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

It saves lives as we welcome you to Historic Barron Stadium in Rome, Georgia for the state 5-A semifinals.

As the fourth ranked Gainesville Red Elephants have come to town to take on the number 5 Rome Wolves.

And good evening, I'm Matt Stewart, joined by former Auburn Tigers All-American NFL first round draft pick in 15 year pro Wayne Gandy and Wayne Last for weeks.

Been a roller coaster for Gainesville bench clearing brawl appeals, suspensions, court injunctions, long delays.

And finally, last week, a huge win over undefeated Langston Hughes in the quarterfinals.

And tonight they go for their tenth ever berth in the state finals for Rome.

They've won 11 in a row after starting the season 0-2 Losses to Creekside and Carrollton.

Two teams playing in the state championship games.

Now a little bit under the radar this year, but tonight they're seeking their third trip to the state finals.

Are you ready for Thursday football?

And we're not talking about Falcons and Bucks.

We're talking about Rome and Gainesville, two teams that have been galvanized, won by early losses in the season.

And this Gainesville team.

I think that turmoil may have flipped on a button for them.

All right.

Let's talk about Gainesville and their quarterback Kareem Hughley.

He's rated as high as the number 5 dual threat quarterback in the country, a four star already committed to Clemson.

Yeah this young man he is the offense for them.

He takes control.

He's a dual threat.

He is the alpha.

Coach says he's the it factor to how they win the game.

He makes all the throws dangerous in the RPO game.

And tonight he's going to have to have a big game.

You feel like running the ball.

But this offense is high powered.

He chose the Tigers over 17 total offers including Georgia and Auburn.

And remember he's just a junior on the defensive side of the ball there.

Mike linebacker Darryn Williams.

What a game he had against Langston Hughes ten solo tackles and a 70 yard pick six.

That changed the game.

Undersized middle linebacker, kind of hybrid safety, but man, is he physical against the run in the box.

And great out in coverage.

Great tackler in space.

And the one thing we do know when the ball is in his area, he gets a lot of interceptions.

Now let's talk about Rome.

They also have a great dual threat quarterback in their junior Aidan McPherson.

He doesn't have the stars in the offers that Hughley has.

In fact, he has only one offer from FCS Rhode Island.

But that's probably going to change in this off season.

This young man has grown.

He's bigger.

He's already stronger.

And now we know about his speed.

He's a dual threat quarterback with track speed, with a strong arm.

He's their leading rusher.

He's going to have to put that to the test tonight and lead this team to a victory.

He runs a 108100 and the region five 5-A player of the year.

Defensive side of the ball.

You got Dash Kinnebrew comes from Rome football royalty.

His uncle is the Hall of Famer Larry Kinnebrew.

He's their impact player on defense.

Yeah.

G-money Killebrew, born to rush the quarterback as his coach said.

Quick off the edge.

Ten sacks on the season three last week.

Powerful against the run.

He's going to have to come up huge tonight to try to stop Gainesville.

It's Rome.

It's Gainesville just the second all time meeting between these two teams.

Third member of our team tonight is John Nelson.

He's back with us on the sidelines.

Good evening.

Good evening Wayne.

Thanks for accessing us.

However you are doing so device or small Josh Niblett and Gainesville.

They came up with their own motto coming into the postseason.

And we always talk about control the Controllables you hear that from coaches all the time this go round for this postseason.

Lock in, lock out, lock in on those things that you can control.

Lock out on those things that you can't.

And safe to say for the players the last couple of weeks for Gainesville have been around something that they can't control.

They have, in effect locked it out.

They go and play Hughes.

They get the win against Hughes, so they have a bit of an advantage going up against Rome because Josh Niblett, he's coming off of a game that he played.

John Reid actually went to go scout the Hughes Gainesville game because he had a bye.

He was sitting and watching like the rest of us, that particular game to get us all back up to square.

So as I send it upstairs to Matt and Wayne as we light this 5-A candle and find out who's going to Mercedes Benz, I'm wondering if it's going to take six or 8 minutes on the clock for Rome to get that engine warmed up, because it was their fourth bye week of the season.

The milk jugs are out, the coins are out, the levy is full time to light a candle in 5-A.

Matt, let's send it to you upstairs where it's warm.

And you're right, Nelly.

It has been two weeks, just about since they beat Jackson County in the quarterfinals.

And Coach Reid is a little bit concerned about lost momentum coming into tonight's game.

Now we are just moments away from the opening kickoff.

Please go to our QR code here and pick the winner of tonight's game between the Gainesville, Red Elephants and the Rome Wolves and Wayne Rome won the opening toss.

They have deferred to the second half.

That means we see Josh Niblett and his offense on the field to start the game.

Yeah, it's surprising Rome won the toss and decided to decline to the second half, but this high powered offense Green Hughley and the way they able to run the ball with Nigel Newkirk, they're going to have to stop him early and often get him in some third and longs and try to get off the field.

John Reid's Wolves trying to get to the state finals since they won the second of their back to backs in 20 16-20 17.

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

Park your phone while you're driving.

It saves lives and Jacob Cruz-Reyes has it teed up and ready to kick off for the Rome Wolves.

Newkirk and Wilmont standing deep for the red Elephants Elephants and it'll be Newkirk who bobbles it at the 15 yard line.

Has to fall on it at the 13.

And so that's where Gainesville and the red Elephants will start on offense.

Big ties here tonight for the Wolves in this defense.

They're going to have to get off blocks a little undersized up front in that front seven.

But they're quick and they're going to have to use their strength to get off blocks.

Big tasks by this offensive line for Gainesville to take care of Spivey and Adams inside of this Rome big bodies inside.

Spivey Adams and also McCreary.

Jake McCreary, who's a three star defensive lineman and a junior who they'll start on the offensive line.

Let's see if he's out there.

He's out there to start this game on the defensive line as well.

Not surprising.

Expect to get a lot of snaps tonight.

He's been offered by Georgia and Georgia Tech and Hughley the quarterback going to pass it on the first play.

Looking looking deep in the middle of the field.

Got a man open and Philip fully extended makes the catch at the 37 yard line.

Great job right off the bat.

Big play up top.

Beautiful protection by the O line.

And just airing it out here is Hughley the strong arm.

And what a great job by Phillip Williams to go get this ball.

Great catch there by the young senior to go get that ball going with a fast pace.

Here is Gainesville.

They like to keep the tempo and the pressure on you.

They put the ball down at the 40 yard line.

So first and ten from there Williams is their top wide receiver.

Time-out.

So we'll check what's going on down on the field as the officials have blown the play dead.

They're fixing the chains.

It looks like they got a knot in the chains and they're trying to get them extended to the 10 yards required.

Looks like they got that fixed.

But Williams has been a great player last four years.

He played all four years with Niblett and he's got an offer from Murray State.

So the second play for the Red Wolves going to hand off to Newkirk follows his blockers out there following Krew Moledor their center, who was out there to block.

And he picks up about four on the play.

Wayne let's take a look at the impact players.

They're brought to you by Breda Pest Management.

Nigel Newkirk 4,496 yards, 19 touchdowns.

Explosive running back Krew Moledor an athletic, physical center that can move out in space.

Worsham for Rome on defense, physical athletic splash play linebacker and Shauntavious Worfford big long corner.

They're going to need him big against these receivers of Gainesville.

And Wayne.

On that second snap, something happened that could greatly impact this game.

As you see, they're working on Newkirk over there on the sideline.

Yeah.

Big part of this offense.

His ability to keep this offense balanced.

That's a big play.

Three star junior a lot of offers, 32 offers on the board for him as well.

Right here.

Little sweep action.

Get outside Paul Moledor right there to center.

And then just cutting underneath right there you can see him go to the ground and instantly grab that right knee.

Looked like it was kind of non-contact wasn't it.

Yeah.

It was a non-contact injury.

He was not hit.

Just on the move.

And those are always a huge concern.

Still not able to really put pressure on it.

And now that puts a lot of pressure on Dwight Lewis.

The young sophomore who's had an impactful season.

Holland carries 856 yards, eight touchdowns, three receiving touchdowns as well.

We saw him out on the field.

He's the Thunder of this kind of lightning and thunder and lightning package.

So very capable.

Young sophomore.

Spoke to him briefly down on the field prior to the game.

So he's thrust into the spotlight early as Newkirk is taken to the sideline RPO and the ball is going to go on the zone.

Read to Lewis, gets his first carry and gets a couple of yards on the play down to the 34.

Off that right side over there behind Studivant and Benjamin.

And the difference now is more of a physical downhill guy.

A guy that's going to one cut, one step, put his foot in the ground and get downhill.

This offensive line is going to have to adjust their speed.

Home run hitter Newkirk is out.

He had four touchdowns when we saw Gainesville on Football Fridays in Georgia back in October against Milton.

He was our Georgia Cotton Commission player of the game keeper.

Hughley has the first down and more.

Hughley breaking out of tackles.

Flag comes out as Hughley reaches the 23.

Great job right there.

By Hughley.

Little read option out on the edge right there on the defense.

Sideline warning here on Rome.

But a great job of pulling that ball right there by Hughley.

Getting out on the edge.

Physical back.

As you can see right there, getting out of a couple of tackles ran over Greg Evans.

The free safety right there.

But a great job.

And now with Newkirk being out, you imagine that Hughley is going to have to add his ability to run the ball to this running game for Gainesville.

So first and ten with the ball at the 23.

So Gainesville excited with this opening drive, but also a Paul's been cast upon them as Newkirk has gone to the sideline with that injury will be a huge loss.

If he can't come back.

Hughley going to throw it, stands in the pocket, heaves it towards the end zone, back of the end zone and it is incomplete.

Williams says he came down with it, says he got his toe in on that back line.

But the official was right there on top of it.

Said he did not stay in bounds.

Good job.

Initially protection Hughley using his ability to scramble to buy time, trying to lay it up there to Williams.

Let's see if he can get that foot inbounds.

And no, he could not right there.

But a great job of leading Williams to the back of the end zone.

And just right there.

Very close as Worfford pushes him out of bounds.

Too close to call.

Looks like the hill came down at the same time.

The toe tapped inbounds.

Great job by Williams to try to do it.

He came down with a great catch but couldn't stay in bounds and a flag drops.

Movement inside.

Big big tackle in there.

Spivey.

False start.

The offense.

Five-Yard Poole second down.

Left side over there.

Bryson Hurt just going a little early.

That big body right there.

Spivey and McCreary, you talk about.

32325 inside this offensive line.

Inside.

Have their task tonight trying to move those guys.

Hughley has committed has completed 64.5% of his passes this season, 2,324 yards in the air, 32 touchdowns and just six interceptions.

Also six rushing touchdowns as well.

Handoff goes to Lewis, comes to the near side.

Lewis inside the 20 and a submarine tackle made there at the 17 yard line.

And another flag is out.

Got a flag flag out here on the edge by Cam James.

The tight end.

Holding.

Second down.

So you have the holding call coming up here against Gainesville.

As you take a look at the read Elephants on offense.

Ford Hurt, Moledor and Mathis all with college offers outstanding offensive line and all of them are still very young.

Newkirk has already been Hurt Williams Porterfield Wilmont are the wide receivers and Jones is the tight end.

Brought to you by Johnny's New York style pizza.

Carter Mathis in there.

The three star junior 67, 290.

It's a lot of big bodies.

Tyler Ford over there at the left tackle.

Also a junior at 6:53 20.

A lot of weight to lay on him, but right there just catching Cam James holding out on the edge.

Handoff goes to Lewis.

He goes to the far side this time and he's going to be tackled by the Mike.

Linebacker Seth Hooker.

And that right there is the difference between Nigel Newkirk and Dwight Lewis Lewis Moore between the tackles.

This offense wants to get out there on the edge.

Good pull to the outside by Studivant and great tackling in space of Lewis.

So third down as Gainesville has gone in reverse and now back at their 34.

In the line to gain is about the 13.

Seth Hooker the 510180 junior Mike linebacker in on that tackle.

He's been the second leading tackler on this team next to his Sam linebacker partner Jayden Worsham.

Hughley hands off to Lewis.

He's going to be dropped another TfL for the Rome defense.

And they're eating right now.

Big time tackle right there.

AJ Adams 59, 250.

Getting off the block here of Tyler Ford pushing him.

The penetration right there by Adams.

Just hard to get underneath the leverage that he plays a great two gap player.

And when you talk about that much weight on a 59 frame just hard on that left tackle to cut him off.

Good penetration and a great tackle.

So it looks like Gainesville will play the field position game and punt here from the 36 as they bring on Ruben Gonzalez.

He's standing at his own 49 to kick Rome does not have anybody back.

Gonzalez straight up into the air and out of bounds.

Horrendous kick by Gonzalez.

And we've seen when the weather gets cold in the state of Georgia.

These punters and these kickers often have a difficult time because that football becomes like a block of concrete Rome on offense.

When we get back.

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Welcome back to Historic Barron Stadium.

Time for the $1,500 donation for our friends from Cigna, with all of our friends here from Rome and the senior cheerleaders hanging out at Chris Boden, friend of GPB hanging out with us.

Thanks for being a great friend to us all week long at Football Fridays and Thursdays all year long.

Thursday night nothing like it.

We're very proud to be here.

We're glad, we're excited, and we're thankful for this.

No doubt about it.

$1,500 donation from our friends from Cigna to our friends from Rome.

Let's send it back up into the heated environs with Matt and Wayne for the rest of the first quarter.

Yeah, it's nice and toasty up here.

John.

Sorry you can't be.

With us.

Thank you.

First and ten for Rome as they go on offense for the first time.

And there is the 510, 180 pound junior quarterback Aidan McPherson.

We saw him on GPB sports Football Fridays in Georgia last year at Carrollton.

He was 57.

Yeah, he was hard to miss, but now he is bigger.

He's faster, and they really count on him to do everything here offensively.

McPherson long throw out to the sideline and it's going to be caught by Scoot Simpson.

Nice job right there.

Getting the ball out quick to Simpson.

Young sophomore out there.

Long throw right there showing you the arm strength is McPherson.

Yeah.

He threw for 2,023 yards 23 touchdowns and just one interception.

And look at that completion percentage 74.3%.

Going to wing it out here to scoot Simpson again.

And Simpson's going to be close to the first down at the 44 yard line.

Maybe a yard short.

Early on out getting the ball out quick trying to get away from this pressure.

They have a Taj.

This offensive line trying to stop that front seven of Gainesville right now, working out on the edge to these receivers.

So third down and two is what we'll call it from the 42.

Got to get to the 44.

Ferguson goes in motion.

Quarterback run McPherson going to run right into the teeth of that defense.

And the four star Jamarion Matthews and does not pick up the first down.

Nothing can stop Jamarion Matthews inside.

This young man has had one of the best seasons for the Red elephants right there.

Getting off the bubble team right there.

Helmet coming off and still willing to pay the price to make the tackle right there.

Great job.

By Matthews.

The four star headed to Alabama.

Punting situation and Cruz-Reyes gets it out of there.

Short kick going to hit at the 30.

And it's going to roll sideways and be downed at the 27.

26 yard line.

So Gainesville survives that poor punt on their first offensive possession and gets the ball back here for their second.

And now we'll see Gainesville going back on offense again with Nigel Newkirk their star running back over on the sideline with an apparent knee injury suffered on the second snap of the game.

That's big.

You're losing 19 rushing touchdowns.

A guy that's had 900.

Excuse me, 900 yard games on the season in Newkirk.

And this offense Hughley you feel like it's going to have to run the ball, pull it a little more tonight.

Make some plays running and be part of the success of them being able to run the ball.

And Newkirk was bearing down on a 1,500 yard rushing season.

Certainly would have gone over that number tonight.

Maybe he still will.

We'll wait and see if we can get an injury report from the sideline.

Hughley on the spin move.

Rolling here to the near side and dumps it off.

Complete and Ruiz.

The tight end makes the catch in the run up to the 40 1 yard line.

And a first down line.

As we take a look at the Johnny's New York style pizza.

Rome defensive starters with Elston Spivey Adams and Kinnebrew up front, the linebackers Worsham, Hooker and Ragland, and in the secondary, Worfford Anderson Evans and Mathis.

Nice bootleg on that last play, hidden Sergio Ruiz out in the flat.

Hughley up top throwing, going for the jump ball Porterfield had it broken up at the 35 yard line.

Good defense right there by the Rome Wolves.

Tight coverage right there.

Collin Porterfield 63200 pounds.

Trying to use that big body to just in a 50 50 ball situation right there.

Just feeling like he can win that jump ball.

Good defense there.

By the Wolves.

That was 12 DJ Watkins who's listed as a wide receiver, got him playing on the defensive side of the ball.

You'll see a lot of that tonight here in the state semifinals.

Second down handoff goes to Lewis.

Oh great tackle by Ragland who comes up from his linebacker spot to cut him down.

Once again.

Playing on the other side of the ball right here Jeremy Ragland.

This defense is fast.

It's hard to get out on the edge right there.

Lewis just not able to pick up his feet and a good tackle out in space.

By Ragland.

That was a fear for coach Niblett with those 2300 pounders.

Spivey and McRae there in the middle, they would spit things out to the outside and use their speed to get to the point of the tackle out on the perimeter.

Hughley going a quarterback.

Run it and he's going to get tackled.

Adams again on that tackle with a host of his brothers, and it's going to be fourth down.

Nice job staying Pat staying right there.

Dash Kinnebrew Jayamani coming in late.

As you can see Hughley not liking what he saw downfield.

Decide to pull the ball and I want to say the big guys inside were spying, but they're so big, it's going to be hard.

They're right there.

They take up a lot of space.

When you look out here, even from our vantage point, when you look at 99, 24 excuse me, 55-56 Let's see if Gonzalez second punt attempt is going to be a little bit better here.

Now they got two big protectors back there with him.

Got some beef in front of him.

Goes back to Gonzalez.

Has better protection this time.

And a sky kick that's going to be caught at the 30 1 yard line.

And let's take a look at the impact players.

Now that the Rome Wolves are coming back out on offense is brought to you by Breda Pest Management and Wayne.

We found out a big loss for this Rome team just moments before we went on the air.

Part of that Georgia Tech dynamic duo receivers Darnell Collins to probably the best player on this Rome team.

A two way star and they lost JJ Wilson.

Winston.

The big deep threat for them.

And defensively the number 1 prospect.

Enough said.

The five star the only five star in this game Xavier Griffin.

What a playmaker and Jamarion Matthews already shown you on that last set of downs.

His ability to penetrate leads the team in sacks.

We were literally told just moments before we went on the air that JJ Winston was medically unable to play tonight.

I don't know what that means.

That's just what we were told.

And the ball goes up and nobody close to it.

As McPherson was hit as he was throwing.

Big pressure right there.

Kadin Fossung coming down, bearing down.

The three star hit it to Tulsa, putting the hit on McPherson not a guy.

We talked about him being bigger and stronger, but can't take those kind of hits.

Got to get the ball off a little quicker there.

If you're McPherson.

So second down and ten as they got some pressure on McPherson that time.

He missed five games last year with a broken wrist, but he's come back really strong here in his junior season.

Pocket for McPherson now it collapses and Jamarion Matthews with another big play.

Aidan Cain in there to.

As we take a look at the Rome Wolves on offense brought to you by Johnny's New York style pizza, Jones, who signed with Coastal Carolina and the freshman Collins and Reynolds up front, McCreary, big defensive lineman and McClinic is their heart and soul.

They're at the center position, Ferguson the running back, then Winston and Collins already told you Winston's out.

Simpson also in waters as the wide receivers.

Aidan McPherson got to be careful with this ball.

A lot of pressure.

Great pass rushing so far here by Gainesville making him feel their presence while he sits in the pocket.

Third down McPherson wants to run it spins out of one tackle, being chased and Williams going to track him down right there at the 27 yard line and Rome having some trouble getting their offense started against this fast Gainesville defense.

This defense is hunting right now.

Marshall Leonard right there.

Number 1, with the pressure, you can see the pocket just collapsed.

A little game stunt right over there on that left side.

Initial pressure there by Fossung.

And then Darren Williams, who has had just as good a year as anybody on this defense, playing with a lot of big names.

And he's producing big from that middle linebacker position.

Cruz-Reyes punts it out of there and let's see, it's going to roll dead at about the 40.

Make that the 39 yard line.

And that's where Gainesville will go on offense for the third time tonight.

So let's check in with John.

See if there's any kind of an update on Newkirk.

Yeah, I was spending a couple of minutes over on that sideline.

Initially, Newkirk was lifted off his feet and went into the tent and the physio was testing the right knee and it's mobility where the physio will take the thumbs and go inside the gaps on the front side of the knee.

The right knee is now officially wrapped and he can't flex the knee itself.

He went back under the tent right now and that's where he is.

So Josh Niblett got some thinking to do when it comes to his offense.

Matt.

Yeah, that's a big loss to lose.

Newkirk one of the best running backs in the state.

Handoff goes to Lewis Lewis, his understudy with the big run.

And Lewis has the first down across the 50 to the 48 yard line.

Nice job off that left side.

Got 23 stars.

Bryson Hurt 71 Tyler Ford.

Nice job there.

By Cam James.

Affirming signee and the physical run.

These are the runs they're going to have to give Dwight Lewis downhill one cut and get physical.

He's he's 59205 physically gifted.

Just a hard nosed runner.

Gainesville on the plus side of the 50 for the second time tonight, Hughley hit as he throws.

And the ball is a jump ball and broken up as they're going to Porterfield and DJ Watkins there for the Pbu.

D.J.

Watkins giving up a lot of size on the outside.

Only 58, 160.

But accepting the challenge so far against Porterfield going up, knocking that ball out of his hand late.

Good job there by that young man.

Moving over from playing receiver.

Playing both ways.

All hands on deck tonight for Rome.

You got to feel he's taking Winston spot on offense and defense right there.

It's going to be second down.

And again J.J.

Winston the Georgia Tech signee just moments before kickoff, we were told that he could not play tonight.

Was not given a reason, but it was a medical reason.

Hughley in the pocket, guns it to the far sideline, jumping the route and nearly picked over there by Darnell Collins.

Feeling the pressure off of that backside right there.

Kharim Hughley trying to get the ball out.

You can see the pressure right there by Dash Kinnebrew.

Close to an interception.

Big play right there.

Ball just going through the hands of Darnell Collins.

Collins.

The three star safety slash wide receiver plays both here for Rome safety at the next level.

Signed with Georgia Tech.

Coach John Reid says maybe the best two way player we've ever had come through this program.

It feels like he's a potential NFL safety.

One day.

Young man who right now it seems he's going to Georgia Tech as a receiver.

But he is so dynamic, long and fast.

, pass to the sideline and is going to be caught.

That is going to be a completion at the 40 yard line and short of the first down as it goes to Wilmont.

Nice rollout.

Good job there.

By Legend Wilmont keeping his feet in bounds.

And I expect Coach Niblett right here to stay aggressive.

Fourth and two.

They will keep the offense on the field.

Fourth and two.

Looks like they might bring in a heavy package swapping out personnel here.

Now.

No they bring out the punter Gonzalez comes back on.

So they truly are playing the field position game here tonight.

Not going to run the fake right up the middle.

And did they get it I don't think they got it.

Looking at the spot.

Looks like they're short on the fake punt.

Very close here.

Jamarion Matthews took the short snap and he is short.

Ball goes over on downs to roll.

Big stop by the Rome defense as Gainesville tries a fake punt with Matthews.

He gets stonewalled short of the line to gain.

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Matt Stewart Wayne Gandy Jon Nelson.

Our Emmy Award winning GPB team with you here at Barron Stadium in Rome.

And what a dynamic atmosphere we have here for this state semifinal.

Yeah, I'm loving the jug, the noise, the jugs, the fans.

Everybody's engaged now.

I hate that I didn't take mine when I came in the game.

The cheerleader offered me one.

I should have grabbed my jug.

But this Rome team, playing with a lot of energy right now.

Defensive battle for both of these teams.

And a packed stadium here.

Just four days before the state finals begin at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

First and ten pitch and the run up to the 44 yard line and a flag down on the field.

Darryn Williams makes the tackle.

Nice job.

Darryn Williams scraping to the outside, showing you the range that he has.

Young Jr.

Linebacker, 88 tackles.

He came into the game with tonight six interceptions.

That was Jaden Clowers who took that pitch on the run for Rome.

Quick pass out here on the edge.

And that is going to be incomplete.

Going to bring up third down.

Let's take a look at the Johnny's New York style pizza starters for the red Elephants on defense with Leonard, Matthews, Cain and Fossung.

And then there's the five star Griffin at the Will linebacker Williams and Cheeks Cheeks playing that star position.

And then in the secondary, you got Watson and Ingram at the corners.

Hunter and Sims at the safety spots.

Big third down here.

If you Rome you want to try to keep this drive going.

Going to try a screen pass to Ferguson.

And Ferguson is going to be close to the first down.

Let's see where they spot it.

He's going to be right near the line.

Really close right there.

Ferguson making a great effort of trying to get to the sticks.

A little screen pass pressure coming from inside right there.

But Ferguson scrambling trying to get to that marker.

And you can see a little short of the sticks.

Yeah.

About a yard or less short.

And Rome keeps the offense out there to go for it.

Bringing big bodies in there.

As you can see, defensive linemen Brooklyn Spivey 62 coming in.

Put a little extra weight in that backfield.

Fourth down handoff stopped in the backfield by Williams and the TfL and Gainesville's defense holds and the ball goes over on downs.

Shout out to cannon right there as Darryn Williams just shooting the gap leaving nothing for this Rome offense.

Watch how six unblocked right there.

Great job.

Kind of got lost in the count by the offensive line.

Stepping in there and making a play.

Just nowhere for Tyler Rogers to take that ball.

Good tackle there.

Good job sneaking in there by Williams.

So now here's Gainesville going back on offense.

Third time they've been on the plus side of the 50.

They've been playing the field position game most of the night.

Now it pays off for him.

Got to be patient here.

Got to capitalize complementary football here.

Kharim Hughley has to start making some plays.

Hand off goes to Lewis and Dwight Lewis rumbles down to the 38 yard line.

Nice run by Dwight Lewis again forced into the spotlight tonight with the early injury to Nigel Newkirk.

And right there once again a positive run once he gets to going downhill.

Second down Hughley wants to throw it, guns it to the sideline and misses his target and nearly intercepted back there by Worfford, who was closer to the ball than anybody else.

Not really sure right there.

Well, Hughley was going with that ball.

Cam Jones stopped on the route on the outside.

Kind of set down for his quarterback.

But if you Kharim Hughley right there, Lane opened up with his athletic ability.

He's going to have to capitalize when the defense gets behind him and use his athletic ability to run the ball.

He's only rushed for 263 yards this season, less than he did a year ago when he burst on the scene as a sophomore.

Hughley on the spin move, the throw and the first down catch by Cameron James.

The tight end who signed with Furman a couple of weeks ago.

Just enough right there, cam James able to spin a little short of the sticks, a little roll out, keep it to the edge.

You can see as he caught the ball a little short but spent enough to get that first down before Darnell Collins got there.

First and ten from the 35 yard line.

Hughley with a pocket clean pocket, goes to the sideline, overthrows his man.

Lewis right there.

Hughley you got to settle your feet and just throw the ball right there to Lewis.

He's wide open.

Just hit him in the numbers.

You can see the little hand right there.

He threw it a little high.

You got to throw it and just hit him in the numbers right there.

In that situation.

Well Rome got to the semifinals in 2022 and Gainesville got to the state finals in 2022.

But most of those players are long gone.

So this is a new experience for a lot of these guys out there.

Big run by Lewis right up the middle.

Cuts to the outside to the sideline.

Touchdown Gainesville.

Dwight Lewis the Thunder of the package as he told Matt, don't call me P.J., we have to call him Mr.

Lewis on this run right here.

Downhill.

The young sophomore thrust into the spotlight here tonight.

RPO game right here, downhill when he's had the most success showing you the explosion, the vision, the cut ability right there to get out of the tackle of Worfford out on the edge and the speed to get in the end zone.

Gailey is the kicker.

Ingram is the Holder.

James is the snapper.

They get it down, they get it up.

And a line drive kick that barely gets over that crossbar and good.

And a 7-0 lead for Gainesville with 50-2 seconds to play in the quarter.

Red zone inside.

Good blocking by the offensive line.

What a great job up front there.

Studivant Moledor inside.

And then this young man seems like he's getting into his groove.

Offensive coordinator Tad Niblett is getting away from trying to get him to the outside, letting him get downhill.

Great vision right there to make that cut.

Good job there.

By Dwight Lewis.

And you mentioned the offensive coordinator, Todd Niblett.

He is the brother of head coach Josh Niblett and Josh's son.

Shaw is the running back coach and Josh's son Skyler, who plays in this stadium.

In his college career, he plays for the Shorter Hawks.

He's on the sideline with them tonight as well.

Family affair.

Everybody's out.

This crowd on both sides for Gainesville and Rome a lot at stake tonight.

Somebody's going to be playing next Wednesday down in the Benz so far.

First punch heavy punch thrown by Gainesville to get on the board.

You saw the DBHDD new red ribbon 365 curriculum scoring drive five plays, 45 yards and a 35 yard touchdown run by Dwight Lewis to get Gainesville on the board here first and to complete the family affair story.

Josh played for his dad, John at Demopolis Academy over in Alabama, was a two time All-State quarterback and played at Alabama for Gene Stallings.

Ball is picked up at the 11 and very little return up to the 18 yard line.

That was Darnell Collins on the return.

Typically, you would have JJ Winston back there, but remember he's out tonight and so the Rome Wolves with 46 seconds to play in the quarter going offense at their own 18 yard line.

You start feeling like this Rome Wolves offense.

They're going to have to start trying to find a way to get the ball to Darnell Collins.

He's their most explosive player offensively.

We talked about what he does on the defense, but he's a guy that has to start having an impact in this game.

63, 255.

Headed downtown to Georgia Tech.

The three star has to start getting a couple of touches in this game.

So Rogers in there at running back lined up next to McPherson.

Handoff goes to Rogers.

He gets hit right away.

They have not been able to run the ball at all so far tonight.

And that was Xavier Griffin or no, that was Leonard Marshall Leonard making that tackle.

Number 1.

For years of program guy just working his way down the line right there to make that play is Leonard and just tough sledding when you look at the names, the ability, the star power on that defensive front is going to be tough sledding, trying to run the ball, especially inside.

And Wayne, remember when we saw them at Milton back in October?

Leonard was maybe from a production standpoint, their best defensive lineman that night.

Ball is right in the middle there and up to the 36 yard line.

Collins.

Collins just a little slant working out of the slot, a little slant route.

Looks like he maybe got a little banged up right there.

Having to play double duty.

But they get him the ball and that's how they're going to have to try to get some offense.

And that is the end of the first quarter.

Dwight Lewis took it 35 yards for our first score of the night.

Gainesville with a 7-0 lead on Rome as we head to the second quarter.

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It saves lives as we head to the second quarter here at Barron Stadium and Rome and Gainesville leading the wolves 7-0 The winner of tonight's game plays in the state championship game next Wednesday against either Thomas County Central or Roswell.

John Nelson, down on the field, has an update.

All right, let's run you through what happened.

It's been an exciting first quarter there in the second quarter down at the jackets nest Roswell scores on a 70 yard touchdown pass.

Deuce Lawrence touchdown run evens it up at seven Roswell gets in from 6 yards out on a run.

And then you end up Jalen Johnson to J.B.

Watkins.

Screen pass 55 yards.

He goes home 14:14 Second quarter Matt.

All right you'll be keeping us updated on that one.

Everybody wants to know what's going to happen there.

Because what happens here impacts what happens at the Bends on Wednesday.

Just nowhere to run this ball right inside against this Gainesville team right there.

Matthews Leonard once again in there making a play.

Xavier Griffin stepping up.

This team is going to have to work to the outside.

Rome offensively is going to have to do some things on the outside to make some yards.

Rome has six rushing attempts and 0 yards so far tonight.

McPherson pocket scrambles to the right now.

Being chased, throws on the run and incomplete.

Had a man out there but threw it over his head looking at Kaden Waters over on that far sideline.

Trying to find waters down the field on the sideline.

Just pressure pushing him out of the pocket, trying to make a play on the run.

It's McPherson just not able to find waters on that play.

But the inability to run the ball on first down is creating a lot of second and long third, and longs for this offense.

That's just not the down and distance you can be against this kind of defensive pass rush.

Only 27 yards of offense so far for Rome all of it in the pass game.

McPherson retreating screen pass and broken up right away there at the 36 yard line.

Not much doing as it goes to Ferguson the freshman running back.

Great job.

Demari Cheeks right here.

Watch 35 close in on this screen.

Screen to the outside.

Boom.

Big hit right there.

Just nowhere to go.

And you can see guys like Jamarion Matthews off that D line.

The kind of tempo he plays with right now.

Just nowhere for Rome to have success offensively.

And the punt nearly blocked as Cruz-Reyes got it out of there just in the nick of time.

Williams makes the fair catch at the 39 yard line, and that is where the Gainesville Red Elephants will go on offense for the first time here in the second quarter.

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This red elephant offense starting to get a little momentum.

I think they're starting to figure out this Wolves defense giving up a lot of size, starting to run the ball right at him up front with this big offensive line.

146 yards of offense for Gainesville so far tonight.

And a flag comes out with Williams in motion behind the line.

Let's check the call.

Ajai touchdown.

And early in this game, that's where Gainesville kind of got into trouble.

After that big play.

Had a couple of penalties.

One of their keys is trying to stay ahead of the sticks.

They feel like they can put in work, but they can't beat themselves.

And Time-out's going to be called by Rome.

Time-out.

Rome their first charge time out of the half.

Committed to serving you in our.

So it's very interesting.

Over the last couple of weeks with all the turmoil that went on, starting with that bench clearing brawl in Brunswick, in a lot of ways, Gainesville became public enemy number 1 in social media.

As you take a look at the Rome Wolves resume.

State champions in 2016 and 20:17 First two titles in program history, 15 region titles, five straight 2-3 all time in the semifinals program started in 1992 when they combined West Rome and East Rome and those two football powerhouses had seven football state championships between them and everybody at that time just kind of assumed that Rome would continue on in that legacy, but not until John Reid got here.

He's definitely turned this program around.

And yeah, you would imagine that kind of success.

If you combine it, you would think it was going to produce even more championship.

But Coach Reid has his team in a groove, just a great high school football team.

Not all the stars, but they seem to be galvanized, as we talked about after those two early season losses against two great teams and playing good football.

Handoff goes to Lewis and Lewis shoots through the hole.

Big hole for Lewis crossing the 50 turns into a footrace and Lewis run out of bounds around the 20.

Dwight Mr.

Lewis downhill out on the edge.

The ability to cut the footwork.

Watch how he just makes DJ Watkins miss in the hole right there.

Great job whipping right there.

And he's showing you the speed.

Not as fast as Newkirk but powerful and quick right in the hole.

Play action.

Ball goes to James in the middle.

Flag comes out.

We're gonna have a defensive pass interference call going against Rome.

Easy holding call right there trying to get the ball to Cam Jones.

James excuse me.

The tight end and holding their Jayden Worsham got beat on the route.

Grabbed him right there.

A surefire touchdown if he doesn't.

Think Dwight Lewis might be turning some heads here tonight given the opportunity to shine.

Pass interference defense 15 yards from the previous spot.

Penalty is a first down.

Seems like he's kind of shaking off the nerves.

As we talked about, Nigel Newkirk getting hurt right there off the left of your screen, you can see 24 just grabbing Cam James around the waist.

Half the.

Distance.

So first and ten for the Red elephants at the 12 yard line.

Lewis has nine carries for 103 yards already tonight.

Does he get the ball again right here.

He does.

Looking for a lane to run in and get some tough yardage down to the ten yard line.

Penetration right there.

But patience by Lewis getting out of the grasp of Brooklyn Spivey the big tackle and each and every carry.

You see that this young man is starting to adjust.

Getting a little groove.

It's your show right now young man.

It's your job to take this team to the Benz.

Like I said, I talked to him before the game and I said, just want to clarify here.

Everybody calls you PJ, right?

He goes, no, I want to be called Dwight.

And I said, you are Dwight.

And he is Dwight.

Dwight Lewis gets the handoff, has his second touchdown of the night.

World meet Dwight Lewis.

Drew off the right side.

Great job by the offensive line once again.

And the power and strength on display by this young man.

But what a great job by that right side.

Good job by the center Moledor the right tackle Carter Mathis just no one out there.

You can't let a guy with that kind of strength and power hit the line that clean.

Good job there.

Dwight Lewis.

Gailey on for the P.a.t.

They get the ball down, they get the kick up.

And this one's much better this time.

14-0 Gainesville.

How impressed are we with Dwight?

Lewis?

Just a physical run watch.

59 right there.

Bryston Studivant.

Great job.

Reid zone up front.

Good blocking there by Colin Luke the receiver.

Good combo block with James out there.

The tight end just running through hand tackles is Dwight Lewis.

Hand tackles on the upper body are not going to cut it with Dwight Lewis tonight.

No well-built young man.

You can see the potential and why his coach raves about him.

Those kind of runs.

Only a sophomore.

So a long time to be in this Gainesville program.

Three plays, 61 yards on the DBHDD new red ribbon.

365 curriculum scoring drive.

Lewis 11 carries for 114 yards, two touchdowns.

I'd say he's the front runner to get the towel tonight.

Right now starting to wear on this Rome defense.

And that is something that we were concerned about.

The size and the ability of Gainesville able to run the ball.

And how could this defense doesn't rotate?

A lot of people hold up.

So Gonzalez lets it fly.

It's going to be taken inside the five yard line.

Oh wow.

They're in trouble back there.

When you start stutter stepping on that kick return you're in trouble.

And they drop them inside the 15.

Near the ten.

Yeah.

Stutter step tried to reverse field just closing in.

And the momentum shift is really here after that big run by Dwight Lewis in that first quarter.

This defense and the way they are playing, as I said earlier, you're going to have to start trying to even force the ball here to Darnell Collins and a couple of situations to loosen up this defensive front.

25 plays for 201 yards for Gainesville, 15 plays, 27 yards for Rome.

Trying to run the ball.

Not much doing.

They just can't run the ball against this Gainesville defense right now.

And I don't know that that can change tonight.

That was Clowers on the second carry.

Nice job there Xavier Griffin reading down the line making this play.

Look at the penetration there by Aidan Cain pushing offensive line into the backfield.

Just nowhere to run this ball so far.

And a good job there by the five star Griffin stepping up and making that play.

He had 18 tackles against Langston Hughes last Friday night.

They throw the ball out here to Ferguson and Ferguson in the short game.

Gets it up close to the 25 yard line and might have the first down.

They do.

They got the first down.

Just a little swing pass here.

Get the ball out to JR Ferguson.

The young freshman.

That's what we've been talking about.

This offense is going to have to find some things on the edge.

They're not going to be able to run right now in this game at Gainesville.

They're going to have to find some screens, some quick passes, something out on the edge to test this defense.

Toss nothing.

Wow.

Great pursuit.

That was Leonard with the TfL.

Leonard Elijah Watson out there as well, but great job of Leonard getting off the block here.

Watch one.

He reads it.

See ball get ball right there.

Just nowhere for the back to even try to make any play right there for Warsaw.

Bone crunching defense from Gainesville right now.

They are teeing off second down and long for Rome.

Ferguson going up top for Collins.

No chance right there.

He's fully covered on the play by Watson.

The corner going to be third down and long.

And the play didn't produce.

But you got to try to force you.

You have to keep pace with JJ Winston out Darnell Collins is your biggest weapon.

You're going to have to take some of those chances and get him in some matchups and try to air the ball out to him.

Third down and 11.

We talked about with this defense just can't be in these third and long situations.

Just so much talent rushing the passer up front.

Rome is zero for four on third downs.

McPherson being chased out of the pocket, running back up into the middle, trying to get to the outside on the other side, following a convoy of blockers and has the first down Aidan McPherson with his speed making something happen.

We talked about his track speed in the open here.

Only a three man rush right there.

Xavier Griffin spying and then the elusiveness and the speed right here on this play.

He understands he's going to have to make more of these in this game in that down and distance.

But a good job getting downfield, dedicating himself to running that ball and picking up that first down and giving his team some field position to work with is Aidan McPherson.

651 yards rushing coming in and 14 touchdowns on the ground.

Long throw comes out here to Ferguson and Ferguson battles his way down to the 43 yard line.

Nice pickup on first down.

They haven't had many like that.

Yeah.

Offensive coordinator Steven Humphries making that adjustment to get the ball.

This team averages over 40 points a game.

Long throw long handoff right there out in space is Ferguson picking up six or 7 yards on that down.

Second down and two.

Ferguson gets swallowed up right away as again, Leonard Marshall Marshall Leonard I'm sorry.

Coming off the edge.

Marshall Leonard Matthews Aidan Cain.

Everybody's in the backfield.

Just hard for these backs to run in between the tackles with that kind of penetration.

Marshall Leonard just picked up his first FBS offer recently from Gardner-Webb.

And there he is again.

He likes on TV.

Marshall Leonard produces on the big stage.

Dominating on the defensive side of the ball right now is Leonard great job, great confidence in his speed right there.

He's reading the play, reading the eyes of Aidan McPherson right there.

Saw that he handed the ball off and now Rome keeping the offense out at least to show.

Maybe try to get a hard count.

Dangerous place for fourth and three against this defense.

Gainesville and a time-out called by Rome.

They're going to think about it on fourth down and three.

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Heads up, Georgia.

Welcome back to Barron Stadium.

642.

For the first half, the margin is 14.

Quick update down south.

Second quarter Roswell with another score on the board.

They lead by seven now 21 14.

But this isn't the end of our schedule.

We go to Mercedes-Benz on Monday and it starts bright and early with flag football.

Some folks that we know from tackle football, Washington County makes it to the final.

They take on Harris County at 11.

Jenkins and perpetual power.

Greenbrier is at one.

Then the tackle football class A Division two blue Bloods Boden Lincoln County.

Then quarter to finish and probably finish at about 2:00 in the morning with the offense of those two teams.

Have looking forward to that quarter final for day number one from the bins.

Back up to you.

All right.

Thank you Nelly.

Wayne and I will have the call of that 4-A final.

The Creekside Seminoles set the state scoring record with 803 points.

Taking on a great Benedictine Cadets team out of Savannah.

And don't at me.

It's Benedictine, not Benedictine.

I'm quite sure I'll mess it up on Monday.

Rome.

Their second charge time out of the.

So Rome comes out of the time-out and calls another time-out.

And you feel like that was just a function of Coach Reid trying to get a certain formation that he would have ran a play against and Gainesville did not show it.

And I think here you're just going to have to to dangerous the way that this defense is playing to try this right now.

Gainesville one state championship in their history.

And that was in 2012.

Eight times they've been the state runners up, 33 region titles.

They're 9-14 all time in the semifinals.

Meaning this is semifinal number 24.

In their great history.

That started way back in 1905.

And the key to the 2012 season is in the first round of the playoffs that year.

They beat Rome on the way to the state championship with Bruce Miller, the head coach, and a guy named Deshaun Watson as the quarterback.

And Cruz-Reyes will punt it away and it's going to be fielded on two hops by Williams.

And he breaks out of several tackles and down the sideline and cut him back across the field.

Got the punter to beat punters.

Been taken out of the play.

Williams might take it back all the way, but there is a flag out.

Williams scores the touchdown.

I think they're going to have a block in the back.

On the kicker, blocking the kicker in the back.

What a great play here by fielding this ball.

The senior Philip Williams the Energizer Bunny as coach said he's just one of those guys that's always moving.

Deciding to feel this ball late.

Got upfield.

Showed you the strength and balance to get out of the tackle.

Block in the back.

17 penalty is 10 yards from the spot of the foul.

123 the hand on the ground.

The balance getting out of tackles.

Broke out of four tackles right there.

Now here comes the block in the back Wayne.

It was on the punter.

It was totally unnecessary.

Right here.

Changing sides of the field.

Open field just a foot race right there and just didn't really need that.

He was not going to catch Williams in that case.

But special teams making an impact for Gainesville and still setting up great field position for an offense that seems to be on.

Found his groove here.

And the punter was not going to make the tackle.

They did not have to touch him, but they did committed the penalty.

So the ball has been put down at the 46 yard line.

And if you Rome, you got to be conscious of a big play, trying to get something deep.

Change of possession is always a prime time to run that kind of play.

So Hughley back in their quarterback going to fake the handoff this time and roll to his right.

A lot of space throws right in the middle to James who's wide open James inside the ten scores the touchdown for Gainesville.

And it's 20 to nothing.

Change of possession.

Big play.

Special team.

You always have.

The offense is going to be aggressive a little roll out a bootleg clean pocket.

As you can see on the bootleg.

Just no black jerseys.

Tight end just running down the middle of the field.

Wide open.

Great adjustment there by Cam James to get that ball.

And no chance by Ragland to bring him down.

33rd touchdown pass of the season for Hughley.

Gailey on for the Pat.

They get the snap down.

They get the kick up and it is good 21-0 Kick is good a one play drive.

Touchdown Kadin 46 two.

Back to back plays.

Just big time plays.

Williams had his 90 yard punt return wiped out by the penalty.

And they got it right back here on the 46 yard touchdown pass to Cam James.

And the run game with Dwight Lewis is what sets this up.

The ability to run the ball drawing the defense.

You run the bootleg.

Great job right there by Hughley.

Squaring the shoulders up being patient letting the tight end get across the field.

Cam James doing a great job of adjusting to the throw.

Getting out of the tackle and Gainesville another touchdown on the board.

Starting to put a little space in this game between them and Rome.

And they're not rattling the milk jugs anymore.

It's real quiet over here at this moment.

And that's how explosive this team has really woken up here.

Offensively.

The defense has dominated the whole game.

They're not allowing Rome to run the ball.

They're creating third, second and third and long.

And now this offense is clicking.

Kind of have figured out this defense of Rome.

247 yards of offense for the Red Elephants 69 for the Wolves.

Gonzalez will kick off.

Winner plays Roswell or Thomas County Central in the state championship game next Wednesday night here on GPB.

It is returnable.

But not by much as they barely make it back to the 15 yard line on the kick return.

And if you Rome, you got to come out here and you got to get a couple of first downs.

Your defense is tired.

You have a few players that are going both ways.

You feel like.

You Aidan McPherson and his ability.

He comes into this game as the leading rusher.

And he showed you on that last set of downs that he can carry the ball, but they're going to have to get a couple of plays and let this defense have a time to adjust and catch their breath.

We could have an all region seven 5-A championship game if Roswell emerges from Thomasville with a victory tonight, and John Thompson, the head coach of the Hornets, texted and called Josh Niblett this week and said, I'm rooting for you, McPherson also wanted some advice on the South Georgia trip after Gainesville had made the trip down to Brunswick and JT John Thompson was looking for some advice on how do you break that up, how do you handle it?

We got to go to Thomasville, which is just as far just in a different direction.

I wonder if they have the horns going down there and TCC right now, but a great game here.

Gainesville starting to pull away defensively, just dominating once again, forcing second and long.

And that is what has really for this defense been the catalyst.

They're not giving up anything on first down.

Well apparently they've got a shootout going on in Thomasville.

It's now 21 21 in the second quarter as TCC has tied it up and McPherson buried back at the nine yard line.

Kadin Fossung number 3 signed with Tulsa a couple of weeks ago.

Fossung Leonard Cain.

It's kind of pick your poison.

So talented up front.

And that's what your fear is.

As I've said earlier in this game, you get into these second, third and longs.

The pass rush ability.

This is just individual pass rush.

They're not doing a lot of blitzing.

They're just letting their four guys up front rush the passer.

McPherson in the pocket.

Clean pocket for now.

Now scrambles out of it as nobody's open.

He's in trouble back there in the end zone.

Runs out of it being chased by Griffin who runs him out of bounds.

And a great job right there by Griffin pulling up right there close to the sideline.

Don't want to bail him out with a penalty.

There is looks like a flag on the play as he scrambled to the right side, but a mature and a big time pull up right there by Griffin of not trying to finish that play and possibly get a personal foul.

If you're wondering what a five star looks like Xavier Griffin that's what a five star looks like.

Blind side block by the offense.

That penalty is declined.

Fourth down.

Hannah Goodin just doing a great job as Gainesville on first down.

That is really the key there.

Forcing second and long.

And then they're just making a play.

The speed that we talked about McPherson having Boston Leonard Griffin those guys just can match it.

When he when he goes to run, he's running step for step.

He's this defense can run step for step with him.

Punt out of the end zone.

Going to be a great field here for Gainesville as Williams takes it on the hop this time he gets tackled at the 38.

But they've got it really good field position for this next possession with 4:52 to go in the half and Gainesville in command 21-0.

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Football Fridays in Georgia on GPB is brought to you in part by DBHDD and the Governor's Red Ribbon Campaign.

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Welcome back to Barron Stadium here in Rome dominant Gainesville.

So far here in the first 12 plus 8:00 first 20 minutes have all been Gainesville so far.

Coming up at the half, it's going to be a quick tour around the state.

We'll let you know what's going on down south.

We've got an update before I send it back up to Matt and Wayne.

You save an athlete of the week from Mary Persons, catch up with our friends at Georgia's EMCs.

Signa Heads Up campaign and we find out what's going on at Rome high your update.

Jalen Johnson finds Rodney Dunbar for the TD for 15 first half Matt Thomas, County Central Roswell 21 apiece.

All right.

It looks a little chilly down there.

It's like a sauna up here.

Nice cozy.

Need some some green tea.

And to make it perfect up here.

, we got some red velvet cake up here for halftime too.

Just want to let you know.

Hand off.

Goes to Lewis.

Cut back.

Big hole for Lewis.

Still moving down to the 20 yard line.

Lewis about a 20 yard gain for Lewis.

Beautiful blocking up front inside by the guards and tackles.

Krew Moledor right there.

The Reid block the nice shot there.

Tyler Ford on that backside zone block.

Kind of wearing that defense.

Big bodies inside getting tired.

Great run.

Once again.

Dwight Lewis has really taken over this game.

Really energized this offense.

You mentioned Krew Moledor.

He flipped from Louisville to Georgia Tech and signed with the Yellow Jackets on National Signing Day, a three star interior offensive lineman been starting at center for Gainesville all season.

Lewis on the handoff to the shortstop.

Ty Lewis down the sideline.

Third touchdown of the half for Dwight Lewis.

And there's a flag down on the play.

Holding offense ten yards from the spot of the foul.

First down.

Well that'll wipe out the touchdown run by Lewis and back him up 10 yards.

Good job initially right there I think they got Sergio 17.

Let's see on the red zone to the outside.

Good blocking.

No penetration right there I think they're saying still engaged.

Really didn't see the defender pulling away from him.

Jayden Worsham Sergio Ruiz this offensive line and this run game with the young sophomore Lewis showing you what a weapon they can be.

Young man might be tired.

He's not used to carrying the ball this frequently.

Doesn't look like he's tired yet.

Going to get it again.

Hit the line and bounce outside man.

Look at him.

Just bouncing defenders to the ground as he lowers his shoulder.

Picks up close to the first down.

Just physical blocking up front.

Now starting to try to impose your will.

You're up 21-0 Your defense is playing great.

Now you get your run game.

This young man getting in a groove offensive line.

And soon you're going to see Kareem Hughley pull one of these balls.

Throws it to Porterfield and it got broken up by Worfford.

That'll bring up third down and 11.

Looking down the ball to the edge.

Good protection.

Look at the protection right here.

Look at the pocket the step and try to lay that ball up.

Still trying to use that size advantage right there.

Porterfield going against Worfford size for size Worfford 62 1:70 Third down and 11.

Hughley being chased, forced to retreat, throws it up for grabs and throws it out of bounds.

Great pursuit by the defense right there.

Forced him to dump it.

Good job there.

Defensive coordinator Dana Arthur.

Greg Evans.

Just not sitting back this time.

He brought the pressure off the edge right there.

Missed count by Hughley tried to get out.

Just throwing the ball.

Doing a good job getting out of the pocket and then throwing the ball away.

That was Marquez Elston, who's battled back from an Achilles injury to have a good senior season.

He brought the pressure that time.

Gailey on for a field goal.

This is a 39 yard attempt from the left.

Hash kick is on its way and it is absolutely good.

39 yard field goal by Logan Gailey and a 24 to nothing lead.

And even though they gave up the three points, the Rome defense.

You had to be proud right there.

You felt like the game was getting away from you.

Big run on that first down by Lewis seemed like they were about to go and punch in another touchdown.

You slowed them down just enough, forcing a third and long and getting off the field.

Well, Josh Niblett, when we talked to him the other day, said he's never been like anything that he went through over these last four weeks.

And what was interesting in my mind is how Gainesville suddenly became public enemy number 1 on social media with a lot of people that were real dividing line.

Those who defended Gainesville and what they were doing, you know, trying to pursue an avenue to get his players reinstated.

And then there were others who said they just need to take their medicine and sit the players out.

Ultimately, Gainesville won that battle with the court injunction, and then the GHSA ultimately decided to drop their appeal.

But Josh Niblett says, look, I told my guys to get off social media.

I got off social media.

I might never go back.

And he really seemed like he was serious when he said it.

You start finding out how people really feel.

But he felt like the community really rallied, circled around the guys.

He brought the team closer and from all evidence going to Langston Hughes last week and tonight is working.

On side kick.

It goes out of bounds at the 50 yard line.

And that ball is going to belong to Rome.

I don't know why you just did that.

Interesting call right there.

The way your coverage team has been covering the last couple of kickoffs, you defense you imagine go down and get you a three and out and you get the ball back anyway to get another opportunity.

I don't think you had to force an opportunity.

The way your defense is playing, they would have got you an opportunity.

To play 5 yards for a little bit out of bounds.

Very curious decision right there to try the onside kick.

And you get Rome with a short field.

This is the best field position.

They've had pretty much the entire night.

As they have the ball now at the 45.

We'll see if Rome can do something with this gift.

Handoff goes to Rogers.

Rogers going to pick up about 2 yards on the play to the 43.

Once again, this defensive front just so active.

Great with their hands.

Good athletes and just across the board.

As we talked about Aiden Cain, 993 star headed to Duke.

Four star Alabama Jamarion Matthews inside just tonight.

Won't be blocked.

Second down and eight McPherson in trouble and Matthews with the quarterback sack.

Pardon me.

That's going to be Leonard with the quarterback sack.

Marshall Leonard.

What a game he's already had here tonight.

Initial pressure here by Tay Malcolm 58.

Right there getting up the field pushing him up into the pocket.

And then the cleanup man tonight Marshall Leonard who's vying for the towel I think he's trying to make sure that we understand that this is a great defense.

And a young man who is playing at a high level really dominating tonight.

Every time we show up, so does Marshall Leonard.

He's had a great first half, third down rolling looking to throw it back.

Lofts it up in the air for Ferguson who's wide open.

That's going to be a first.

He dropped the ball then gets back on top of it.

That will be a first down for Rome.

Nice play design here.

Little roll out will route by the receiver down the sideline.

Nice job by the freshman stopping right there to catch the ball.

Then just getting it knocked out of his hand by Marshall Leonard.

Luckily he was able to get back on it.

So first and ten for Rome ball at the 30 1 yard line.

Did Gainesville open the door for Rome to get back in this game?

With that curious decision to onside, kick it with a 24-0 lead ball up top going for the end zone and falls in the end zone.

Incomplete.

Nice job there.

Zach and Ingram staying back trying to get the ball to Collins just not able to get behind Ingram.

Good job of getting his head around.

They are really missing their dynamic duo tonight.

When you take JJ Winston a guy that John Reid compares to Randy Moss when you take him out of the mix.

That's a big loss on your offense.

Yeah, it allows this Gainesville team to key on one guy and right now, as I said, you're going to have to try to throw the ball, force it up to Collins.

But defense on the back end doing a good job for the Red elephants.

They swing it out there to Ferguson.

Ferguson has the first down down to the 20 yard line.

And right now they found something with getting the ball out to the backs.

Another long swing pass there to Ferguson and really no defender went with him right now.

Just a miscommunication.

He's standing out in the flat by himself.

A little bit easier to run the offense when your back isn't pressed up against your own goal line.

Time out.

Gainesville Gainesville calls the time out.

The Georgia high School Association will make its corporate partner.

So 24-0 Gainesville with 1-34 to play in the half, but Rome with their best scoring opportunity here in the first half.

Stick around coming up at halftime we got John Nelson.

He'll get you updated on everything.

I think you can make a movie on a budget.

Well try lights, camera, budget GPB free game where you produce a film and manage the money.

Play now at GPB.

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And Matt, all this started with that onside kick.

Yeah it did true.

Interesting.

Probably the most interesting call of the night for Gainesville in a situation.

Your coverage team the last two kickoffs has kept the team inside the 15.

You imagine a three and out and getting the ball back, probably midfield once again with plenty enough time.

But coach Niblett in a sense tried to force another possession for his offense, and now Rome is in scoring position and eating up the clock.

So you're thinking about the game I'm thinking about we need to make one of those movies.

0-1 of those lights, camera, budget movies, a behind the scenes exposé on what really goes on in the TV.

Booth.

It'd probably be pretty boring.

It's really, really what it would be.

Flag down on the play.

Holding offense, ten yard penalty.

Second down.

Holding on that right side.

As you can see out there, 78 as the quarterback right there pulling the jersey.

Josh Reynolds only a freshman.

What a big future 66, 275.

He has to pray at night not to really get any taller.

Really at the tackle position even though, you know, those positions are taller.

Anything over six, eight.

You start being in a risk where you can't have enough knee bend to do the job.

Backed up to the 29 and the ball was hit as he released it.

It does go out of bounds.

And it's going to be second down.

Yeah.

They're starting two freshmen on the offensive line.

Collins the left guard is the brother of Darnell Collins Demari Collins.

He's a 64, 290 freshman number 50 and number 78.

Josh Reynolds.

And the offense 5 yards for a spot of the foul.

Russell down.

There's Josh Reynolds.

Just a crushing penalty right there on Rome.

Correct call.

He definitely was still in the pocket.

Kind of threw it to get out of the sack as he felt the pressure coming with the late dog there.

Xavier Griffin and Darryn Williams just throwing it out.

No one out in that area.

Coach Reid pleading his case.

Receiver was about 20 yards away from the ball.

Pretty extraordinary story.

Aidan McPherson.

He was 57 last year as a sophomore.

He's 510 as a junior.

He's picked up an offer from FCS Rhode Island.

You can expect he's going to pick up more offers here.

Between his junior and senior season, when things get really busy for 11th graders.

Ferguson on the short run brings up third down and long.

Matt Marshall Leonard just made another tackle.

Officially, he's got five total tackles, two TfL and a quarterback sack.

He's balling out here in the first half.

Once again working down the line of scrimmage.

Young man who's just earned his way.

Playing well here and dominating up front.

Yeah I mean he's on a line where Matthews next to him is signed with Alabama.

Cain is signed with Duke.

Boston is signed with Tulsa.

He has an offer from Gardner-Webb and good luck to him.

McPherson on the run, gets buried after 1 yard on the play, and we don't get to see Marshall Leonard play every game, but every game that we've seen him play.

I would say Gardner-Webb and any other program, he's worth the offer.

And he's at that size where you really feel like with his athletic ability, you can stand him up.

So if you're in any kind of idea, oh, he's playing defensive end, but right now he can flip into a 34 defense and the kind of speed and athleticism that he's showing, tackling ability in open space.

Just a great player.

And a time-out was called with 2 seconds left in the half.

Right here you imagine Coach Reid is going to maybe just chunk one to the end zone.

Time-out Rome their final time-out of the half.

Only real at this this distance, you wouldn't imagine that there would be no try with Jason Cruz, who you know, he has a 50 yard range, but this is.

Yeah, this is much more.

Than this is this would be this would be 54 yards and 50 yards.

When we asked coaches range coach said, well, he can go 50, but he hasn't done 50 in a game.

Doing 50 in a game is a lot different than 50 in practice.

Let's see here trying to get the ball.

Maybe find Darnell Collins in a situation, a jump ball.

Just give it some air and see if you can come up.

Lucky here to end this half.

This is where if you've got a trick play a hook and lateral, maybe that works because you imagine they're going to be playing three deep across near the goal line.

So throw a pass short of that and then try some laterals in a broken field to try to get into the end zone.

Might be the better option.

Just leaving it to the end zone.

We'll see.

Final play of the half.

Unless we have a penalty on this final play.

Troops to your left.

So quarterback in this situation typically will roll towards the three man side.

Try to buy some time.

Ferguson short pass to the outside there and that's going to end the half.

I don't know whether they had some kind of trick play in the books right there, but it never materialized.

As the half comes to a close with Gainesville on top 24 to nothing.

Big half by Gainesville defensively just would not allow Rome to run the ball.

Kept him in second and third and long, and then offensively as the game wore on, losing their big scar.

Nigel Newkirk putting Dwight Lewis in there and able to run the ball, dominate at the line of scrimmage and get some big plays down the field.

Throwing off of that run game.

Lewis 139 yards rushing in the first half on 14 carries and a couple of touchdowns, and the halftime interview is brought to you by Newkirk Johnny's New York style pizza.

Your original neighborhood pizzeria.

Thank you very much, Matt.

Let's get the slice of the first half with Coach Niblett dominant performance defensively.

Let's start there.

Your front four keeping pressure and contain nothing happening.

Well, first of all, to God be the glory man.

Just to be out here and compete.

Can't say enough about defensively.

Our guys doing a good job.

They outflanked a couple times on a couple of screens that we got to get fixed, but we know some foolish stutters, things like that are coming.

You still got to contain the quarterback.

He's a heck of a player, but our guys have done a really good job of trying to keep him in the box.

And then when he got outside, we were able to get pressure on him.

Offensively, you lose Newkirk early, but once again, next man up and it's just humming right along.

Plus 200 yards of offense.

Yeah, yeah.

But we kind of shot ourselves in the foot once we started getting out of our own way.

Then we were able to stay in front of the sticks and stay on schedule.

You know, we get the whole penalty down here.

We get a field goal out of it.

We should have got a touchdown out of it.

But hey, I'm proud of our kids.

We'll make adjustments at the half and then and then we'll come back and be ready to finish this thing.

Thanks for your time.

Thank you brother.

God bless you.

And go be Garrett.

Josh Niblett up 24 at the break halftime show coming up around the corner.

We'll take the tour of the state, let you know what's going on.

On the other 5-A semifinal, we're heading to the dome.

Halftime.

Coming up here on the great GPB stick and stay.

We'll be right back.

DBHDD is launching Red ribbon 365 a year round alcohol and drug prevention curriculum for Georgia schools and families from kindergarten through high school.

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All right.

What do you think, Jasper?

Honestly, I think that polyester shirts affecting your game.

What?

I think cotton would have been a better choice.

Cotton?

Yeah, it's come a long way.

You know, nowadays, cotton breeze and wicks moisture.

Great.

Plus, buying cotton means supporting Georgia farmers.

I think that's wonderful.

Okay, sure.

But what do you think about the putt?

Oh, it's really.

I hadn't thought about it.

Football Fridays in Georgia on GPB is brought to you in part by Georgia's EMCs.

So much more than electricity.

Welcome back to Historic Barron Stadium.

Here in Rome.

We are at the intermission and it is all red.

Elephants 24-0 on the board.

Welcome to halftime.

Halftime presented by our friends at Georgia Access.

We're bringing health insurance home now.

Let's get you taking the tour about what else is going on here around the state.

We've just got the one score on the Georgia EMC scoreboard, Georgia EMC, so much more than electricity and they are at the break as well at the Jackets Nest, Thomas County, Central Roswell.

Nothing is resolved after the first 24 minutes.

Roswell has been getting their scores on the ground.

Thomas County Central has been getting theirs in the air.

It was 21 14.

Roswell 21 21 right now.

And that's where they are at the break.

That is your scoreboard, however abbreviated.

It is a very important one.

Once again, Georgia's EMCs so much more than electricity.

Now it's time to catch up with our friends at Cigna and catch up with our signature moment.

Once again.

Here's Hannah checking in on what is important with you and what should be important for you.

Once again, from our friends from Cigna.

Give it a listen.

On average, teens spend 4 hours daily on social media, which can affect their mental health.

Matt Evelyn, senior new business manager at Cigna Healthcare, is here to share some valuable tips for parents.

Matt, what are some of the signs that social media might be negatively impacting your child?

You know, social media isn't all bad.

It's a great place for teens to connect with their friends, to learn new things and access information.

Of course, it can also be exposed to cyberbullying, misinformation, and peer pressure that could lead to depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem.

We also want to make sure our teens aren't on their phones too close to bedtime.

It's going to be really hard to fall asleep if they're checking their phones throughout the night.

It can disrupt their sleep cycles.

Yeah, getting that phone away from teens at night is really important.

What are some signs that social media might be negatively impacting your child?

Well, keep an eye if they're spending excessive time online.

If they're withdrawing from family and friends, or if they're showing lack of interest in hobbies, your spidey sense should really go up.

If they show negative emotions or if they're starting to display harmful behavior.

That could have learned on one of these platforms.

How can parents guide their child into using social media in a positive way?

Because there are a lot of positives.

There are.

But just like anything, set clear boundaries.

Probably monitor screen time.

But if there are, if they break the rules, there need to be consequences.

Have open and honest conversation with your kids about the benefits and risks of social media, but engage with them just like anything they're interested in.

If you're interested in social media, it might help boost their self-esteem.

For hours on average is a lot of time, so we need to get that number down.

Matt, thank you so much for being here.

Yeah.

If you would like to learn more about social media and your teen, please visit cigna.com.

Thanks as always to our friends from signature our signature moments all season long here.

Great partners with us here on Football Thursday in Georgia.

This time around here on GPB.

Now it's time to catch up with our friends at the Heads Up Georgia campaign.

Governor's Office of Highway Safety.

And there was a song, I think, when we were growing up talking about These Are the Brakes.

It's that pedal in the middle.

Time to focus on that this time around with our friends from Heads Up Georgia and the Governor's Office of Highway Safety.

Here at the brakes program, we're just introducing to the teens some of the basic concepts of car control.

And in our program itself, it's 3 hours long, but we jam pack it full of a lot of things.

So they're learning how to use that steering wheel correctly to brake and then steer around something that could be in your lane.

We also teach them a slalom course so they learn how to look ahead, plan their route, be real smooth the steering wheel so they maintain control of the car.

Looking, looking.

Good job.

Distracted driving is a huge issue right now.

And it's not just cell phones.

It could be a sibling in the car.

It could be a friend.

It could be those huge nav screens the manufacturers are putting on cars.

It could be loud music.

Unfortunately, majority of the teens that are hurt and killed in a car crash never had the steering wheel in their hand.

They were just an innocent bystander sitting on the passenger side of that vehicle.

So we have to teach the teens to keep both hands on the wheel and keep their eyes focused on the windshield.

And by the time these teens rotate through our exercises, they're going to have a good feel for car control and be better prepared for those what ifs that they're going to encounter sooner or later down that road.

We think this training is important for any driver behind the wheel.

If you're young or old, if a parent and teen can give up 3 hours of their time, we're going to make them a better driver, that's for sure.

Look, see, that is the face that I get every single time.

As always, once again, thanks to everyone who has become a part of our PSA campaign this season with the Governor's Office of Highway Safety and the Heads Up Georgia campaign, we're voting on them now.

So when we get to Mercedes-Benz, we get to give stuff away.

For those of you that did really, really well with your campaigns this season, can't thank you enough for participating around the state here with the Georgia High School Association and with us here at GPB bands on the field.

And we're not talking Stanford and Cal.

They are loud and proud.

There's a lot of horns here on both sides tonight.

Got action going on here on the field with the bands.

We'll have more action coming up from historic Barron Stadium and Rome around the corner.

It's all Gainesville halftime show continues in a bit to find out who our Youth athlete of the week is.

Stick and stay on the great GPB.

We'll be right back.

They weren't twins, but like they grew up almost like they were.

There was a boating accident and he was on the raft.

He fell off and she didn't.

Doesn't day go by?

They don't think about her.

Think he went 13-0 you know, hit lead off.

It shut out in the semifinals.

Pitched a shutout in the state championship.

The final out is made and he's looking up in the sky.

Everybody just knows when they see that picture.

They know what he's doing and what he's playing for.

Welcome back to Rome.

It is halftime here once again.

It is the halftime presented by our friends at Georgia Access.

We are bringing health insurance home.

Gainesville High School Gainesville high school band was performing.

They took the first half.

Let's see if the Rome high band takes the second half.

But there's a lot of horns tonight.

Both sides, a lot of milk jugs, a lot of noise here.

Great environment and we can't thank everybody enough on both sides.

Making football Thursday in Georgia.

A great representation here in the state semifinals.

Now it's time to catch up with our friends at you save it or you save it.

Athlete of the week.

And for this one we go down to Forsyth County and Mary Persons.

A very special story in cheerleading.

She lost her father when she was nine.

Her mother when she was 11.

In tenth grade, I was diagnosed with type one diabetes.

She fought through with perseverance and just a strength of character that is not typical for a 16-year-old student.

Being a good cheerleader is a lot more than having a pretty face and good motions, and being able to stunt.

It's in our name to be a leader, and she's just a great role model for all of those around her.

She's always trying to help whoever she can help.

I have every reason to be sad, but I choose to be happy.

The sound of the seven hills.

Thanks, as always to our friends at You Save It.

You can watch the full length versions of those stories on the You Save It YouTube channel.

Now let's catch up with our friends at Georgia EMC.

And for this particular award presentation for the Cooperative Spirit Sportsmanship Award, it was a trip to Middle Georgia, and let's say there were a lot of folks and a very loud space.

Here's our trip to Northside.

Fun energies in 35 other participating Georgia Electric membership cooperatives.

Congratulate Northside High on winning the GHSA Cooperative Spirit Sportsmanship Award.

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

E 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.

Flint energy is proud to present the Cooperative Spirit and Sportsmanship Award to Northside High School of Warner Robins, an award which recognizes something deeper than just talents or wins.

It's for athletes who lift up others, the ones who lead by example, encourage their teammates, respect their opponents, and remind us that success is about more than stats.

It's about how we treat one another like a true cooperative.

They bring energy, connection and care to everything that they do.

They don't just play hard, they play fair, and they make everyone around them better.

It is with great pride that Flint Energy presents this award to Northside High School.

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.

In every sport, not just football, basketball, track, volleyball.

You want to respect the games, and I think that's one of the biggest things that I know.

I try to instill in all our players, and I know the other coaches in the school, in the building, the same thing.

They always want everybody to understand that the importance of the integrity of the sport, because when we come to different situations, I always try to remind my guys, hey, let's keep it classy, let's keep it classy.

Up, down.

It don't matter.

Character goes a long way and all that stuff plays in with sportsmanship.

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

Congratulations to the Northside Eagles community.

Told you it was loud.

It's always great to go around the state and award the Cooperative Spirit Sportsmanship Award, as we were able to do here in 2025 and be in places like Hawkinsville, being places like Northside, Warner Robins and have the entire school come and create a pep rally on your behalf.

We can't thank them enough this season for awarding the Cooperative Spirit Sportsmanship Award, and our friends at Georgia's EMCs.

The sound of the Seven Hills.

It's their turn.

They have tagged in as Gainesville band is tagged out.

They're going to play us the break.

We'll find out what's going on.

Like I said, a lot of horn section going on here.

We're going to find out what else is going on here at Rome High.

We're going to find out from the principal.

So I'm going to the principal's office.

We're going to break we're going to hear the band a little bit from Historic Barron Stadium stick and stay will be right back.

Halftime show rolls on from northwest Georgia on the great GPB.

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.

Georgia's 41 electric cooperatives are anything but static.

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Out of the seven hills, wrapping up one of their numbers here at halftime at Historic Barron Stadium, and it's time for me to go into the principal's office, a place I was in a lot when I was in high school back in the late 1790s.

James Oglethorpe and I, we went to high school together.

That's that's the running gag.

Anyway, Mr.

Parke Wilkinson Jr., the man in charge here at Rome.

I love coming here and we love it.

GPB being able to to show the state what it is to see Rome football here in Baron.

Well, we appreciate everything you do for high school football and showcasing all the high schools.

I just watched 35 seniors play their last time at Barron Stadium and Proctor.

Brown does a wonderful job with our the sound of the seven Hills.

And we we just love to listen to them.

Also, what else is going on up here at Rome High?

Because I know that we have the history with football, where it was two directional schools and they've come together and you're seeing what's going on with Coach Reid.

What else is going on at Rome folks need to know about?

We just started our we just concluded our first flag football season, made it to the sweet 16.

Jared Hughes, who is our girls basketball coach, is the coach and just an outstanding first year.

Just so pleased with all the excitement that we had surrounding our first year.

We had our first home game was just packed, so it's exciting to start that.

So I'd like to thank Arthur Blank and his donation and to help us get that started.

We have other things going on, or we have an awesome theater department.

Like I said, I was talking about Dr.

Brown and the sound of Seven Hills Marching Band, but our choral department, our theater department has been outstanding this year.

Gosh, a lot going on right now.

We're heading into the to the winter, right?

Swimming, wrestling, basketball.

So it's never it never stops, no doubt.

And it's also I know that this is another AAA campus.

It's arts, academics and athletics.

What else is going on on the academic side?

In the arts side, we're very pleased to say that we just set another record.

Our graduation rates up to 95.7% back to back years of breaking a record.

So we're very proud of that.

We have a great AP program at Rome High School as well as we're increasing the number of students entering dual enrollment, we're at all time highs, honestly.

And with our AP students and our dual enrollment program gosh, I could go on and on.

We're we're just really happy with the progress we're making.

Thanks for your time.

Thanks for being a great host.

Good to see you, my friend.

Go Wolves.

Thank you.

All right.

Time to go for the bracket.

And we're going to go over Monday's bracket really quickly.

Monday's rundown starts with flag.

We've got some new faces coming in in flag football with Washington County coming in Washington County and Harris County looking forward to seeing them.

You've got the Blue Bloods and Greenbrier that are a part of it also.

And then the games at the end of the day, you end up with a great action packed time.

It's Blue Bloods, it's offense.

It's day one.

We're going to find out what's on the mind of John Reid.

It is halftime heading to the third quarter.

Thanks once again to our friends here at Rome.

Find out how Rome can get back from this deficit.

Halftime winding down here on the great GPB stick and stay third quarter coming up after this.

GPB sports broadcast of this game is made possible by supporters of the including the National Federation of High Schools.

What.

Are you Lyons.

Oh come on.

Oh, what a bad call.

You have no business being out there.

You know, I'm a person to.

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Welcome back.

It is halftime getting ready for the start of the third quarter here in Rome with Gainesville on top 24-0 and a half away from advancing to the state championship game for the first time since 2022.

Wayne, let's take a look at the first half highlights.

It has been all Gainesville and Dwight Lewis, the understudy filling in for the injured Nigel Newkirk has been a big story.

Started off a little slow.

Dwight Lewis, but exploded there as he continued to carry the ball right here.

Getting to the outside, showing you the power and the speed to get in for his second touchdown.

14 carries, 139 yards, two touchdowns for Lewis and then this 46 yard touchdown pass from Kareem Hughley to Cam James.

And a field goal added on.

And a big 24-0 lead.

What jumps off the page on the halftime stat?

Only 22 yards rushing there for Rome.

Just nowhere to go with the football in the run game.

And then when you go down first downs only five first downs defense has been out there.

It seems like forever.

And then third down conversions, too many, second and long, third and long for the Rome to have success.

Halftime interview brought to you by Johnny's New York style pizza.

Let's send it down to Nelly.

Thank you very much.

Matt here with Coach Reid a lot of time behind the sticks.

I know that's not what you're looking to do.

Trying to convert third and longs.

It was a long first half for you.

No we're not we're not doing the things we talked about all week.

I thought early on we played really good defense.

Both of us were going three and outs and so forth.

And then we didn't play very good complementary football.

We have to move the ball a little bit.

They got to see our defensive fronts and got to start picking from plays.

And you know we need to we need to move the ball a little bit and see if we can't get a score.

Defensively.

I know that having those big guys in the trenches for Gainesville, trying to move them to get to the backs has been difficult in the first half.

Any kind of adjustments or thoughts that you were talking about?

Well, I you know, their front isn't so big.

It's quick and our offensive line had to play really good tonight and they didn't play very good in the first half.

And they're going to have to get together and work together as a unit and try to move the football, get some runs.

We have to run the football because, you know, we get behind the chains and then it's just bring the house on third down.

Thanks for your time, John.

Appreciate it.

John Reid, head coach of Rome.

They've got a lot of work to do.

Matt, second 24 minutes here down 20-4 Let's see what Rome has after their talk at the half.

Yeah Wayne that Gainesville defense produced five sacks and eight TfL in that first half, led by Marshall Leonard, who had six total tackles, five solo, 2.5 TfL and a quarterback sack himself.

Yeah, it was total dominance by the Gainesville defense.

Pick a player, especially up front, and they were making plays, Marshall Leonard leading the band Jamarion Matthews Ayden Cain with their penetration.

Just know where to go with the football running and you feel like that put all the pressure on Aidan McPherson to try to make some plays.

He was the only one that really broke a run, and they're going to have to right here.

Start off fast and try to get some yards here on this.

Excuse me, get some points on this first drive.

Yeah.

The one good story for Rome right here is they do get the ball to start the third quarter.

And the second half kickoff is brought to you by heads up Georgia.

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So here we go.

Gonzalez has it teed up and ready to kick off.

To start the second.

Half and standing deep for Rome is waters.

They're missing J.J.

Winston.

If you just tuned in, their star wide receiver who signed with Georgia Tech just moments before the opening kickoff, it was told to us here in the TV booth that he would not be able to play tonight.

It's a medical, it's an injury reason they didn't divulge the injury or the reason, but he's just not playing tonight and it's been a huge loss for them.

As far as their verticality and being able to stretch the field and keep the Gainesville defense from zeroing in on Darnell Collins.

Yeah, out of the duo.

He is the one that probably is the best deep threat as a receiver, and they're just not able to keep balance offensively right now.

They're able to keying on Darnell Collins who's doing double duty, but they're going to continue to try to have to force the ball to him, see if he can get them a big play down the field.

Let's see if Rome can get something started here.

As we begin the third quarter.

Ball comes out here on the edge to Simpson, and Simpson is going to get about six 7 yards on the play tackled by Demari Cheeks.

And that's one thing the Rome offense was able to do.

Get the ball out quick, guys getting upfield.

And when they had success on first down, it was those kind of plays out to the receiver or swing passes to the running back.

Six yard gain, second down and four.

Ball in the air.

Goes back to Simpson first down.

Catch a couple of back to back throws to toot or scoot Simpson I should say.

And he's got the first down.

Once again getting the ball out quick.

Simpson getting the ball getting upfield.

The young sophomore.

How patient can you be moving the ball with a quick pass game out to the receivers.

Again, pass goes same place to Simpson so they're going to keep throwing it that there before they stop it.

And they haven't stopped it yet.

And the thing about that, if you're Gainesville as much as you want to bite up and bite on that, play a stutter and go.

You really feel one of these receivers is going to try to force you up into a tight coverage and then run by you.

So second down.

Handoff goes to Rogers and Rogers going to pick up the first down at the 43.

Three outside pass.

It's kind of loosening up the defense.

Linebackers having to pay attention.

And here a little running space here for Rogers to get upfield and pick up a first down.

He picked up 5 yards.

So far so good.

Good start to the third quarter for Rome.

To the outside it goes.

And waters makes the catch at the 48.

You can see the adjustment by the Wolves offensive coordinator Steven Humphries going to try to slow walk this ball and take what the defense is giving him right now.

A little soft coverage, and they're taking those four or five yard passes.

Trying to nibble their way down the field.

Ball goes out to Rogers and he dropped it.

Going to have to be careful with that.

They did rule it incomplete right away.

Once again just as long swing pass.

Motioning out of the backfield.

Little swing route out to Tyler Rogers not sure he would have got any yards right there.

Good recognition by Cheeks to get out there in coverage.

Aidan McPherson 14 of 21 passing for 104 yards.

And he's also their leading rusher but has only 11 yards.

He's gained 31.

His net is 11.

Now he's going to try to quarterback run it and he will.

And pick up the first down.

Good job.

Quick decision right there.

Out of bounds.

Sold the swing pass on the outside.

The Ferguson.

You can see quarterback draw all the way right there catching the defense Leonard Marshall Leonard looking inside getting outside using his speed.

So far so good patience by Rome on this drive.

Swing pass to Ferguson.

Ferguson cuts it up field and has the first down at the 36.

Ferguson.

Once again committed Matt to getting the ball on the outside.

A little swing pass, this time sitting back is Cheeks allowing the back to get the ball out there and Ferguson doing a good job picking up a first down.

Ferguson goes to the other edge this time and it's going to be caught by waters.

And he slung to the ground by Ingram.

Pass complete.

Good job.

Little stout stop route out on the edge by what waiters.

Five, second and five at the 41.

Showing a lot of patience.

Kind of go right back to Ferguson.

Same play.

They're running the same two plays, one to the right and then one to the left.

They have run the same two plays essentially this entire drive.

And doing a good job right now.

Soft ball right there to catch.

Getting upfield, showing patience and really catching this Gainesville.

They seem to be waiting on the counter, but Rome is going with the straight jab at them right now.

Ball in the air to the end zone and Simpson cannot run under it.

And that's the play.

The defensive backs have been waiting on because they're not biting that you're just going to keep throwing the little five yard stop route right there, little stutter and go by Simpson just not able to connect there with McPherson.

Jamarcus Sims.

The safety was running step for step with him.

So now second down and ten.

Let's see what this Gainesville defense can do as an adjustment as they get into the red zone here.

Ferguson they're going to swing it out to him.

Got a block out there.

And Ferguson cuts inside the 15 and down to the nine.

Nice block on the edge there by Darnell Collins.

Probably the best blocker that Coach Reid has ever had.

Another swing pass out into the flat.

Good job catching the ball.

A nice ball leading the receiver.

The running back Ferguson upfield.

Yeah, coach Reid says that Collins loves the block.

He actually enjoys blocking at that wide receiver position, and McPherson gets stopped in his tracks.

By Aidan Cain.

Big time pressure in the backfield there.

Cain 62, 275.

Senior watch 99.

Working his way through the double team.

Good job right there.

By Cain.

Consensus three star defensive lineman signed with Duke.

Over 15 total offers.

Second down.

Heavy rush gets it out of there.

Jump ball broken up in the end zone.

Great coverage back there.

Thank.

That was Elijah Watson who denies the touchdown pass to Darnell Collins.

Big pressure off the edge here.

Marshall Leonard bearing down on McPherson.

As you can see taking the hit right there trying to deliver the ball.

But great coverage.

Good job of getting his head around his Watson and getting a hand on the football.

Watson getting the job done.

He's a second year starter in that corner position.

Now it's third down.

Quick pass out here on the edge.

Going to be a double pass.

Nothing there.

Running for his life and chased down by Williams.

They were going to try a double pass and it never materialized.

Leo McGinnis the freshman.

It was his job to throw it and he couldn't.

Roger Holder the safeties here, just not biting up on this play.

As you can see there, staying back.

As you can see, the flash of black in the end zone, just nowhere to go with the football.

And now he's going to try to put three points and get some energy in this building by getting on the scoreboard.

Is Rome.

Just trying to get some points on the board.

Kick is on its way and Cruz-Reyes sticks it through and Rome gets on the board.

Nice drive.

They have to settle for three Gainesville leading 243.

They go on offense when we get back.

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409 Gone Here.

Third quarter at Barron Stadium.

The margin three scores Cruz-Reyes from 36.

The first points on the board for the Rome Wolves.

Speaking of points, two minute two second drive for Thomas County Central.

Deuce Lawrence gets it into the end zone opening drive of the half.

Thomas County Central leads in the other semifinal by the score of 28 21.

I've heard we've got Tuesday's menu up and running.

Your appetizers come from flag football, Division three and Division four, Whitewater and North Oconee.

Bright and early at 10:00, North Oconee makes it to the last game of the year again.

Division four.

It is Milton and Blessed Trinity.

Then from there it is the tackle football schedule and it is class A, Division one.

To start things off, their number 1 versus number 2.

It is worth in terms AA 5:00 and then 6-A 6-A 6-A 6-A the Galactic Championship.

Mat 1-2 It National Galactic Planetary watch that one.

It's going to be huge.

Buford and Carrollton.

Pop up kicks going to be taken by Porterfield.

He sprints to the outside and Porterfield still on his feet and Porterfield to the 44 yard line.

The plus 44 and a great return and great field position for the Red Elephants.

Coming out with the same energy special teams has come up big tonight for Gainesville in the return game earlier, Philip Williams flipping the field, the special teams have done a great job and now this offense, can they find their groove?

Try to add to this lead here in the third quarter.

First and ten from the 43 for Gainesville.

Eli'zha.

Handoff goes to Dwight Lewis.

Another big run for Dwight Lewis all the way down to the 27 yard line.

Great job once again.

Krew Moledor the center pulling here.

Watch him getting on the edge there.

Bryson Hurt kick out.

Block Moledor up in the alley blocking and then the physical run here by Dwight Lewis once again.

But a great job blocking up front pulling guard.

Three star Hurt three star headed to Georgia Tech Moledor saw him before the game.

I comment to you, Matt is probably a guard and showing you right there a great ability to pull.

Hughley up top and it was holding it.

Still caught anyway.

What a catch inside the five yard line.

Still trying to get into the end zone.

Super catch.

Looked like he was being interfered with and a tremendous catch by the freshman Wilcox.

Great job here by the young freshman.

511 180 good ball by Hughley hanging it up there for his receiver to be able to go up and make a catch at the high point.

Just outjumping the coverage right there of Eli Mathis and a good job holding on to the ball as he tried to pull it out.

Trenton Wilcox a freshman expecting huge things from him in the years to come.

Hughley on the sprint out, runs to the pylon and gets into the end zone for the Gainesville touchdown.

And it's 30-3 Really the first time.

Kharim Hughley pulled the ball tonight after the great running of Dwight Lewis, you would imagine the defense is going to bite on this read option here.

Looking right there.

Look at the job.

He sees that soft end and then feels like he can outrun Worfford to the end zone.

Great job there.

By Kareem Hughley.

30-3 27 point lead for Gainesville.

And Gailey on for the P.a.t.

And the kick was blocked.

No good.

So it stays 30-3 Now remember high school football regular season rules apply here in Gainesville.

Can get a 30 plus point lead going into the fourth quarter.

They'll have a running clock.

And you got to start thinking ahead.

The state championship game for them.

If they win this game is six days from now.

So so a shorter week.

And you imagine that Coach Niblett that's on his mind.

You know it is.

You know it's star running back is out Dwight Lewis is playing great.

Would be a great chance to be able to be able to shorten this game.

Maybe get him out here into that fourth.

So this team of Gainesville, you imagine they're going to stay aggressive and see if they can push that in the next 623.

But a great answer first, by the special teams on the return by Porterfield to get the short field and then just dominance run blocking up front by the offensive line.

Hard running by Dwight Lewis.

And then the big catch by the freshman Trent Wilcox to set up that touchdown by Hughley.

Josh Niblett won seven state championships in the state of Alabama before coming to Gainesville.

Got the Red elephants to the finals in 2022 and now closing in on another trip here in 2025.

Kick off towards the other side of the field.

It's going to be taken at the two yard line and waters on the return is going to step out of bounds around the 15 or 16.

Once again, special teams playing big dividends.

The coverage team outstanding coverage.

Good kicks coverage team once again making them start inside the 15 yard line.

The way this defense is playing.

And we can see how patient can.

This Wolves team stay with this kind of score.

You figure you're not going to be able to go on too many of those slow drives here.

With only 618 left in the third.

Yeah, they had a 16 play drive to get their field goal on the last possession.

Gainesville will be happy to give them 16 plays to nibble their way down the field.

Eat up the clock, make the clock a weapon.

You got to start trying to get vertical here.

Get something quick to get some points.

McPherson in the pocket.

Guns it to the far sideline.

Same strategy again.

It worked.

The last possession ball goes to waters again.

They kept throwing the ball to the sideline to waters.

And then they throw the ball to the running back here on the near side.

Let's see if they go back to that again.

Staying true to form.

This is the tactic they decided to bring out in the second half.

McPherson scrambling.

He's in traffic.

He's in trouble and he is going to go down.

Took a loss on the play.

Back to the 17 yard line.

I think the speed of this defensive line and linebacker corps really has thrown McPherson off.

He's just when he goes to scramble, these guys are running step for step with him.

He's got 108 speed in the 100.

But the Gainesville guys can keep up with that.

They swing the ball out here and that's Clowers with the catch and run will get them the first down.

It's a formula that worked for them on the last drive, but unfortunately for Rome they're down 27 points.

Yeah he's taken a lot of time off the clock here trying to move the ball this way.

It's working.

Something you might have done in the first half.

Out of the hands of waters that time.

Really getting the ball out quick.

The one thing that is negated is the pass rush of this defense.

But you got to get some quick points.

You're down 27.

And the way the Gainesville offense is moving it's going to take a big effort to try to get in this game here.

Second down and ten clock just above 5 minutes left in the third quarter.

Heavy rush late hit coming up here on Gainesville.

They just gifted Rome 15 yards as they had to get in an extra lick right there.

It's going to cost him.

Big pressure coming from up top by Fossung.

Personal foul.

Roughing the passer on the defense 15 yards from the previous spot.

First down.

I want to say they got Marshall Leonard right there.

Just the late hit.

First and ten Rome.

McPherson got rid of the ball.

And as so often happens with those defensive linemen when they've been able when they've been forced to chase the quarterback to the sideline, they're like, I got got, got got to get my hit in.

Yeah.

I ran all the way out here.

I got to get a hit in.

Ball comes out here to Simpson.

He gets shoved out of bounds by Sims.

Good, good procedure.

Once again throwing catch.

And the key to this is the blocking of Darnell Collins on these plays.

Out of that slot, he's able to stop block that that first defender and give the receiver time to get upfield.

Second down Collins goes in motion to the other side.

So maybe the ball is going to go over there this time.

Nope.

Comes here to the near side and nearly intercepted.

As Watson says.

I've seen enough of that.

He tries to jump the route.

Elijah Watson right there.

He saw the stop route and he decided to jump it.

This time rolling the dice, counting that it was not a double move right there.

And you can imagine if you're McPherson a little pump action here to sell that and then try to go up top.

Ball in the middle looking for Simpson incomplete.

Intended for Tylan Simpson Coach Niblett.

Right there.

If you McPherson, you got to put that ball on Simpson right there.

Tried to lead him.

Safety still in the middle of the field.

Just no ability to catch the ball there.

By Ty Simpson.

So fourth down punting situation here for Rome as Jason Cruz-Reyes is back on to punt again.

They protect it.

They get it out of there.

Williams fair catch called for and made at the 26.

And that's where Gainesville will go back on offense.

When we get back.

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Matt Stewart Wayne Gandy Jon Nelson.

Our Emmy Award winning GPB team here with you tonight in Rome for the semifinal state championship games begin in four days at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and GPB will be there for all of them.

All tackle football games, all eight of them and all five flag football state championship games as well.

As 13 state championship games.

I did the math myself.

, and you're doing 11 of them?

No.

No.

I'm doing five of the tackle football games.

Hand off goes to Lewis.

Lewis dances out of trouble, then lowers his helmet, picks up a couple of tough yards on the play.

And here is an opportunity for Gainesville to to really put this game away in this set of downs.

Try to get on the scoreboard, push this lead over 30.

So you expected coach Niblett in this offense is going to stay aggressive right there.

Tough on the first down.

Not a lot of times tonight they've stopped Gainesville on first down is Rome.

Heavy rush Hughley eludes it.

Throwing on the run heaves it down field and intercepted at the 29 yard line is Hughley gets picked on the play.

Right here is just a mistake by Hughley you get out of the pressure.

So much green grass in front of you as you come up into the pocket here, right here you can just run the ball.

You don't see a black jersey within 15 yards of him right there.

Just go get the first down right there trying to be and go get a big play down the field to Legend Wilmont.

And a nice job coming down.

Getting that interception for his team and give him another set of downs.

Here's Braxton Anderson the backup quarterback.

Yeah backup quarterback a young man who actually started five games last year at quarterback when McPherson was hurt.

He's got an offer from Reinhardt and could be recruited as a quarterback.

John Reid, even though he's playing safety here, believes that he could play college quarterback and McPherson gets run down from behind by Kadin Fossung.

Good job, Kadin Fossung just another one of those spectacular defensive rushers here.

And the speed right here as he leaves the pocket Boston able to run step for step with Aidan McPherson right here and run him down for that big sack.

That's a 63, 220 pound senior defensive end who ran him down right there.

Scary thought.

McPherson heaves it up and incomplete third down.

And here's shades of what we talked about early in that first half where they win first down and then force them into third and long situations.

Not a lot of success in that first half here.

Third and 16.

Gainesville you want to get off the field, give your offense good field position again here to try to put some points on the board.

Try to get those points over a 30 point lead so they can have a running clock in the fourth quarter.

Pearson guns it incomplete as Simpson slipped trying to make it back to the sideline.

Not really sure he was going to be able to catch that ball slip as he came out of his break.

But all that is about first and second down by Gainesville forcing third and long.

You can see the disappointment right there in the body language of Aidan McPherson as he goes to the sideline.

So Cruz-Reyes is on to punt again.

Gets it out of there.

Fair catch made at the 45 by Williams.

Gainesville getting ready to head back out there on offense.

Similar to last drive.

You imagine they're going to stay and we've seen them be able to strike quickly.

Three 0-9 here in this third quarter.

Got to stay physical though.

Keep the run game going.

Dwight Lewis has not really been stopped tonight.

Yeah.

Lewis 16 carries for 155 and a couple of touchdowns.

He's been the offensive star of the game just as Marshall Leonard has been the defensive star of the game.

Lewis gets the handoff, cuts through the hole, breaks out into the open.

A long touchdown run for Dwight Lewis third touchdown of the night.

And it's 36-3 And that was exactly what Gainesville was looking for.

Don't take Mr.

Lewis out of the game.

Feed him the ball.

Great job once again on that left side pulling guards tackle.

Great block by Cam James.

And then watch the block down the field by Philip Williams.

Number 2 as he's finishing his block down the field on D.J.

Watkins.

Just all the aspects you need for a big play.

Offensive line sealing off the penetration.

Tight ends kicking out and receivers blocking down the field.

Gailey for the P.a.t.

This one's up and good.

And it's 37-3 And Gainesville has reached the threshold and exceeded it.

They've reached the required point.

If they can hold on to this they'll be a running clock in the fourth quarter.

Look at that.

17 carries for 211 yards and three touchdowns for the backup running back to Nigel Newkirk Matt.

The Thunder tonight has become the lightning right there.

This young man here showing you the speed.

Look at the Poole.

Look at Tyler Ford Cam James with the kickout block the receivers down the field doing a good job.

Stop blocking and then the speed pulling away from the defenders.

Hamstrings the physicality.

Everything right here.

Going well.

Big play ability.

Great block there.

Colin Luke Philip Williams the receivers on the edge not holding explosive one play touchdown drive to get that margin that we continue to talk about that Gainesville is trying to press to go into the fourth quarter.

You're DBHDD new Red River 365 curriculum was hardly a scoring drive.

It was a scoring play, a 56 yard touchdown run by Dwight Lewis star running back Nigel Newkirk, three star with 32 offers gets hurt on the second play of the game and next man up mentality for Gainesville and the next man up has been the next star up.

And it's Dwight Lewis.

Just a complete team effort here so far in this game.

All three phases have affected this game in some kind of big way here tonight.

The defense just shutting out the run game of Rome forcing them to try to throw the ball out on the edge, the offense able to run the ball.

Two keys that any coach would tell you going into a big game.

Stop the run and be able to run the ball.

Gainesville has done it in a special team contribution, and that's why this score is 37-3 So first and ten for Rome reality starting to set in for the Wolves of their season likely will end here tonight.

Just cannot run.

And there's Marshall Leonard someone make that man an.

Offer.

Just another play.

And I think right there Jeremiah Proctor Proctor action 63.

And when you see him, you imagine the future.

He's going to have only a junior three star up in that star position.

Yeah, he's got 16 offers from Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Coastal Carolina and a whole lot of others.

Right up the middle.

Just nowhere to run the ball right now on this defense.

They won't let you get to the outside.

Too much speed at the linebacker position.

Now they're rotating different defensive tackles inside.

Same results.

Pushing the pocket that time.

Ty Turner in there 88 pushing the pocket.

Third down.

And at some point later on tonight either the Roswell or the Thomas County Central staff will start looking at the scouting report for the Gainesville Red Elephants in the state finals.

And TCC has gone up by two touchdowns.

Simpson runs under the long pass from McPherson and hauls it in at the 36 yard line.

Great job here.

By Simpson Ty Simpson, the sophomore here.

Just a go route out on the edge.

Airing it out here is McPherson leaving his feet to catch that ball.

Good job there.

Working on Zach Ingram big play to change the field for Rome.

They put it down at the 41st and ten.

Handoff goes to Rogers.

Rogers breaking tackles, gets inside the 35.

And now now less than a minute to play in the third quarter.

So now it's incumbent upon Rome to try to score here in the last 50s to avoid that running clock in the fourth quarter.

And you see him going and getting up to the line, playing with a little pace after the big play.

Once again, just can't get anything in the run game.

Ball goes to Simpson and he's going to get driven out of bounds at the 25.

Because as tough as it is to come back from a 30 point deficit, it's virtually impossible when you're playing with a running clock.

The ball getting out of bounds.

Nice job by Simpson, who's become the main target here in this second half.

The job of getting out of bounds, stopping the clock.

And give yourself a chance here with 31 seconds in the third 30:01 seconds to play in the third quarter.

Handoff goes to Ferguson.

He's going to get stopped at the 24 yard line.

Darryn Williams just can't talk enough about the run defense here tonight.

Every time you think there's something there it closes quick.

These guys are running to the ball.

Darryn Williams Griffin Cheeks Proctor so much speed in that linebacking corps.

We'll see if they get the play off before the end of the quarter.

They do.

They're going to run a reverse as the clock expires in the quarter.

And Darnell Collins gets shoved out of bounds, taking a loss on the play.

And Rome unable to avoid the running clock.

We will have a running clock in the fourth quarter of the 5-A state semifinal.

It has been all Gainesville tonight.

They are 12 minutes away from advancing to the state finals for the tenth time in program history.

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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 to Rome one more time.

Start of the fourth quarter running clock because it has been all red elephants tonight against the Rome Wolves quick update for the other semifinal.

They are about to turn fourth quarter as well.

And deuce is loose.

Christian Lawrence takes a third and 18 goes into the end zone 35 21.

That was with 18 seconds left in the third.

They're turning the page and they're going to the fourth quarter.

Let's check out the Wednesday dance card and show you what's going on.

There it is.

Division five.

For the first time in flag football at 11:00 A.M., McEachern and Polk.

Heavyweight versus heavyweight.

You notice a team that is not going to be there.

Southeast Bulloch out for the first time in Championship history in the state of Georgia.

Then the matchups on the 17th.

It's private Calvary Day in Hebron.

Christian AAA at 4:15 heavyweights there as well.

And then the winner of this one and the winner down south, Matt, the last championship of the run at 730 on Wednesday night.

Absolutely.

McPherson throws it incomplete as we start the fourth quarter.

And Wayne and I will have that 5-A final as it appears it will be Gainesville.

That is a pretty much a certainty at this point, and it's looking like Thomas County Central will emerge as the other team.

They'll be 14-0 going into that game.

Of course, Justin Rogers led them to the state championship in 2023, and they'll be back here in 2025.

This ferocious, Gainesville defense once again just nowhere to go with the ball speed at the defensive end, able to force McPherson out of the pocket and just no time to set up.

Now we're here at fourth and long and a time-out for Rome.

Time-out Rome.

So we'll.

Step aside on fourth down with 11-0 nine to play in the game.

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11 0-9 left in this one Gainesville is no doubt going to win it.

It's 37-3 running clock in effect here for this fourth quarter and fourth down.

Coming up for Rome out of this time-out.

They're going to try a long field goal.

This is going to be a 47 yarder for Jason Cruz-Reyes.

And it's going to be from the right hash Aidan McPherson.

The quarterback is the holder and TJ McClinic is the snapper.

To get the ball down.

The kick is on its way.

It's got leg and it hits the crossbar and goes over.

Just enough.

And that's all that matters.

Hit the crossbar.

Bounced in for the three points there for Jason Cruz.

Just enough leg late in the game.

Cold night.

You can see hit the up bar.

Hit the back right there.

It was through.

It was through as it hit the bar.

From our perspective, it looked like it hit the crossbar.

It actually hit the I don't know what bar is that.

That's the.

Support bar.

The support beam.

I don't know that I've ever I don't know I've ever had to identify it.

I guess it's the support bar.

It was clearly good.

He had plenty of space, 37-6 as all six points for Rome tonight have come off the leg of Jason Cruz-Reyes.

He's a great story.

John Reid says when he came here, started kicking, he couldn't hit a p.a.t.

And here tonight in the state semifinals, the final game of his high school football career, he nails a 47 yard.

Yeah.

What a moment for him and his ability to kick the ball here.

And trust me in this situation game out of hand.

You know coach is just trying to find bright moments for his team and a nice job by Jason Cruz to make that three points.

And here comes the kickoff.

Wilmont has to go back to the one to get it.

His knee hit the ground, I thought.

Then he drops the ball and Rome has it.

And I think they're going to call him down.

He was down.

You can see the side judge is walking.

He was down.

Legend Wilmont will.

I'm gonna mess you up.

But they let him play on the white hat.

The official the lead referee is standing right there looking at him right, and let it play on and knee on the ground.

Right there, right there he is down on the 1 yard line.

The official closest to the play.

Let it play on.

But the side judge stepped in and made the call.

So they avoid the fumble.

But they get the ball at the two.

And you imagine they're going to start filtering a couple of backups here along that offensive.

I mean at the quarterback and the running back position.

But they still have Kareem Hughley in the game here with the running clock and a big cushion trying to finish this game off.

Hughley going to hand off and.

Very little running room down in there.

Tight Jeremy Ragland on the tackle.

It looks like it.

Was Dwight Lewis 18th carry of the night.

And Dwight is saying you're you're hurting my average right here.

Coach.

I was I was at a in a different stratosphere.

It was at 12.4 and now it's 11.8.

A carry.

He can live with that second down.

The big thing here for Gainesville is the clock just keeps running.

Lewis lunges out to the seven yard line.

Dwight Lewis what a huge story.

Dwight Lewis has been for the Gainesville Red Elephants tonight when their star running back, Nigel Newkirk went down with an injury on the second play of the game, this young man has stepped up into the spotlight and has not wilted on the big stage.

19 carries for two, 16-3 touchdowns.

One of the best running performances we've seen all season.

Yeah, explosive between the tackles.

And we're talking about the first couple of carries.

They tried to get to the outside with him and there was nothing there for him.

And then they started running between the tackles.

He started getting some momentum and then he just starts showing you the complete package and why they're so high on him.

As a young sophomore.

Lewis gets it again, runs to the far side.

He's going to cut back into the middle and pick up the first down.

And right here, if you coach Niblett, you got to get Dwight Lewis out of this game right here.

You got to another huge the biggest game of the season coming up on Wednesday.

It's time to get him a break.

He's shown you everything and we don't know the status of Nigel.

Newkirk doesn't look good though.

Doesn't look good that he will be back.

So this young man is going to have to carry the load again in 56 days.

So it looks like they got Bryce Lyons a sophomore, 59, 170 running back in there now.

Number 27.

Bryce probably thinking he wasn't getting in this game tonight.

But here he is.

And he gets his first carry of the night.

Jeremy Ragland yeah, you definitely have to get Lewis out of the game, considering he there's a good chance he's going to be your number 1 running back when you play the state championship game on Wednesday night.

Yeah, you're heavy.

One back situation even coming into this game, when you look at their statistics, it's been a 12 punch.

Nigel Newkirk Dwight Lewis.

And now it looks like it's going to be Lewis.

It's going to have to carry you to the promised land.

Yes.

Kareem Hughley has the ability to run.

But that's not really, at least in this game, something he has decided to show you.

So hopefully Dwight Lewis can recover fast and get ready for next week.

Lyons on the carry.

Gets driven back after reaching the 30.

Made the 23.

Pardon me.

Good job of Lyons covering up the ball when you're running inside like that, you can see yes, get as many yards as you can, but don't give the ball up.

Clock is running.

It's on your side and you're a few minutes away from the state finals.

Then you can see with the running clock how quickly the quarter disappears.

It's literally there's 12 minutes and a quarter, and with a running clock it takes about 12 minutes, maybe 15, because there are a few stoppages.

If you get a couple of first downs, next thing you know, the game will be over here as the they're working the clock down, taking a long time to get the play in.

They've gone to more of a run formation.

Lyons again on the carry and Lyons breaks out and gets the first down and more.

How about Lyons get shoved out of bounds at the 48 yard line?

But the clock continues to run even though he goes out of bounds.

That's the rules of the running clock.

Nice job right there.

Just kind of getting hiding behind that offensive line.

I don't think the Rome defenders could find him until he was about 5 yards down the field.

Good job, good vision there.

By Bryce Lyons.

How about that offensive line tonight?

They blocked for 418 yards of total offense 277 on the ground.

Outstanding job by that group up front.

77 Tyler Ford.

He's a three star in 2027-16 offers including Georgia.

He starts at left tackle for him.

Lyons another carry and Lyons all the way down to the 45.

They might not give the ball back.

Yeah, you're right here.

You're just going to keep the ball on the ground.

Lyons is going to get in all his conditioning here tonight.

You know, it's probably been a long time since he's carried the ball five or six times in a row.

And now it looks like Coach Niblett is getting some of those offensive linemen out of there for just left the game as Dontavious Coleman the junior.

And he's not very small himself.

He's 64, 275.

He comes into the game.

Yeah a lot of talent coming back next year.

When you talk about Ford, Hurt Mathis.

Yeah, everybody but Moledor is back.

It's everybody's back.

And when you can go with your backup running back here tonight and still have the same kind of production tells you that guys are doing a great job blocking.

And we got to throw Cameron James in there as well as a tight end.

He's done an excellent job at that position tonight, blocking the senior tight end that's headed to Furman has done a great job up there.

Yeah.

And he had a 46 yard touchdown catch on top of that.

On top of all the blocking a 46 yard touchdown catch.

I see coaches finally getting him out of the game as well and getting Landon Williamson in there.

Hughley still in there though.

But he's pretty safe.

He's just handing the ball.

Off at this point.

This is about ball security and making sure that everything goes smoothly.

The clock is run down before they get the snap off as you can see his hand, he's waiting to that last second to ask for the ball.

Lyons again.

And as you said, Matt, these aren't Reid options.

These are old school.

Right, left hand the ball off and get out of the way kind of runs.

And he's finally going to leave here with 3-0 three left in the game.

Rex Greene coming in.

And he gets a standing ovation from the Gainesville crowd.

They're going to the bins on Wednesday.

One more first down and then they can get into a victory formation if they want to.

What a thorough domination for this Gainesville team that, as we said at the top, they have ridden the roller coaster over the last four weeks and you can see why they fought so hard to get their guys back and reinstated, because they feel like they've got a team that can win the first state championship for Gainesville since 2012, and just the second in the over 100 years of Gainesville football.

And that kind of scrutiny, that kind of moment is what can really propel.

We know they have the talent and sometimes you're looking for that thing to motivate the talent.

And what they went through over the last couple of weeks seems to have motivated them to where they're playing their stars are playing at a high level, and they're playing with great intent out on the football field.

One more first down to go and they can get in the victory formation.

Crowd going nuts over there on the Gainesville side, they've been waiting a long time for this.

Lyons bouncing off guys still fighting to get the first down and he gets stopped a yard short.

One more play to go.

They're going to look into my crystal ball and say that Bryce Lyons is going to get this ball.

Fourth and one to seal the game right here.

They're going to milk that clock down.

Let it run.

The play clock is ticking.

One more positive play for them really in the game is over for Gainesville and a complete team effort.

This is truly a team ball here tonight where each part, all three phases contributed to a dominant performance.

Well they certainly have given Thomas County Central a lot to think about over the next six days before they meet at the Bends.

First down and that will be the final play of the game.

Gainesville., Hooker and Jayden Worsham.

Headed to the five, a state championship game for the first time ever.

State championship game at the Benz and in all likelihood, as it seems to be shaping up in South Georgia, it'll be against the undefeated Thomas County Central Yellow Jackets.

The highs and lows of emotion, the elation, the despair that they felt when they found out those players were suspended.

No doubt the elation they felt when they felt like they had been reinstated.

And Gainesville culminates it tonight with a 37-6 beating of Rome in the semifinals.

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.

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So I started checking the labels on our clothes too.

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37-6 Gainesville defeats Rome Red Elephants heading to the state championship game.

Our post game interview is brought to you by Johnny's New York style Pizza Nellie.

Thank you very much.

Matt here with Coach Niblett.

Congratulations.

Dominant line performance.

Both sides of the ball.

Yeah, I can't say enough about our front.

And we challenged them all week because they take a lot of pride in winning the run totals.

And we take a lot of pride in winning the run totals.

Something was going to have to give, and I challenged our front guys and our backs on both sides, you know, and they answered the challenge.

And but to God be the glory man, God's brought us here and allowed us this opportunity to him be the glory.

I coach an unbelievable group of young men that persevered.

They've handled adversity all year, but for them to show up, be on the road the last three weeks and do what they've done is pretty unbelievable.

Short turnaround.

Looks like it's Thomas County Central.

I know you.

Don't care.

We just had a six day turnaround.

Nobody will probably give us a chance.

But hey we're good with that man.

We're good with that.

All we got to believe is who's in our building, and we're going to do everything we can to get rested up, put a plan together and go turn it loose come Wednesday.

All right.

We're going to follow you over.

Go celebrate with your team.

We're going to catch up with 2-3 in a little bit.

Josh is going to talk to his team Georgia Cotton Commission player of the game.

Might be a running back Matt.

I think it's a good chance that it's a running back.

After Dwight Lewis went for 226 yards and three touchdowns.

And Wayne, I don't know about what Coach Niblett said there, that no one's going to give him a chance.

I think they got a very good chance.

I think we're headed towards a heck of a 5-A final on Wednesday night.

Yeah, you're talking about a team in Gainesville that has a lot of brand names, a lot of talent, and a team that's focused.

And even before the issues that they went through, they were up 42-0 in that game.

They have been playing great here over the last four weeks.

All right.

We'll come back for our Georgia Cotton Commission player of the game in just a moment.

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Gainesville going to the bins with a 37-6 victory over Rome here in the state 5-A semifinals.

Now back to John Nelson with our Georgia Cotton Commission Player of the game.

In the sea of Red.

It's a pack of folks and obviously we had to go 2:03 with this one because he was north of 200.

So the hat is yours.

Go ahead.

It's okay.

The hat doesn't bite.

You can wear the hat all you want.

And obviously we have to we have to unfold the towel properly.

That the logo is shown right there.

So what was it like out there tonight for you with those guys clearing the way for you?

Yeah.

I can't even explain right now.

Like, it was just amazing.

I just want to say thank you to my online.

Thank you to Nigel for believing in me.

Even when he was injured.

He just gave me hope when they were stopping me at first, and I and I just did my thing and my O line did their thing too.

What was Nigel talking to you about?

Well, he was just telling me, like, do it for the team, do it for him.

Like, I learned a lot of stuff from him because I'm younger and I just want to say thank you to him.

What's this last month been like for you guys to be on the road, be on the road, be on the road.

You're waiting.

And coach has talked about the togetherness of this group that you guys are completely and totally locked, locked in with one another.

What's this?

Last month been like?

It has been a blessing to be with my guys this long, because not too many teams get to play this long.

We just keep our faith in God wherever we go.

We bring our faith with us.

We travel everywhere with it.

Okay, so I've heard it.

I've heard it a bunch of different ways.

Now, are you going?

Is it Dwight or DJ?

I've heard it both.

Dwight Lewis okay.

Because.

Yeah, because it's like I've heard DJ so it's Dwight.

Yes, sir.

Well, and because when you run for north of 200, you run north of 210.

We go by what he says.

So Georgia Cotton Commission player of the game.

Our natural choice for Georgia.

Natural choice for player of the game.

Wears the hat.

You put the hat on.

There we go.

Hat, towel.

Last time before we go to the bins.

And we hand them out in bulk.

Fantastic performance by you guys.

Well done.

We'll see you at the bend.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Let's send it upstairs to Matt where it will continue to be warm.

You want to come down here and finish?

You can.

He is Wayne.

He is the the Dwight Lewis 20 carries for 226 and three touchdowns coming in as the number 2 running back on the depth chart here tonight.

What a performance by him.

And this entire Gainesville team.

First of all he's looking like Jamal Lewis out there tonight running over people.

But what a special moment there for that young man as he gave credit to Nigel Newkirk for giving him the confidence.

After a couple of slow starts.

And this defense was so dominant.

I know Coach Niblett is going to play that undercard where we're the underdog, but this team here looks primed to win a state championship.

It's going to be hard to play the underdog card after what they've done these last two weeks, beating Langston Hughes and then walloping Rome here tonight.

We are far from done.

We have 13 state championship games for you here on GPB at Mercedes-Benz Stadium starting on Monday, December 15th at 11:00 A.M.. If you missed portions of tonight's game or want to see it again, you can catch a replay in the coming week at gpb.org/sports on demand.

And now for Wayne Gandy Jon Nelson, our VP of sports, Kevin Gerkey.

Our game producer Glenn Diamond, and our director, Vince Early.

I'm Matt Stewart once again, Gainesville rolls on into the finals with a 37-6 victory over Rome.

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He's coachable.

You tell him something, he's got it.

He's the kid that you want everybody else to be.

He comes to work.

Perfect attitude every single day.

I think the wrestling and football kind of complement each other.

You know, mental toughness is a real ingredient in both.

Combine his athleticism along with his relentless effort.

That just makes a really, really talented football player.

He's a worker and on the defensive side of the ball.

You've got to have that relentless effort.

He's not the kid that makes the same mistakes over and over again.

He corrects things and that's huge.

I don't care what sport you're playing.