By Fred Guarino
The Lowndes Signal

It was a tale of two halves in Georgiana Friday night as the 1A Panthers, who trailed 12-8 at the half and 18-8 early in the third quarter, roared back to claim their second win of the season 33-18 over the visiting 2A Calhoun Tigers.

The loss dropped Calhoun to 1-4 overall while Georgiana improved to 2-3 overall.

The Panthers’ Jacquez Payton took a kickoff all the way back at the 7:19 mark of the third quarter to make it an 18-14 game.

The Panthers next grabbed the lead on a 51-yard pass play to Latrell Seals at the 3:34 mark of the third quarter 20-18. And
Payton broke the game open early in the fourth quarter on a 54-yard run. With the point after touchdown the Panthers led 27-18 with 11:42 left in the game.

Georgiana head football coach Ezell Powell said following the contest, “I was just extremely proud of the way my kids played in the second half. They were down at the half-time but they didn’t let it get to them.”

He said the second half performance showed the maturity of his players and where he is trying to take the program.
He said he hopes the team can pick up so more wins as it travels down the road.

Powell said an eighth grader Cameron Longmire, who plays middle linebacker, stepped up for the Panthers who were banged up. And while he said his team gave up some big plays, when it counted, they stepped up and made plays.

Powell said, “Jacquez (Payton) and Latrell (Seals) did some things offensively that really broke the game open for us to get the win.” He said when they make plays “We have shots at winning ballgames.”

Calhoun head coach Bill Williamson made no excuses for his Tigers.

“They just whipped us and out coached us,” he said.

Williamson said while his team was a little out manned, “Coach Powell is doing a great job with his team. They played really hard and took it to us the second half.”

He also said Number 10, Payton, is a good ballplayers.

After trailing 8-0 early in the contest, Calhoun made it a 2-point contest on a 39-yard Jamine Jordan to Jeffery Moss pass at the 7:32 mark of the first quarter.

Jamarcus Davison put the Tigers up 12-8 with 58 seconds left in the first quarter on a 55-yard touchdown run.

Davison put the Tigers up 18-8 at the 7:39 mark of the third quarter on a 1-yard touchdown plunge.

Calhoun will go on the road next Friday for a region contest against Luverne.