1-23 to play in.

The half half.

Here's a look at the Gainesville road to the finals.

And it just tells just the scores.

But the road to the finals has been quite a journey for them.

Started easily enough with a 4-3 home win over Dunwoody, and then all hell broke loose when they went to Brunswick, you had the bench clearing brawl, players got suspended.

They appealed to the GHSA that was denied court injunction.

GHSA appealed back, caused a delay.

Then the GHSA decided to drop their appeal and that put a two week delay.

Basically into their quarterfinal matchup.

When they finally went to Langston Hughes, when everybody else was playing the semifinals and they beat the Panthers 40-32 And then last Thursday, the delayed semifinals were played with them winning 37-6 at Rome and Thomas County Central semifinals.

Roswell also got delayed so that the teams would be on the same schedule heading into the finals, and this final was supposed to be played last night, instead being played tonight.

Because of all that.

LaVon Pringle underneath center here with a little touch push.

Pringle dives off left tackle and picks up the first down.

Great job over there.

By Jesse Tew the left guard.

Cooper the left tackle didn't really need to push in the back, blocking up front.

Good movement.

Keeping this drive alive.

Clock running Drake Jaylen Johnson maybe test his defense on the back end.

Might be a double pass.

And no, it will not be.

That play gets blown up by Elijah Watson before Watkins could throw the ball downfield.

Interesting call right there.

You felt like they were going to be aggressive.

Start trying to get some vertical with the clock.

It's going to come off the arm of Jaylen Johnson.

Good read there.

By Elijah Watkins.

Their boundary corner.

And now there's 40s left in the half.

Thomas County Central does have two time-outs remaining.

Lawrence gets to the 50 and stopped.

Let's see if they burn a time-out.

They have not yet.

Going to be third down.

I feel like after that big loss, if you coach Rodgers, maybe you should just take this lead.

Yeah.

They're calling.

The.

Players off the field.

They're heading to the locker room.

Maybe not now they're heading back out there.

Oh no.

They're just going to help Korchagin off the field.

Look at this.

They're having to help Korchagin the center.

Walk off the field.

He's in such pain.

What a warrior.

Artem Korchagin.

That's the end of the first half.

Here go, Levon.

Into the first half.

Thomas County Central two quarters away from their second state title in three years.

Great half of football by TCC.

And both sides offense.

Getting it going.

Early defense swarming to the ball.

Just nullifying the run.

Game of the red elephants.

Time now for Johnny's Pizza halftime interview.

Let's send it down to Cody.

Here with Justin Rodgers, head coach of Thomas County Central.

Over 300 yards of offense, Deuce is over 100.

How do you feel about the offensive side so far?

We're playing good.

We're shooting ourselves in the foot on a couple of things.

Felt like we should have another one out there.

You know, getting some tight calls on some stuff that is pretty tight on us.

It's been drive killers.

That's kind of hurt us a little bit at times.

What's going to happen in the second half for you guys to bring this thing home?

Ajai keep playing.

I mean, we just got to keep playing centers, man.

Battling out Artem Hurt with his ankle right now.

But boy, he's battling and we just got to keep playing.

Don't give up explosive plays.

We have one explosive play on the screen.

They gave up a touchdown.

Other than that we've been making them earn it.

We just got to keep doing that.

Don't give up explosives.

Make them earn it.

Tackle well one half football.

All right.

Good luck in the second half.

Coach Justin Rodgers and his Thomas County Central Yellow Jackets leading at halftime at the 58 championship game 21-7 It's been a great week of championships.

We'll have a full wrap up of that coming up at halftime with Nick and Nelly.

Let me know if I can help you with anything.

Just looking.

I only buy local and sustainable, so.

Oh., well, that shirt's not local.

You should be wearing cotton.

George is a major supplier of cotton worldwide, so if you'd like to buy local to support Georgia, buying cotton is a great place to start.

It's renewable and sustainable.

Naturally.

Thanks.

That's a polyester fiber made of oil, by the way.

Where's your dressing room?

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Welcome in to Mercedes Benz Stadium and welcome to our last and final halftime show.

I'm Nicki Noto Palmer.

This is Jon Nelson Nick Nelly.

We have enjoyed bringing you the best of the best of high school football state championship coverage over the past three days.

Nelly I don't want it to end, but the good news is we have one more half of football to be played and that is the 5-A matchup title game going on behind us between Thomas County Central and Gainesville.

217 at the break, 18 first downs for Thomas County Central.

Only five for the Red elephants.

28 carries, 147 yards on the ground for TCC.

Only 39 rushing yards for Gainesville as we go, but 74 yards through the air, 159 through the air for Thomas County Central.

Cody was catching up with Coach Rodgers, breaking down the numbers, yardage differential 306 to 113 in the first half.

And then you have the one interception on the other side.

But right now it has been dominant possession 16 minutes to eight.

Basically 1 second off their 15 59-8 hundred 1 second third down efficiency really quickly.

Two of six on one side, one of six on the other two for two on fourth downs for Thomas County Central here in the first 20:04 minutes.

There we are.

And that's why it's 217 at the break.

There you go.

And Coach Rogers told Cody at the half, hey, we're going to make him earn it and play our ball.

True Coach Rogers fashion.

Yes, absolutely.

And I know that he's waiting 24 minutes regardless that that Santa's beard of his is going to be disappearing after this matchup tonight.

All right.

Let's catch up with our friends one final time at Georgia's EMCs.

We can't thank them enough for their partnership that they have here with high school football, with high school athletics, and with Georgia Public Broadcasting and the Cooperative Spirit Sportsmanship Award was a great award for all of us to give to all of you all season long, and show you what it means to the rest of the state.

Here's your wrap up.

One, 23.

The 36 participating Georgia Electric membership cooperatives would like to congratulate all the winners of the GHSA Cooperative Spirit Sportsmanship Award in 2025.

Eli.

This award honors schools that exhibit exemplary sportsmanship during competitive events.

Only one school in each region in each classification is chosen to receive this annual award.

The GHSA takes into consideration all aspects of sportsmanship, making the award a tribute to the entire community.

Introduced in 2006, this award reinforces the GHSA philosophy that everyone associated with high school activities, from athletes to spectators, should adhere to the fundamental values it represents.

Georgia EMC in the 36 participating Georgia Electric membership cooperatives are proud to sponsor the Cooperative Spirit Sportsmanship Award.

Congratulations to all the winners this year.

And congratulations again to all of the winners.

Unfortunately, we have to take a quick break.

Quick though John.

Proper hydration of course.

That's right.

And we've got our last and final.

You save at Pharmacy Player Spotlight coming up.

And then we have a special guest coming up, our executive director of the GHSA, doctor Tim Scott.

You want to stick around for that?

We'll be right back on GPB.

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Welcome back to GPB.

It's halftime right now of our class 5-A matchup between Thomas County Central and Gainesville Thomas County Central is leading 21-7 right now, but I have to share with you an exceptional student athlete out of Thomas County Central.

Her name is Jaida Pinkins, now Jaida.

She plays flag softball, basketball, runs track.

She can do it all.

Do it well.

She is our last and final.

You save it.

Pharmacy player spotlight.

Jaida is a great program player.

She's the epitome of what you want as a teammate and as a player.

She's just going to do what she has to do to the best of her ability, and that's how she leads.

Probably be easier to say what she doesn't do.

She plays about every sport that's offered.

I play for.

Sports softball, flag football, basketball, track.

But I think it just shows just how special she is that she can excel, not just participate in, but excel at every sport that she plays.

Congratulations again to Jaida.

What an elite talent.

A four sport athlete.

Wow.

Maybe Coach Rogers could use her out there on the field tonight.

Keep it right here on GPB because on the other side of the break, we have our last and final guest.

We've got GHSA executive director doctor Tim Scott.

You don't want to miss that conversation we're going to have with him.

Keep it right here on GPB.

We'll be right back.

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So.

You wouldn't take a call during the big game.

Oh hey what's up man?

You wouldn't be texting while cheering on your team.

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And you definitely wouldn't want to watch a video while marching with the band.

So why would you drive a car while distracted driving isn't a game when you lose on the road, it could lead to a crash.

So when you get behind the wheel, put the distractions aside, drive hands free, and save lives.

Heads up Georgia.

Welcome back in our GPB halftime show.

We've got some bands out there on the field right now.

Look at him go.

That is the Gainesville Red Elephants getting it done on the field.

What a joy it is to be here with you for our GPB halftime show.

We've said it one time, two times, three times.

We've got the GHSA executive director, Dr.

Tim Scott, with us.

Dr.

Scott, thanks so much for joining us all week long for championship coverage.

How are you holding up?

I'm holding up fine.

Listen, we've got a great team and that really helps out.

So things are going good and you guys have done a great job.

I've enjoyed the opportunity to visit with you all.

When it comes to everybody that helps out with the GHSA for an event like this, how many people are we talking about?

What's the infrastructure that's attached?

How many different committees are there?

How many hermetically sealed zoom calls go into this kind of a thing to make something like this go?

How many different folks are we talking about here?

Well, just from our office and not I'm not counting the bins.

And, you know, you guys and that kind of stuff.

We're probably close to 100 of us that Owen hands on deck and working.

And then, you know, the committees with the Mercedes Benz and committees with meeting with Kevin and then with TV and that kind of stuff.

It's a lot.

And we our team starts meeting pretty quick July frequently after that continues all the way up until this time.

But we actually start planning when we get back in January.

I was going to.

Say, we know that football is going on right now, but there's other sports that are wrapping up their season.

We're getting into basketball, some winter sports.

What's going to be the focus for you guys in 2026?

What are the goals if you will?

Well, we're starting a new cycle.

You know, as far as the two year cycle goes and the postseason rankings are going to change a lot of things.

We're trying to get the best 32 teams in the bracket.

Region champions will be guaranteed to host that anything else is up to how they, you know, rank.

And so the whole thing is to try to make sure we get the very best and have the best tournament and the best final four and the best two.

So then let's work backward here.

How much thought went into the news cycle and the power rankings, because a lot of folks may sit there and they just pop in.

It's like, oh, it's going to be power rankings next year.

How much thought went into this?

How far back did those conversations go with the planning to get it to that point?

Well, actually started about seven years ago.

And then as they worked up, we implemented it, you know, this the last two years where we pulled the private schools out.

And so classifications, a AA and AAA, you know, they were divided.

And so we used the postseason rankings there.

They were working well, they seemed to be well made.

A few tweaks in the formula.

And then we decided to go with all seven next year, seven classifications, all of them will be postseason rankings.

Wow.

There you go.

How do you think that's going to change our work next year?

Well, it's going to be what same number of title games.

That's not changing I don't think.

No that won't change.

One thing that will change is you may have a region that has six representatives and one that only has one representative.

Could could happen.

When we look back at the last two years and what we've done, we don't think that will happen very often, that it will be pretty even you may have one that has 5-1 that has three.

But the whole idea is let's make sure we have the best competitions and the best teams competing for the state championship.

Talking about these three days, I think it's been a really cool cross-section of the entire state because you've had Savannah represented twice, you've had Sylvester here with Worth County, you've had Toombs here with everyone there in Lyons.

You've had Bowden and you've had Lincoln County.

It's great to see all of these different sizes and all of these different areas represented to come here to show off what it really means to see Georgia high school football here.

Oh, absolutely.

And the communities that followed him here, I think everybody in Worth County was here the other night.

That is true.

I mean, that's what's so amazing about our football and athletics in our state in Georgia is that communities back their high schools, they put pour a lot into those.

And and of course, the expectation is high in those communities as well.

And we want the young people to perform.

Is there anything else that you want viewers.

Because we have viewers from all over.

I mean, not just the country, but international viewers that might not understand who the GHSA is and what they do.

So can you explain to the viewers exactly your role?

Well, our role is we basically oversee athletics and activities because we also have the one act plays and the literary and that kind of stuff in, in all of our high schools.

And we follow the NFHS, the National High School Federation rules, and make sure we monitor that.

The idea is to make sure we provide great venues.

We're a voluntary organization.

Schools do not have to join.

Districts do not have to join.

That's that's up to them.

And it's a public we take public and private.

There are some schools that only take public.

I mean, some states that only do public, but we don't.

We take any school that wants to participate.

There is an application process, and you have to have a minimum of 150 students in nine through 12.

So.

And then they become members, correct?

They become members.

Yes.

And we're very fortunate financially over the last six years, we've not had to charge any dues.

And we actually have given two member shares of their dues.

Like, say, if you're a seven day school, you paid $1,000.

Well, you get 2000 back, but we're not charging any dues.

So financially we've done well and we're trying to pour back in.

That's exactly what I was talking about last night with the foundation.

And so we want to continue to do that.

You mentioned all of the different activities, whether we're talking athletics or academic.

We were able to honor all of the coaches of the year, and I just counted all the different categories.

There's 32 different categories that I read through here with all of these different folks.

What's it like to be able to honor theater speech and debate and adapted, which has become really big here in the state?

We'll focus on that in in Macon to go with soccer, slow pitch swimming and all these others.

Listen, we offer more than anybody else, I think, in the nation as far as activities, 32 activities, we have 458 schools that participate in those activities.

So we couldn't do it, though, without the schools and the administrators.

And that's the great thing about being all over the state and getting to know people.

We have great people everywhere.

Dr.

Scott, thank you so much for your time, and thank you for what you do for the GHSA and the impact that you carry.

And this championship right here.

I mean, this is just.

It's the best example of what you guys do.

Well, listen, thank you guys for what you do to promote us and share what we do across the state.

We appreciate it.

Cody is going to be catching up with Josh Niblett around the corner.

Second half.

Last championship 13-13 He's Dr.

Scott Nick Nelly we'll see you downstairs.

Have fun guys.

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Getting ready for the start of the second half at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the 5-A state championship game.

It has been all Thomas County Central 217 lead on Gainesville.

In fact, it's been more dominant than the final score or the score at halftime would suggest 306 yards of offense for TC and only 113 for Gainesville.

The inability of Gainesville to be able to run the ball has really limited their offense, and on the other side, Thomas County Central just having their way offensively, they are very balanced.

They're being able to run the quarterback draw, get outside with deuce has just been very impressive.

Let's take a look at the first half highlights.

TC jumped on him early.

Jalen Johnson going up top to Pringle for the touchdown.

All about being able to establish the run game to get deep.

And here a little double pass here Watkins going to air it out to Dunbar for the big play.

And that turned into the touchdown run by Jaylen Johnson 14-0 at this point.

Gainesville finally was able to get back in it on the screen pass to Kam James.

The tight end.

Finally playing complementary, getting some energy and Thomas County Central right after that took the air out of them with another impressive touchdown drive.

Here are the stats.

Like I said, it has been a dominant first half for TCC.

And when you look at it, it's all about the run game.

Everything that Gainesville wants to do is off the rush.

They only have 39 yards rushing.

Thomas County Central just dominating the line of scrimmage.

All right time now for our halftime interview.

And let's send it to Cody.

Here with Josh Niblett, head coach of Gainesville.

Coach, how do you evaluate that first half?

Well, I mean, obviously we'd like to have played a little better.

You know, I don't think we helped ourselves defensively because offensively we couldn't establish the drive that we wanted to.

We had one big play in the game.

Then we get a drive going.

We kind of shoot ourselves in the foot.

So you know, we got to do a better job.

We got to get a stop here and then and then go down and score.

Turn this into a one-score game, try to get some turnovers, earn the right to rush the passer on third down and then offensively establish some drives.

We get a chance to make it explosive.

We got to.

What was your message to these guys in the half?

Look man we've been through a lot.

We've been through a lot this whole year man.

Adversity is nothing to us.

We got 24 minutes to continue to play together, love each other and play hard together.

And to God be the glory man.

These guys understand what they're playing for.

Coach.

Good luck in the second half.

Josh Niblett in his Gainesville Red Elephants a little work to do trailing 217 at the break.

Absolutely very impressed with Jalen Johnson as we have been every time we've seen Jalen Johnson play.

This is the final game of his high school football career.

You hit the nail on the head when we opened this game and said he is calm, cool and collected.

Yeah, he is the presence for both sides of the ball.

He keeps his head.

He's always active and leading his team.

And tonight what he's brought, being able to run the ball I think, is that dimension that his catching Gainesville by surprise there.

The numbers 12 of 17 passing for one 14-1 touchdown, eight carries for 42 yards and another touchdown.

And while Gainesville has not been able to establish the running game with the loss of their star running back Nigel Newkirk, Deuce Lawrence has been able to run at will 17 carries for 102, 107 Ashely for Deuce Lawrence.

And you have to give credit to that offensive line up front, taking on the challenge of Gainesville, as we talked about dominant defensive presence up there for them, the offensive line doing a good job for T and in this second half, Gainesville they're going to have to get some chunk plays down the field.

But you feel like everything about that is can they get Dwight Lewis going in the run game?

Xavier Griffin does have nine tackles for Gainesville seven solo.

That's a good news, bad news thing.

The good news is he's making tackles.

The bad news is he's having to make so many tackles because they're out there so long.

Yeah, they've been out there the time of possession so heavily.

And the Yellow Jackets favor they're going to have to, as I said, get themselves off the field, get them in second and third and long, which are their best downs because they're great pass rushers up front.

All right two questions.

We'll play this game.

First question what does Gainesville have to do to get back in this game and win it?

Offensively they're going to have to open it up a little bit, try on the back end, get the ball to Philip Williams Porterfield down field.

They can't just wait to a third and long to try to go deep.

They're going to have to do it right off the top.

And for Thomas County Central I think they just got beat themselves.

As long as they don't turn the ball over offensively, they've been able to move the ball and defensively they get off the field.

And they're going to get the ball first to start this third quarter.

How big would a scoring drive here be to start this third quarter in advance this game and get it close to putting it on ice.

Now it's going to take a while to put it on ice against this Gainesville team, because they can score points in a hurry.

They can be explosive, but as long as they don't kill themselves, like you said, they've got a chance to win their second state championship in three years.

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Here we go.

Final half of the 2025 Georgia high school football season.

Gonzalez will kick it off for Gainesville.

It's going to be taken by Lawrence at the four.

Lawrence coming this way.

Big cut to the outside and Gonzalez the kicker, gets him on the ground at the 47 yard line.

Great job of return.

All hands on deck.

Deuce Lawrence returning kicks.

Always dangerous.

Great blocking up front.

Watch this hole.

Just open up.

Just a clear lane.

Clear path.

Only the kicker to beat right there.

Tried to get underneath.

Good job.

Good tackle there by the kicker.

Give a lot of credit to Gonzalez there.

Because if he doesn't get in front of Lawrence that's a 98 yard kick return.

And maybe they can start warming up the busses getting ready to head back home with the state championship trophy.

Lawrence battling gets a couple of yards on the play.

Once again.

Jalen Johnson very cool kind of Statue of Liberty kind of disposition when he hands the ball off I think he kind of freezes the defense for a fraction of a second.

You're not even sure that he has the ball.

He's back there.

So calm.

You've been trying to figure that out in the first half.

And we talked about it at halftime.

There's kind of a very deliberateness kind of slow plays the play and Lawrence gets another big gain.

Nice job out there.

Lawrence out in space.

Good blocking by the offensive line.

Once again.

Garbett out there.

The wide receivers good block out kick out.

Block by Watkins.

See the yards for Lawrence tonight.

Another big night for the Wake Forest signee.

And that's a first down carry for Lawrence again.

Offensive line opening holes.

Good job.

Three runs in a row.

Just setting a tempo.

Kind of like early in the game where they just ran right at Gainesville dared him to stop him.

First and ten from the 40.

Lawrence cuts to the outside.

Now Jaylen Johnson steps into the throw wide open Pringle his second touchdown of the game and it's 27-7 Best pass of the night here by Jalen Johnson.

Selling the quarterback draw.

Just baiting the linebackers to come up the stop him.

We've seen him have success running this quarterback draw.

Watch how he steps up.

Freezes the linebackers.

Gives James excuse me gives Pringle time to get behind the secondary.

And just a beautiful pass there to the tight end.

Running down the seam.

The 61, 215 sophomore tight end just starting with his recruiting.

He's been offered by Georgia State already.

And it is quickly a 28-7 lead for TCC.

And Gainesville just had more pressure applied to them here in the second half.

Beautiful job execution there by Jaylen Johnson.

You can see Daryl Williams, the middle linebacker, step up when Jalen Johnson made that fake, giving Pringle time to get behind him.

Safety has no chance.

Good route.

Beautiful ball and a great catch there by the young sophomore.

Pringle two touchdown catches tonight.

Only two in their first 14 games of the season.

Having a big breakout night here on the big stage.

And they really expect this young man to be a big time star for them in the next couple of seasons.

As junior and senior years.

Great job of the offense coming out.

First and foremost, a special team with Deuce Lawrence the big return in the offense, taking advantage of the short field and putting a lot of pressure on the Red elephants, mainly because it starts to put them where they're going to have to throw the ball and they're really a run based offense.

They do have the talent, they do have the talent at quarterback, but Hughley and they find themselves where they're going to have to open it up here.

Interesting alignment here and now.

Gainesville will spread back out on their kick return team as Thomas County Central Lyon spreads out as well at the 35.

And kick is going to be Wilmont at the two Wilmont Legend Wilmont across the 15 and no whistle.

There was no whistle.

Wilmont still running all the way down the sideline.

Did they just trick him into a touchdown?

Justin Rogers is going crazy.

The coaching staff of TCC and everybody froze.

Even Trevon Pringle, who had the tackle, everyone for the Yellow Jackets kind of stopped.

And you see the the white hat discussing.

They felt like there was a whistle blown.

I did not hear a whistle.

I'm told there was a whistle that was Heard down on the field.

So now they're going to have to sort this out.

Thomas County Central players stopped in their tracks.

Even Wilmont stopped for a moment.

It's a big moment here.

A momentum shifter.

And.

Yeah, he's just saw you just saw Josh Niblett say touchdown.

Nobody blew a whistle.

And he's he's looking across the field at Justin Rodgers.

Listen.

Everybody, everyone everyone on the field stopped.

Even the return man as you said, Matt.

Even Wilmont stopped the whole return team stopped.

And then somehow he realized maybe Philip Williams was right next to him.

Said keep running.

And he did.

I wouldn't be surprised if they don't have a rekick here because TCC definitely has a case and you can see it in the body language of everyone on the field.

There was a whistle blown.

And you could Josh Niblett is as upset as you're going to get him right there.

That's a big play for his team.

As we just talked about.

The ruling on the field is an inadvertent whistle was blown as the ball was caught.

We're going to rekick.

Now that was the whistle blown because they thought maybe Wilmont stepped on the end line when he took the ball into his hand.

Maybe that's why the whistle was blown.

So here's the replay.

Real time with.

Sound.

Yeah, there was a whistle right there.

Right there.

It it seemed like the official right there with Wilmont caught the ball, maybe thought he was on the end line at that point, but he was at like the 1 yard line.

So it was no need for the whistle.

But you could clearly hear the whistle.

And each and every player on the field, even Wilmont himself, stop running.

So.

One more time.

This is real time.

No replay, no slow motion.

Go get him.

Go get him.

Well, what's interesting is the official that was right there looked like he wound the play, but he blew the whistle.

He made a mistake.

Let's bring in Dave.

That's exactly what an inadvertent whistle is.

A big old mistake.

When you have a whistle during a play, the person the team with the ball has the option to take it where the whistle was blown.

So at the one or two.

They're not going to do.

That or just replay the.

Game clock to 10 minutes and 38 seconds.

Yeah.

It's clear.

I mean, there was a whistle blown.

The official that was right there, he wound his arm like play goes on.

But at the same time he blew the whistle.

Just a mistake.

Correct.

You know, and you imagine maybe the whistles in his mouth.

He's swinging his arm and the air came through the whistle.

Yeah, that would be inadvertent, but you could tell by the reaction of all the players on the field that they heard it on ground level.

Yeah.

Well, there's clearly there's a whistle, so there's no debate about that.

You know, Gainesville is obviously upset because they scored a touchdown.

But here's the thing.

If it wasn't for the whistle, he's not going to score a touchdown there.

In all likelihood they had coverage on it.

Yes.

Trevon Pringle had him dead to rights.

Probably was going to get tackled there inside the 15.

So I understand why the Gainesville side is upset.

But this is the right call.

So we'll try this again with no whistle.

And kick coming down at the seven, this time for Wilmont and Wilmont going to get cut down at the 14 yard line.

Ball comes out.

It is recovered by Philip Williams.

I think.

They're going to rule him down by contact.

Contact.

Ball popped out there Wilmont hobbling a little bit.

Got hit in the leg.

Looks like he hit the ground before the ball came out.

Let's see as he tries to cross the field here.

Gets out of the initial tackle right there.

And then the cleanup duty right into his legs.

You can see he was on the ground.

That right hip was down on the ground before the ball came popping out.

Yeah.

Right there.

Brown forced the fumble.

And so now Gainesville back at the 14 yard line.

Wilmont over on the sideline.

He's Hurt.

Dwight Lewis now, how much has this been?

Thomas County Central defense.

How much has it been?

Them not having Newkirk Lewis being sick all week?

Is it any of that or a combination of all of that?

I think it's just a combination of all of that.

Dwight Lewis bouncing back after a short week and then battling illness, and the offensive line is just not winning the line of scrimmage as we saw them do last week in Rome, doing a good job up there.

Brooks to Andrews twins inside Prince.

Second down and eight.

Take a handoff to Lewis throwing Porterfield went down and no flag.

Just getting tied up right there with Jermaine Dennis out on the edge as he tries to break out of his route there.

Collin Porterfield right here.

As you can see, just ran into the chest.

Really ran Dennis over.

Just tripped as he tried to come out of the break.

Third down.

Third and long here.

Pressure situation for the Yellow Jackets linebackers.

They come from outside and inside.

Not going to give the quarterback a lot of time to make a decision.

Kharim Hughley stepped up in the pocket, throws it deep, incomplete.

Looking for Kam James.

They have not been able to get the ball to Philip Williams at all.

Really not able to spread the ball around.

A lot of play action fakes have been taken out because the defense is winning first and second down first, forcing a lot of third and longs right there.

Good protection, just nowhere to go with the ball.

Tried to get the ball deep to James just not able to connect.

Yeah their top two wide receivers statistically are Williamson and Porterfield.

Neither one of them have a catch.

Booming kick and once again White makes no effort to go after the ball and it turns into a punt and a flip of the field for Gainesville.

I've just never really seen that that consistently.

Usually that's a function of something like a punt safe, where the return man just does not want to really touch the ball, but right there, just staying where he is as the ball doesn't come to White, he doesn't move to go get it.

Gainesville has four completions tonight from Kharim Hughley.

He's four for 14 and all four receptions have come from their three tight ends.

Just throwing the ball to tight end.

They have really just played great first and second down defense, forcing third and long.

And here is the big decision.

Can you stop this offense right there gifting you Garlington that right guard.

You can see him bat his chest.

False start offense five-yard penalty first down.

Korchagin is back out there at center.

They had to help him off the field to get him to the locker room.

Looks like he has a little more bounce on that ankle.

Got in locker room.

Spat it up again.

Fresh tape.

So first and 15 now from the 20.

Beusse Lawrence hits the hole gets five back.

You can see this yellow jacket offense right now.

Jaimeer Coach Rogers offensive coordinator Joe Thornton.

This is where you just make the game ugly.

Try to figure out how you can get about a four or five minute drive.

Limit the possessions of Gainesville even being able to get back in this game.

Second down and nine.

Johnson right across the middle and no flag on the play.

Lot of contact there.

By Jeremiah to Proctor running up the back Jabari Watkins Yancey Watkins working that slant underneath.

A lot of contact right there in that play.

Third down and nine.

The backfield.

Got to keep your eye Mobley Jaylen Johnson has hurt you getting outside the pocket running.

Johnson throws picked at the 30.

And Porterfield Ashely pardon me Proctor jumps the route and gets the pick.

Great job of reading the quarterback.

Eyes right here.

Jeremiah Proctor the three star.

The big safety at 63, 195.

Watch right here.

You can see him at the bottom of your screen.

He's just reading Jalen Johnson.

Nice job.

Great hands jumping that route right there.

Jaylen Johnson trying to get the ball out to Everett and just doing a great job reading the quarterback eyes and making the play as Proctor.

Once again, offense getting a chance.

You got to get in the end zone this time.

Get the score a little closer.

Huge play by Proctor sets up the offense.

Hughley going to follow his blockers into the hole and Hughley down to the 24.

Guerra the corner in on that tackle.

Trying to find some kind of rush game right here.

Just quarterback right?

Student body right.

Everybody go right.

Green Hughley using his size strength.

Just trying to get some semblance of a run game to find some balance, to try some shots downfield.

Second down and five from the 24.

8.5 to go here in the third quarter.

Lewis.

Through a couple of defenders.

Picks up the first down at the 17.

Nice tough run right downhill.

Watch as he comes.

Good execution.

Good blocking falling forward.

And those are the kind of runs he was making last week.

Just tough hard downhill runs.

Maybe they can get him lathered up.

Eight carries 24 yards for Lewis tonight.

Went for over 200 last week.

Keefer Hughley down to the 13 Hughley goes.

Nice job.

Sense of urgency going on by Kareem Hughley Todd Niblett picking up the pace, allowing him to run the ball.

You like to see the ball.

The plays come in a little faster.

These situations not really.

In that two minute mindset, but you need a quicker operation.

Try to keep the pressure on the Yellow Jackets.

Hughley committed to Clemson over 17 total offers, including Georgia and Auburn.

Handoff goes to Lewis on the zone.

Read fumbled the ball.

Thomas County Central got it.

Picked it up and Kobe Carnage recovers it.

Carnage on the cover.

Stevenson on the big hit as he finishes the play.

Puts his helmet on the ball.

Watch zero as he works to the ball.

Here.

Lewis getting tackled and right there.

Helmet on the back of that arm and that ball is out.

Big hit by Amari Stevenson.

Once again you can see zero finishing the play.

The ball is out.

Dwight Lewis just does not look like the same Dwight Lewis we saw last Thursday night.

Perhaps the sickness.

He was in bed for three days this week.

They were very concerned about that.

They were wanting to get him up and moving and try to get some food in him.

He wasn't keeping anything down, so I don't know if that has anything to do with it tonight.

Can't help, that's for sure.

Johnson loading up and going for the deep ball and Dunbar can't run under it.

Watson running step for step on the coverage.

Saw this route earlier right there.

You see Dunbar looking for the call a little close there at the end trying to air it out.

Go for the big play.

An eligible receiver downfield offense five yard penalty.

First down.

Zion Garlington the right guard.

We saw this earlier.

Corey King just drifting downfield.

Got to sell that play but not get downfield.

Khaylin Johnson just the numbers and the Knight he's having.

And just still so surprised of the offers coming his way.

I don't know what else you want to see.

Usually it's a guy that might not meet the measurements, but he has all of them.

Lawrence nearly busted a long touchdown run right there.

Lawrence a complete back ability to bounce this to the outside.

Good blocking over there by the the left tackle.

Dijon Cooper big pickup.

That's a big get for Wake Forest to.

Encroachment defense.

Five yard penalty.

Against Wake Forest.

But you would think.

Clemson maybe.

Getting him a dynamic player guy that just finding himself.

Great size speed balance real spark plug of a player in Lawrence.

I think Wake Forest was on him early with a lot of players.

That makes a big difference.

Lawrence again man, he is about a split second away from busting a 60 yard touchdown.

The division right here.

The jump cut to get back into the hole.

Watch the feet here to get into this hole.

Boom boom foot in the ground.

The acceleration right there.

Touchdown saving tackle there by Jeremiah Proctor.

They keep hammering that rock.

It's going to break here in a moment.

Lawrence again they're sensing the same thing we are.

And Lawrence is really running the ball right now up to the 47 yard line Cody what you got.

Yeah.

Jamarion Matthews the Alabama signee.

He's been sidelined for these past two series for this Gainesville defense trying to stretch out his leg over here and get loose.

Yeah these kids got to stop worrying about being on the Halo board.

We've seen that a number of times here in the finals.

Man.

You get ready, get used to the TV, man.

You're getting ready to go play college football.

Going to Bama.

That's all they have is cameras on the Crimson Tide down there.

You go to.

You go to the sideline at Alabama.

They're going to have reporters over there checking on your condition all the time.

This offensive line is controlling everything now especially when you take the kind of presence that Matthews has inside.

They're just going to work this ball, eat up some clock, stay physical.

Ball security is running backs is key.

Javian Johnson Jaylen Johnson throws it right there in the middle of the Watkins.

It's a compliment actually, that we're showing him on the sideline because he's such an important player.

They need him out there.

Right here.

Play action fake trying to strike with the slant inside a little behind him right there on the throw.

We've seen Jalen Johnson when he's had it been off a little.

He's throwing behind the receivers right there.

Got a lead Jabari Watkins into that.

Second down and ten ball at the 49.

Lawrence back in there.

Wow.

Physical run by Lawrence running over Marshall Leonard.

Running right into the chest of Marshall right there a violent runner is what Coach Rodgers talked about when he thought first thing out of his mind.

Violent runner right there.

Chip on his shoulder.

Feels like teams overlooked him.

People overlook him.

Lawrence man, he is a monster right now.

That puts him over 172 yards tonight.

Camden Goodwin Frank Garbett the tight end, the fullback just driving the pile right there riding that wave on their back was Lawrence dominance in the run game.

Right now for the Yellow Jackets.

Wow.

Look at the vision.

Earlier this afternoon during the three a state championship game.

We were talking about the best running backs in the state.

Might be this guy right here.

Right here outside play.

Really dead.

His individual effort right there.

The cutting ability, the explosiveness to get upfield.

Take him a little quick water break.

But he's sensing that his deuce Lawrence time.

He is lighting it up right now Johnson on the run.

He breaks free.

We might need two towels tonight.

Touchdown for Johnson.

Once again great blocking up front by the offensive line.

Jalen Johnson showing you the whole package here tonight.

The size the physicality.

Watch how he just follows the blocks right here.

The cut inside the vision and the little burst of speed to get into the end zone.

34-7 Kick is going to be blocked.

So the score will remain right there at 347.

Just not sure what you're looking for.

If you're not looking for a Jaylen Johnson.

Media time-out.

A lot of people missing on this guy.

One of the top quarterbacks in the state and showing it here tonight in the 5-A state championship game.

Second rushing touchdown Thomas County rolling.

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Thomas County Central really putting the two.

Gainesville right now.

Jaylen Johnson.

What are colleges looking for?

If what they've seen here tonight isn't what they want?

I'm really not understanding what his size, his speed.

He's showing you that he can throw the deep pass.

He's got good touch on the ball.

Not really sure what the knock is, what you can find wrong with his game at this point in his career.

He's had an amazing career.

He's having an amazing final game to his high school football career.

It will be two state championships in three years unless Gainesville can come back to this point.

They've shown no inkling that they're going to do that.

Legend goes down.

What a hit.

Flag comes out.

That's a tough flag right there because the runner was slipping as he was trying to cut to go the other way.

Definitely a very tough flag right here.

Jabari Watkins out on the coverage team and you could just see Wilmont slip.

And just falling kind of in this as you can see slipped.

Watch how he slips right there.

And just really I don't know, it's just a slip.

Let's see if he hit him with the crown.

Is that what they're calling?

Yeah, I think they're going.

To stay down right there.

Crown of the helmet.

And the helmet.

Illegal helmet.

Contact kicking team.

15 yard penalty added to the end of the run.

First down.

It wasn't helmet to helmet contact, but he did.

Trying to get down there as the as the returner slipped.

Hit him with the crown of the helmet.

We'll bring in Dave.

Another element of that penalty though is leading with the crown.

Right.

Yeah 100% nail on the head right there.

You cannot lead with the crown of your helmet when the face mask is horizontal with the ground.

That's a high area of concern.

Regardless of what body part you lead with the crown.

Yeah.

You don't have to hit the other player's helmet, but you're leading with your helmet.

That constitutes a penalty as well.

So Hughley and Gainesville offense back out there.

The 29 yard line with a lot of work to do.

Long pass complete to Philip Williams.

They finally get Williams involved in the game.

Empty backfield here.

Hughley the four star headed to Clemson.

Now he's going to have to work this ball down the field.

Two minute situation.

His offense is not necessarily built for this, but that's their only option to get a chance in this game.

And they're going to have to steal a possession somewhere because they're four.

They're down four possessions right now.

If they score on every one of their possessions.

Hughley runs out of bounds.

Sean got to get in and out of the huddle, get the ball.

But a good job getting out of bounds right there to stop the clock.

Biggest thing is not just scoring the defensive Gainesville has no answer for that.

Probably the biggest thing about this, when they do get the ball, even if they score right here, they may have to just start onside kicking.

That's the other component in this thing.

It's not just can the Gainesville offense score.

Can the Gainesville defense stop?

You see Josh Niblett saying, let's go, let's go.

Hughley scrambling.

Nowhere to go with it.

Gets to the outside.

Picks up the first down across the 30.

Hughley down to the 20 and out of bounds inside the 20.

Nice job improvising there as Hughley.

Nothing down the field.

Tight coverage right here.

Just making it up as he can go.

Didn't like what he saw right there.

Showing you the athleticism, the speed.

What a good job right there.

Making a play for his team.

He's got the ability to run this team back into this game, provided the defense and get some stops.

And that might be just what they have to do.

He's just got to take over.

Hughley guns.

It incomplete.

Looking for Williams flag out and have a penalty on Carnage.

Kobe Carnage on Philip Williams and just shoved him in the back right there.

Pushed him down.

Pass interference defense.

Half the distance to the goal.

Still first down.

Great sale there by Williams using the head and shoulders.

And he was going to run that corner route.

Went back with the slant Carnage just having to get a hand on him.

Push him down.

So first and one at the nine yard line.

So the half the distance left and a half yard short of the first down.

It's a little confusing, but that's what happened.

Hughley dancing.

Running.

Cuts it back in there.

Touchdown run Kareem Hughley.

Kharim Hughley drive right there.

Scrambles all around.

They get a break with the penalty.

But it was all about this young man and his ability.

Didn't like the slant the athleticism the ability to make plays with his feet.

Finally coming alive here in that drive.

And you got to figure that's what's going to have to happen here.

Gainesville he's just going to have to take over.

He's a four star.

He's ready to as high as number 5.

Dual threat in the country.

He got to show it.

Now he's got to show that here the rest of the game showed you some of that there on that drive.

Like you said it was the Kareem Hughley drive.

And now it's 34 14.

Right here.

Just scrambling.

Went for the slant.

Didn't like the slant to Philip Williams pressure in his face.

And then just the natural ability taking over.

And good job.

Couldn't find the slant.

Good coverage by TCC but a better individual effort in that drive.

Hopefully not too little, too late for in this situation.

And now the big question in this game defense.

Get a stop.

When I mean a stop.

I'm talking about one of those three and out.

They need the ball back right now.

Here's the red ribbon.

365 curriculum.

DBHDD scoring drive four plays 71 yards just 36 seconds, and almost all of it.

Absolutely.

Almost all of it.

Kareem Hughley.

I mean, I see his ability and maybe you agree.

Maybe you don't.

He could be a 1,000 yard rusher if you want it to be.

You can see the true dual threat possibility in him.

Will he.

You know some guys get stuck in that idea.

They don't want to show you so much of that because then they get in that little vein.

But you see the total package right there on that drive.

Well, whether they want to show it or not, they're going to have to have that tonight.

That tonight to win the state championship.

And Justin Rogers been working.

The officials Bobby Cox would be proud with the way he's working, the umpires and the officials, and they're going to let them return that from the goal line.

Straddling the goal line and the return up to the 29 yard line.

And that's where TCC will go on offense.

What an athlete.

Trayvon Pringle this young man playing linebacker with his team.

And then he returns kicks.

Well.

Pringle was their leading receiver back in 2023, and they moved him to linebacker because they were deep at wide receiver, not so deep at linebacker.

He's a great athlete and so he's got that ability.

So Thomas County Central has now been shown they got to keep the foot on the gas.

Wow.

Deuce Lawrence are you kidding me?

Footrace Lawrence touchdown.

The legend of Deuce Lawrence just grew a little bit bigger.

One cut the amazing speed.

You can see him right there saying he's going to put him to sleep.

Well, he's waking me up with those kind of plays.

Once again, the speedster dynamic living up to billing is Deuce Lawrence headed the way for us.

But as you said, Matt, maybe the best running back in the state came into the game near 2,000 yards rushing.

258 yards rushing in the 5-A state championship game.

And we're not even in the fourth quarter yet.

Good blocking.

Nice pull there by Jesse Tew.

And then just the individual.

You can see Xavier Griffin can't catch him right there.

Roger Holder trying to catch him.

Nice block by the fullback.

Garbett on the kick down and then just the speed of this young man and to have that speed this late in the game after so many carries, such a physical runner.

And then he shows you the great speed right there.

Look at that 29 carries.

When's the last time you saw a running back get 29 carries.

And that's what I mean this far into the game on carry number 29.

To have that kind of speed to take it that distance, it's such a credit to that young man.

He's saying, ring me, you're going to get your wish here in about 15 minutes.

West Gainesville can find a way to stop you guys, which so far tonight they have not been able to do.

We're not going to let you back in this game.

That's what that was right there by the Yellow Jackets.

We're going to keep going as soon as you get some momentum for the Red Elephants take the air out of the building is Deuce Lawrence.

So another component that's now coming into play is TCC is just three points away from forcing a running clock in the state championship game.

So let's see.

I mean that would I mean you get the running clock.

It's game over.

Yeah.

You get a three and out here and get some good field position.

You imagine Coach Rogers and his staff is very well aware of that.

They might go vertical.

Try to get a big play.

Remember in our semifinal game on Thursday, Gainesville did that to Rome.

They got they got to the 30 plus and had a running clock in the fourth quarter.

And it was not by accident that they got there.

So let's see if TCC tries to do the same thing here in the 5-A state championship game.

How much magic does Kharim Hughley have left trying to will his team back into this game with a big shift in momentum with that big run by deuce.

False start offense.

Five-Yard penalty.

First down.

So we've got Christian Deuce.

Lawrence with 278 yards of offense from the line of scrimmage.

You've got Jaylen Johnson with about 225 yards, and he's accounted for four touchdowns.

I'm told we do have two.

Towels two towels ready.

Two guys that have dominated this game.

The whole offense has been those two players.

Hughley spinning, running, flag out, throwing on the run and incomplete.

Williams tried to come back and help him out.

Probably a moot point anyway.

Probably got holding down here.

We have a rag anywhere we might want to give it to Artem the center.

Does anybody have a rag?

Because he is tough this whole game.

Out offense pelly's half the distance to the goal.

First down.

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Odem call setting back, taking momentum.

You see this defense this ready to rush the passer.

Randolph and that's going to be Bailey Demari Bailey on the run.

Really unfortunate for Gainesville that they got to the 15th game and they didn't have Newkirk.

And Lewis has been less than his best.

Not making excuses, just a fact.

That's been the case as part of the game though.

That's the way it works sometimes.

You got a big chunk play more vertical.

The luxury of running the ball.

I know it paid dividends that last drive because Hughley was making plays.

Got to get something in the air down the field.

Here comes the blitz.

They're chasing him to the sideline, gets rid of it and incomplete on the jump ball trying to go to James.

Guerra back there on the coverage.

Nice coverage right there Eddie Guerrero not leaving his man in that situation.

Even on the scramble, he stays back with pressure right there.

Late dog Stevenson forcing out of the pocket.

There's nowhere to go with the ball.

Nice job there by Cam Brooks as well.

The beast of the South Thomas County Central closing in on the seventh state championship in program history.

Third and nine.

Nice come with pressure.

I see bad snap.

Hughley goes back to get it under duress.

Tackled loss on the play.

Nice job of pursuit right there.

Cam Brooks haven't talked about him much.

Their best defensive player up front making his presence known.

And now Thomas County Central will have a chance to get this ball back here and possibly put a score on the board.

Get a running clock.

Wow.

Not at all what we expected here tonight.

DJ White standing at the 50 yard line to receive this punt.

This will be returnable.

Catches it over his shoulder.

Got a broken field, stumbles and still on his feet and goes down to the 38.

You have a flag on the far side of the field.

On TCC that Noland nullifies this return.

Always a tough play.

Looks like maybe 16 Floyd.

During the return.

Illegal block in the back return team.

Ten yard penalty from the spot of the foul.

First down.

Triston Flounoy right there blocking the back.

Just trying to make something happen.

But still with 129 you expect that they're going to maybe try to get vertical here, see if they can get some quick points on the board.

Push this up to 30.

Wayne, do you really have to get vertical or just hand the ball off to deuce?

Lawrence I'm sorry, you're right.

Just need another deuce.

Lawrence big play.

I mean.

He's about one big run away from blowing the top right off this stadium.

You're right.

I played with a great deuce down in New Orleans.

Deuce McAllister.

He was known for those kind of big runs.

Lemmy Dijon Porter.

Different now.

Running between the tackles, falling for deuce.

Deuce.

Lawrence on the sideline right now.

Look at that 560 yards rushing for deuce Lawrence in his last two games.

The semifinals and then the state championship game.

Wake forest might want to send a jet down here and take him from the stadium.

Make sure he shows up.

He signed, so they got a deal.

Pitch going out there to the edge.

The Jordan McNeil.

So McNeil going to start to get some carries.

Doesn't look like they're going to go for the jugular here and try to get it to a running clock.

This breath.

Oh here he comes.

Hold your breath.

Here.

He's going to get one more run.

In before the end.

Of the quarter.

Third and six right here.

Likely will get this ball.

And now another false start up front.

Tight end Godwin.

False start offense.

Five penalty.

Third down.

I see a lot of those players.

They got those like Gators up over their mouth and nose I don't know how.

How do you play with that.

That seems like.

It seems like that would be smothering you.

Smothering hard to breathe?

I would think so.

I don't know how they do that.

We're inside temperature controlled.

It looks like we're going to go into the fourth.

Going to the fourth 41:14 Thomas County, Central.

It has been as thorough and dominating as the score would indicate.

That's the end of the third quarter.

Hughley with a little flash right there.

But man, they got deuce and deuce gets loose.

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Go Cody.

Thomas County Central.

12 minutes away from their second title in three years and the best news for all of the folks on this sideline.

Thomas County Schools has extended Christmas break by two days.

There's no school tomorrow.

The party can go well into the night.

That's great news.

That's amazing news.

The teachers aren't going to make it back.

I mean, you got like an eight hour drive by the time this game is over.

It's not quite eight, but it's five.

In the middle of the night, it feels like eight.

Start of the fourth quarter, third down and 11.

And in between quarters they were carrying Korchagin down to the other side of the field.

Shades of Byron Leftwich.

Old teammate, great friend of mine, Byron Leftwich.

Spin move goes back to the other side.

And that's Pringle again.

Pringle giving everybody a preview of what's going to come the next couple of years with the game he's had tonight.

Those Tweeners 62205.

Excuse me.

61, 220 sophomore.

So a bright future for him.

Four catches for Pringle.

He's up close to 90 yards of receiving now.

Trying to note the clock.

Beusse Lawrence.

Are you kidding me?

This guy, he's not real.

I think he's trying to put another 300 up on the board.

He wants it to be even two games of 300 plus physical run right there.

Once again, inside offensive line.

Just been doing a great job.

Can you give that kind of talent that kind of room to operate up front?

Lawrence another 5 yards just keeps adding to that total goes up over 270.

And that's what we're going to see here.

The rest of this quarter.

This running behind his pads physical run game just wearing on this defense Jamarion Matthews not back out there.

He's been out the last drive or two.

And he's just wearing this defensive front out.

Second down Lawrence goes sprinting to the outside.

Going to be a straight quarterback run here by Johnson.

Ball comes out.

But well after he was down third down.

Cayden Cain big penetration right there.

And he kind of sensed that play.

Just instinctively went and took on that quarterback draw by Jalen Johnson.

Cain got five tackles tonight.

Deuce Lawrence bust is another one touchdown.

Deuce.

Amazing is all I can think of right here.

This young man and what he's doing here tonight is he keeps pointing.

He wants the ring.

He's trying to close the door and see it close.

Explosion right here off of this right side.

Great blocking by the offensive line.

Garlington.

These fullbacks and tight ends done a great job.

And then just the speed.

No one in the building is going to catch him in a footrace.

318 yards rushing in the state championship game.

And it's 48-14 deuce Lawrence with a performance for the ages in the state championship.

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Cody.

Yeah, tonight Thomas County Central fueled by Deuce, Lawrence and the future.

They will be fueled by venison.

They've started a program where farmers who can take deer year round in South Georgia can donate their deer meat.

One of the dads of a player here has a deer processing plant.

We asked Coach Justin Rodgers, what can you do with all that deer meat?

He sounded like Bubba from Forrest Gump.

He's had beef stroganoff, hamburger meat, spaghetti, sloppy Joe's.

So venison fed the motto for the future.

For these Thomas County Central Yellow Jackets.

Wow.

What a job.

Justin Rogers.

There was a day back in the 1990s.

Okay.

It looked like they were having a worm contest down there.

The hype squad.

Give him give him back the fire extinguishers.

Because that is just not.

Yeah.

Let's go with the fire extinguishers, Dave.

Take them.

The fire extinguisher back down there.

Wow.

What a worm contest.

Never seen that.

That was Godwin the tight end.

That was pretty good.

Yeah.

This is one of the.

I don't know who that is.

That's one of the coaches.

I don't know who that is, but he did a pretty good worm, that's for sure.

Flag out on the kickoff.

So let's see if Gainesville takes it at the 35.

Looks like that's what they're going to do.

Kicking team.

The ball be placed to the 35 yard line.

First down.

There was a time back in the 1990s when Ed Pilcher was the head coach of the Yellowjackets.

The late Ed Pilcher passed away a couple of years ago.

And the Yellowjackets ran the state.

They won five state titles in six years.

Justin Rodgers is setting up to maybe make that kind of a run here.

This is going to be 2-3 years.

Just been an outstanding performance.

And I know we've been talking about Deuce Lawrence and rightfully so.

What an amazing game.

But you got to tip your hat to this defense.

And the way they have played out here tonight, I mean they have just shut down a high powered rushing attack to nothing.

Lewis gets the carry, bounces off a tackle, but then goes down.

That was Carnage making the tackle for the Yellowjackets.

Barlow Drayden.

And as far as all time great performances go, what Deuce Lawrence has done here tonight, I be interesting to see how close he is getting to the record.

I remember a couple of years ago remember OJ Arnold, the running back for Brooks County, had the five touchdowns and 300 plus, but outside of that, never seen anything close to this Hughley takes off and runs and that's going to be a long touchdown for Hughley.

Two bad Gainesville couldn't have gotten to that a little bit earlier.

Yeah, just something that him using his legs really has just come out here in the second half when the score has just been out of reach, still fighting, still showing the heart that you would imagine this young player has bringing the pressure, forcing him out of the pocket.

Cam Brooks just not able to catch up and then just bad angles by the defense on the back end.

Hughley showing the athleticism and speed, which makes him such a high recruit.

Yeah, this is something that really did not see in his junior season.

Saw a little bit of it, a little bit more of it in his sophomore year.

But here in his junior season, not so much, but a 59 yard touchdown run by Hughley makes it 48 21.

Time-out on the field.

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Coach Rogers still coaching.

Kind of just really believes in his players.

Talked about the recruitment and how scouts are learning that they're going to have to get off the plane and come south TC and see all the talent that he has down there.

What a dominant performance tonight.

About the effort of Hughley a couple of scrambles this game with definitely be even bigger.

So for a little historical perspective on what Deuce Lawrence has done tonight with his 318 yards as they drive the onside kick and it's covered.

By Gainesville.

Looks like Gainesville.

The ball went 10 yards.

It looks like the Yellow Jackets didn't understand the rule.

The ball only has to go 10 yards.

Good job.

As you can see they kind of fell back and no one went to get the ball.

That's 10 yards right there.

They went in great coverage.

Got to attack the ball.

That was Demari Cheeks who turned around and covered the ball.

So Gainesville not going down without a fight here.

I was going to say, and I'll put a bow on that is to keep the Lawrence rushing in perspective.

The great Herschel Walker had 302 yards rushing for Johnson County in 1979.

In the state championship game.

Lawrence has done better than that.

So back to business here.

Gainesville trying to get back in this game and do something as the pass is incomplete to Wilcox.

Just a long way to go down 27 with 8:50 to go.

You can put your name on the list with Herschel Walker.

Yeah.

That's the state of Georgia.

I mean, you're talking about legendary status.

You can walk around and beat your chest on a great, maybe the greatest running back that ever played in college.

A lot of people have him as that.

Pass is complete.

Goes to Cam James and quickly down inside the 30 yard line.

Nice execution right now this defense is kind of in celebration mode.

Not playing with the same energy, not getting off blocks.

Gainesville is just going to keep fighting.

Pass in the air and jump ball broken up.

Pringle breaks it up as they try to get the ball to Williams.

Plenty of time to deliver this ball.

Great coverage out here by Pringle.

No pressure.

Defensive line.

Just not playing with that same enthusiasm.

If it weren't for Pringle getting a hand.

Had Williams behind him for the touchdown.

So second down and ten ball at the 28.

Lewis gets swallowed up at the 25 and the clock will continue to run.

They've gotten down there pretty quickly.

But running plays are going to burn a lot of time.

Just you can see by the offense.

They're just going to they're just trying to play to the end.

Their head coach, Coach Niblett, that's how they've trained.

That's how you end up in a state game, because you have that kind of attitude.

Never die, never quit.

Running players in and out, not really playing in a two minute mode.

You got to get vertical, try to get in the end zone.

Hughley guns it in the middle.

Intercepted.

Carnage takes it all the way back to the 46.

Once again, Kobe Carnage making a big play.

Stepping in, reading the eyes a Kharim Hughley.

Staying back in that zone.

Soft coverage and then just breaking on the ball.

Watch 14 right here.

The protection.

Just stepping in there in front of Williamson for that play.

Second interception of the game for Kobe Carnage throws a bucket of ice water on that drive for Gainesville.

And now Christian Lawrence comes back out there.

You heard me talking about OJ Arnold for Brooks County back in 2021.

The game I was talking about, he went for 320 yards and five touchdowns, and Lawrence just went over the 320 right there and gets down right there and does not go out of bounds at the 35 yard line.

Great run right there by Judah Lawrence.

Once again.

My gosh he might get to 400.

Right here.

Just a good job.

Watch the offensive line.

Displacement.

Good job of him getting out of that tackle of Aidan Cain and getting out of that tackle right there.

And the speed and energy that he still has this late in the game.

To imagine somebody over there on the sideline must have had a phone and said, hey, you might as well go for the record.

Set it high.

What a great game.

33835 rushes.

Gets it again.

They're just feeding him now.

Number 1 to try to ice this game.

Number 2 maybe break some kind of record.

We're working to find out what the record is right now.

We got an army of people.

Nelly's working on it.

Steve Graham is working on it.

They're trying to enlist Todd Holcomb to get his input on this thing.

We know that Arnold, who we talked about in 2021, went for three, 20-5 touchdowns for Brooks County when they beat Irwin County.

Lawrence 34 carries, 340 and has three touchdowns.

Just running right at this defense.

No faking.

Lawrence offensive line.

Just chewing up the clock.

Trying to end this game.

It's basically over when you look at the scoreboard down 20-7 Third down.

We believe that that 320 that I was talking about is the record that Amari OJ Arnold in the game we televised, of course, here on GPB sports.

You and I worked it in that big victory for Brooks County over Irwin County.

Right now, that's what we've come up with with the state finals record.

And if that's the case, Lawrence has just blown the doors right off that record.

He is trying to make it.

Just in case you all missed anybody on the list.

He's trying to get it up there higher here.

So Todd Arnold who's the expert or Todd Holcomb.

Pardon me.

Who's the expert with Georgia High School Football Daily and AJC varsity confirms that Arnold held the record.

He broke Herschel's record of 302.

And Deuce Lawrence has set the record here tonight with 347 yards rushing.

Wow.

Just wow.

Being that deuce will love about that against this kind of defensive front, the big names to Alabama, the Dukes, the Tulsa's a lot of big names in that front.

Seven.

This offensive line two Cooper and two Garlington King.

The big center Artem Korchagin.

What a warrior he is.

Yeah, Korchagin has been basically dragging himself up and down the field the entire night with his injury, but still snapping the ball on every play.

Another big run and touchdown for deuce.

Lawrence crown.

That man, the king of Georgia high school football state championship rushing.

Beautiful execution up front.

Once again, the explosion through the hole.

The speed, the footwork.

Everything is on display when you get over 300 yards and just the conditioning and the ability to still have that kind of speed and burst close to 40 carries.

You think Wake Forest is happy?

They already got his name on paper.

They got the signed contract.

They're going to make sure he's there in person.

They don't just want the paper.

But great job.

Look at the blocking, the vision, the footwork right there.

The jump cut the speed.

Everything right there.

Wow.

What a what a night and what a player.

367 yards rushing for deuce Lawrence on 37 carries four touchdowns tonight.

His last two weeks playing high school football in the state of Georgia.

He rushed for 669 yards and seven touchdowns.

Video type numbers really have to tip your hat.

It's especially in these days.

People say the run game is gone.

You don't run the ball.

A lot of times you look at the stats and teams don't run the ball.

37 times.

No, just outstanding conditioning right there.

For him to still be playing at that high of a level this far into the game that many carries broken up.

He's had a. Two year point.

Gainesville has run the ball 25 times tonight.

Lawrence has 12 more carries than the entire Gainesville offense.

Be watching on GPB social media and Facebook and all that.

We'll release our GPB all finals team on Friday, and I'm pretty confident in saying that.

Deuce Lawrence is going to be the most valuable player of the entire state championships.

And a lot of great performances.

We saw Ty Boogie Green with a great performance last night, but nothing like what two Lawrence has done here this evening.

Yes sir.

Young man, I want your autograph.

He said he might want to go for 400 right there.

Is that what he's saying when he puts.

I think he was saying that.

Got four.

Touchdowns.

But if you want to go for 400, man, I'm behind you.

Go do it.

I'd like to see it.

Big time performance tonight.

He must have heard us up here talking about giving two towels.

He decided he was just going.

To.

Not sharing the towels.

Not sharing the towel.

He closed the door on that idea.

I'm told we're still going to give two towels.

Okay, okay.

We got some extra inventory, so why not?

Can't take them into next year.

That's right.

They changed the logo on them.

That's right.

It's like a. It's like a time-out.

You can't take it in the next year.

Might as well use it now.

So two towels going out.

But I tell you what Tullis Lawrence.

He gets the towel for all time.

He set the record here tonight.

And you never know when the record is going to be broken again.

But you know, in 2025, a young man rushes for 367 yards.

I mean, if this was 1975, I might have 1985.

I might have bought it.

But 2025, a 367 yard rushing performance.

Hughley to the air, broken up.

And that's Carnage.

He was going for his third pick right there.

Nice job.

Carnage is had a beautiful night here tonight as well.

Two interceptions.

Putting the seat belt on him here.

Breaking on this play.

Still playing to the end.

Pretty sure he's going to be on the all finals team.

It's a beautiful job breaking that and knocking that ball out of Williams hands.

Going to start feeling like Oprah.

You get a towel.

You get a towel.

You get a towel.

It's been that kind of performance a true team performance here tonight offensively and defensively.

Third down Hughley to the air guns.

It intercepted.

Coming back the other way.

And stopped at the 12 yard line.

My goodness.

You need another rag.

Pouring it on.

Just pouring it on out here.

Deandre Andrews with the interception a sophomore defensive back.

Great break on the ball.

These safeties Carnage Andrews in that first half.

The physicality of Jester that he was bringing against the run.

Just outstanding night at the safety position for the Yellow Jackets.

, 55 21 and Gainesville takes over on offense with 3:02 to go.

Yeah, Thomas County Central Thomas County Central takes over at the 12 yard line.

Looking to add and get into the 60s.

As Deuce Lawrence again.

He's going for the five touchdowns.

Great job falling forward.

And I know a lot of people were like why aren't they just taking a knee.

And they're running the ball.

And that's how they dominate the game.

That's all you can do at the end of the game is run the ball and they're doing it, and that young man deserves any chance of any record and that he can grab.

His last high school football game.

What a memorable one.

Not only will he remember it, everybody will remember it.

Lawrence again.

Touchdown number 5.

Once again, just an amazing night for this young man.

Bouncing it to the outside.

The speed, the amount of carries, the consistency.

Good blocking.

Just following his guys up front.

Garbett right there.

The tight end fullback has made a lot of big blocks for him.

Another touchdown on the board.

39 carries 380 yards five touchdowns for Deuce Lawrence tonight.

Truly one of those games you get to college if you make it to the NFL.

You start talking about in the locker room and guys think you're making it up.

You go to talk about oh no, I had 350, 380 yards rushing.

That's not possible.

Yes it is.

And we're witnessing it here tonight.

Unbelievable.

Performance.

Is good.

After the play was over, unsportsmanlike conduct against the Gainesville side.

That foul will be assessed on the kickoff.

That's a great job.

A lot of energy looks fresh.

He's running and looks like it's still the first half.

I mean, it doesn't see any kind of fatigue.

Not at all.

He's not picked over.

He's not laboring at all.

He's moving around talking to people, doing interviews before the game over and Wattley got, you know, got to get his flight information.

The Wake Forest.

What a game for that young man.

Thank you for the experience of getting to watch you play.

Is he sweating?

Man, I don't even see any.

He's got some paint on his.

Jersey.

So a short kick coming here since the penalty was on Gainesville.

So they put it down at the 45.

Dorsey did.

Thomas County Central has scored 41 points in the second half.

Watch your feet, gentlemen.

Watch your feet, please.

So they'll bring it out to the 20 yard line.

And Gainesville will go on offense.

Maybe for the last time this season.

Justin Rodgers, with this victory is record that adds up to 53-3 in four seasons with two state championships.

Best coach in the state of Georgia right now.

Definitely is one of two in your mind at least this season.

But what a great job.

Just loved his attitude about going into this week.

Felt like he had the team had to play tough and they showed up for him tonight.

Just an unbelievable performance here by TCC and Deuce Lawrence being the centerpiece of this masterpiece.

Cam Brooks wraps him up and runs him back to the nine yard line.

He's going to Florida State, not a long drive from Thomasville to Tallahassee.

Big time player.

Bright future.

You know, he was just injured so much the last couple of years.

This year he was finally healthy, was able to go through a full offseason with no surgeries and able to fully condition and get ready for the season.

Great.

Get off.

Great player.

Florida State is getting.

Bailey on the run.

And this thing's about to wrap up.

Get some of the starters on the defense off the field.

Celebration about to begin and I think they might have been ran out of celebration.

I wonder what they're going to do at the end if they already done so many.

The worm, the fire extinguishers.

Yeah, they already got the state championship poster down there on the sideline.

They're ready.

And I think that'll be it right there.

Clock is still running.

Justin Rogers second 15-0 state championship in the last three years.

And Korchagin is the guy that marches across the field to shake hands.

Korchagin the warrior tonight with a brave performance, gutsy leader of that offensive line.

Showed each and every play in there fighting.

They gave him a bath.

Coach Rogers got the victory.

Bath.

Amazing.

Seventh state championship in school history.

Second time 15-0 under coach Rodgers amazing program, the Yellow Jackets.

Starting to become one of those teams.

Nobody wants to play.

I tell you what I mean.

We were talking about it in the earlier game.

How about let's have a state tournament of champions in Buford and line it up.

Line it up.

Just put it on TV.

Let's go.

Korchagin right there running on that ankle.

Now.

It's funny how.

He's hopping.

He can hop on it now.

Feeling good.

And of course, this will be remembered as the Deuce Lawrence game 39 carries 380 yards, blows away the state record by 60 yards and scored five touchdowns.

And here they are.

Each better than the last.

Right here.

Cutting underneath power to get into the end zone here the one cut and then go to the blazing speed for the second touchdown.

Following that offensive line.

Again the speed the acceleration jumping into the end zone.

Running between the tackles.

Look at the footwork right there.

Make you miss.

And a phone booth.

And then that last one right there to cap off the night getting to the outside vision.

Great blocking up front.

Just a dominant performance.

And he deserves everything that comes along with that.

Just amazing as you take a look at those highlights man he is the complete package.

He's got the speed.

He's got the cuts.

He's got the vision.

He also has great upper body strength.

You saw him busting through those arm tackles.

Pulling through the arm tackles, the leg strength, the vision.

The jump cuts complete back.

Wasn't really asked to catch the ball out of the backfield, but he has hands as well.

Just a dominant performance by him.

Well he did have three catches for 20 yards.

So officially that gives him 400 yards of offense tonight.

380 on the ground.

20 more in the pass catching game.

Just an extraordinary performance that will be remembered for the ages here.

That was happy to be here to witness it.

Yeah I'm especially happy that I got to see it.

His teammates are loving him, trying to calm him down.

I don't I don't know if that's going to work.

Coach.

They responded hey coach.

Coach's voice still carries right?

He said let's let's calm down a little bit.

And there they go.

They calm right down.

Listening to the coach.

So we got the trophy presentation coming up here in just a moment.

And then we're going to have the Georgia Cotton Commission player or players of the game.

And we'll have those interviews coming up shortly.

So don't go anywhere just yet.

Want to hear what Deuce Lawrence has to say about what he did tonight.

And you see, even Director Scott had to stop and say something to.

Him.

And an amazing performance.

Delighted the crowd.

One of those performances where even the opposing team has to be happy that they were here to witness it.

Let's send it down to John.

Come on.

I couldn't tell him.

No, they can't.

I mean, yeah.

A very special week ends here at Mercedes-Benz Stadium with a lot of special folks up here on the platform.

But before we hand out Trophy 13, first, a shout out to everybody in Hall County in Gainesville the Red Elephants.

Great to see you.

Fantastic season with Josh Niblett and everybody.

Great year in 2025.

Great fan base up there with the Red elephants.

But to present trophy last let's talk about best for last.

I think 15-0 will qualify chance to do that with our friends from Alfa Insurance and the executive director of the Georgia High School Association, Dr.

Tim Scott.

Hey.

Thomas County Central.

Let's give your community a great big round of applause.

What great support.

Congratulations.

Kelly.

And now, on behalf of Alfa Insurance, we would like to present the state championship trophy to Thomas County Central High School.

Drake and.

First one to kiss.

It gets to be the head coach.

Second time in three years.

15-0 second time in three years.

State champs.

How hard is it to go?

15-0 It's hard.

It's real hard.

Especially in the region we play.

In.

And then the 5-A state of Georgia, it's good football and so it's really hard.

But man, we got great fans.

And the biggest thing is you saw a brotherhood out here today.

You saw how much heart they had and fight this man right here limping on and off.

But he cares.

Y'all don't know.

But this guy right here started throwing up at 1:00 today uncontrollably.

But you couldn't hold him out and just says so much about the love these boys have for each other.

I want to talk about your seniors for a minute.

That special group, once again, this is their second 15-0 they were a little younger back then when I mentioned the seniors that are going to be leaving and heading off to college.

In that next step, what comes to mind.

Man, just a special group.

I mean, hey, they're a special group because of how much they won.

I mean, winning his class in the history of the school, two state titles, but they also a special class because I remember meeting them when they was eighth graders when I got named and going over to the middle school and, and talking with them.

And so that's a special group for me to to see them come through all four years and we're going to miss them.

But it's like they say, tradition never graduates.

Trophy heads back to us 84 Thomas County, Central state champs, 13 of 13.

Let's send it upstairs to Matt and Wayne.

Cody Chaffins, Georgia Cotton Commission players of the game in a bit.

Wow.

Just capping an amazing season here tonight, making their case as the most dominant team in the state of Georgia.

But, you know, it's hard to say that because we saw Buford finish a 15-0 last night and beat a great Carrollton team.

Thomas beat a great Gainesville team here tonight.

That's why I want to see that Tournament of champions.

Let's work.

Let's work on that Wayne.

Settle the case once and for all.

And the Red Elephants a lot to be proud of, especially what they went through to galvanize to get to this point.

But they just ran into a Yellow Jacket team that defensively and offensive line dominated this game from start to finish.

And then the individual effort of Deuce, Lawrence and then Jaylen Johnson, we know he's one of our guys that's going to get a towel.

He's a guy that just made plays, went to that aspect of being able to run the ball in the run game, just dominated.

Whether it was the quarterback or the running back.

All right, Cody's ready down on the field.

All right.

Time for our Georgia Cotton Commission.

Players of the game I'm holding a lot of laundry here and for good reason Thomas County huge Knight.

How about Jaylen Johnson accounting for four total touchdowns.

So Jalen take your towel.

Let's get it on your shoulder.

And this man who didn't look like he sweat all night.

Deuce Lawrence Deuce will start with you.

It is a new state record and a Georgia high school championship game.

You ran for 380 yards tonight.

How'd that feel?

It felt great.

It wouldn't be possible without my linemen.

You know, send holes making the plays for me.

None of that would have been possible without him.

And the man above.

Coach says you.

You always run like you got a chip on your shoulder.

Why is that?

Because, man, I know my uncle, man.

He just passed this year, man.

I was dedicated this season to him.

It didn't look hard.

I mean, you kept going, and I don't think you broke a sweat tonight.

Yeah, I definitely broke a sweat.

Tell me about this guy, Jaylen Johnson.

Man, he's a leader, number 1 leader on the team, man.

He brought us here.

He's the reason we're here.

All right, I'm going to let you return the favor.

Tell me about Deuce.

Deuce?

That man, the playmaker.

He the best player, best offensive player on the team.

Playmaker could do a lot that he put the ball in his hand.

He touched the ball the most, most, most anybody on the team.

What does it mean for you guys to to go out with another championship as seniors?

Great.

Feel wonderful.

Great.

Feel wonderful as a team guy.

And what have you got to say to all these folks who made this long?

Thank y'all.

Hey.

Thank you, thank y'all.

And what a way to end the year with two Georgia Cotton Commission players of the game.

Deuce Lawrence Jaylen Johnson, our state champs for Thomas County, Sims.

All right.

Thank you Cody.

You win the state championship and you win it with a state championship game.

Rushing performance by Deuce Lawrence 380 I don't believe what I just saw.

He's just a dominant performance.

The whole package on display by that young man.

And I only have one question for coach.

Where's the deer meat?

I got to get me some of that deer meat because tonight this team was on one.

Just great performances all around.

The quarterback Johnson Deuce and then the defense.

Absolutely puts a wrap on our eight tackle state championships.

And the five flag football state championships 13 total state champions crowned here at Mercedes-Benz over the last three days.

And we saw some incredible performances notwithstanding.

Tonight of course which probably topped them all with the individual performance by Deuce Lawrence.

But last night Buford winning the national championship in all likelihood with their victory over Carrollton.

Yeah, Ty Boogie putting on a Ty Green putting on a great performance last night.

Buford, a champion in the state so many times.

And now hoisting a national title.

And then Creekside finishing 15-0 They set the state scoring record with 845 points.

Yeah.

Coach Moe being able to finish the season, he didn't just want all the points.

He wanted a championship and he got it.

That's going to put a wrap on things for us from Mercedes-Benz.

Stadium is always our pleasure and our honor to bring you the best high school football in the entire country.

As we wrap up another season here on GPB.

GPB your 29 year home for the state championships here in the state of Georgia, and looking forward already to season number 30.

Wayne, pleasure working with you again, my man.

Yes, sir.

And that'll do it for us.

And now for Wayne Gandy and our entire GPB crew, including Cody Javin down there on the sideline going to show you all the people behind the scenes that made this extravaganza possible.

Thank you for watching us here in 2025.

On number 2.

Football Fridays in Georgia is presented by the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, reminding you to park your phone while driving.

Saves lives.

Heads up, Georgia.

You wouldn't take a call during the big game.

Oh, hey what's up man?

You wouldn't be texting while cheering on your team.

Jacket.

And you definitely wouldn't want to watch a video while marching with the band.

So why would you drive a car while distracted driving isn't a game when you lose on the road, it could lead to a crash.

So when you get behind the wheel, put the distractions aside, drive hands free, and save lives.

Heads up Georgia.

You've seen what your electric cooperative can do for your home, your workplace, your weekend.

What lights us up is empowering your local community and economy.

Georgia's EMCs support 15,000 jobs and invest $16 billion in infrastructure annually.

And because we operate at cost, any extra revenue is reinvested into your co-op or return to members investment with impact.

That's the electric cooperative difference.

Georgia's EMCs so much more than electricity.

DBHDD is launching Red ribbon 365 a year round alcohol and drug prevention curriculum for Georgia schools and families from kindergarten through high school.

Students learn to make healthy, drug free choices with fun, age appropriate lessons and monthly activities.

The curriculum can be downloaded for free at Red ribbon 365.

Georgia Access is the marketplace for Georgians to be able to purchase health insurance coverage and dental coverage designed for Georgians by Georgians.

Visit our website at Georgia Gov to select the best plan for your needs.

GPB will now return to the following program already in progress.