Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Fred Guarino
The Lowndes Signal
While homecoming was not so happy for the Central High Lions, the Calhoun Tigers and the Lowndes Academy Rebels chalked up their first wins of 2014 Friday night.
The Calhoun Tigers came from behind to spoil homecoming for the Central High Lions in what would have to be counted as an upset 24-16.
And the Lowndes Academy Rebels put a 40-19 whipping on Macon-East before a happy home crowd.
The Central Lions had shown improvement over previous seasons by topping their first win since 2007 in 2013 with two wins in 2014 headed into Friday night’s homecoming tilt against winless Calhoun.
But the Calhoun Tigers, who trailed 16-8 at the half, tied the contest with 9:15 left in the fourth quarter and then scored the winning touchdown with 4.6 second left in the game.
The loss dropped the Central Lions to 2-6 overall and 1-6 in Class 2A Region 3 play while it improved the Tigers to 1-8 overall and and 1-6 in Class 2A Region 3.
“It started off kind of rough,” said a happy Calhoun head football coach Dewayne Williams. “We were so excited that we kind of lost our composure.” However, he said, “We kind of settled down, and we let the game come to us instead of us trying to go get the game.”
After that he said his team played Calhoun football.
Senior quarterback Jemarcus Davison proved a one-man wrecking crew down the stretch for the Tigers pounding the Lions on the ground and completing key passes.
“He’s a senior, and I told him to lead our team,” Williams said of Davison. “And he put the team on his back.”
Central head football coach James Bibb Jr. gave all the credit for his team’s loss to Calhoun. “They outplayed us tonight. They were more hungry than we were,” Bibb said.
He said there was a lot going on for his team with homecoming and this being a big rivalry game. But he said Calhoun has great athletes.
“They have guys that can wake up out of the bed and outrun you any day,”Bibb said. “But hats off to Calhoun, they were the best team on the field. They deserved it.”
While Bibb acknowledged the play of his own standouts Alex Bryant and Marcus Mitchell, he also said, “We just can’t stop right here. We’ve got to keep going.” He attributed Friday night’s loss to the growing pains of his Lions.
A Calhoun fumble early the game set Central up for its first touchdown with Mitchell scoring from about the 6-inch line. Ladarious Thicklin then reeled in a Bryant pass for the 2-point play to put the Lions up 8-0 at the 8:29 mark of the first quarter.
Bryant next connected with Thicklin for a 15-yard touchdown pass, and Markeith Gordon added the 2-point play to put Central ahead 16-0 at the 11:43 mark of the second quarter.
Central would not score in this contest again.
Calhoun would answer when Davison connected with Je’Marcus Rhimes for a 28-yard touchdown strike. And Demetric Smith scored the 2-point play to make it a 16-8 contest at the 7:53 mark of the second quarter.
The Tigers would score again when Davison scrambled for a 14-yard touchdown run and added the 2-point play to tie the contest at 16-16 with 9:15 left in the fourth quarter.
It looked as if this game was headed for certain overtime, but with 4.6 second left in the game, Davison connected with Jamichael Jordan on a 19-yard touchdown strike and then hit Rhimes for the 2- point play to ice the game at 24-16.
Calhoun travels to Francis Marion this Friday while Central has a date on the road with Keith.
It took nine tries, but a much healthier Lowndes Academy football team got its first victory of 2014 Friday for first year head football coach Todd Bradford.
With several players returning from injury, Bradford said, “We had about 350 yards rushing… so we ran the ball really well.”
Proving his point, Bradford said Brandon Reid had 169 rushing yards, Thomas Ward had 162 rushing yards and Cody Harrell had 101 rushing yards.
And all getting into the act for the Rebels in this scoring frenzy were Owen Nall, who caught two touchdown passes from Harrell, Harrell, who rushed for two touchdowns, Brandon Reid, who rushed for one touchdown, and Thomas Ward, who rushed for one touchdown.
Nall led the team with seven tackles while Ward recorded six tackles.
The Rebels will conclude the 2014 season hosting Autauga this coming Friday night.