On the first Friday night of the 2023 football season, Burke County and Thomson did what Burke County and Thomson do — play a game that keeps fans on the edge of their seats up until the end.
This year, it was Burke County staving off a late-game comeback attempt to notch a 14-12 win over Thomson, giving first-year Bears head coach Franklin Stephens his first win at the helm.
Thomson’s Jamere Roberts scored on a 4-yard touchdown to set up a potentially game tying 2-point conversion with 1:53 left in regulation. But the Bears defense held when linebacker Brandon Lively flowed in to lead the defense in wrapping up Thomson quarterback Jahkiaus Jones on PAT try.
“We weren’t even in the right alignment, but we just had a guy step up and make a play,” said Burke County coach Franklin Stephens.
That was the kind of night it was for the Bears — not perfect, particularly on offense, but efficient enough to notch a big win in arguably the CSRA’s most lively football rivalry.
After a mostly scoreless first quarter, Thomson struck first when Anthony Jeffery plunged into the end zone from 9 yards out to give the Bulldogs a 6-0 lead with 42 seconds left in the first quarter.
The score capped off an impressive drive that featured two quarterback-to-quarterback connections in the passing game as Thomson’s Noah Story hooked up with Jahkiaus Jones for chunk yardage that setup Jeffery’s touchdown.
It took a while for Burke County to score, but when it did it struck fast in its two first half touchdowns. Both of them came as byproducts of salty defense.
First, after the Bears’ defense forced a 3-and-out, quarterback Sean Vandiver hooked up with Ronderius Gray for a 68-yard scoring strike that put Burke up 7-6 at the 2:27 mark of the 2nd quarter.
Another stymied drive for Thomson forced the Bulldogs to punt in the shadow of its own end zone. That’s when Burke County defenders swarmed the punt and punter and recovered the blocked punt at the Bulldogs’ 3-yard line.
It took one play from there for A’merre Williams to power his way in for a 3-yard score that stretched the Bears’ lead to 14-6 at halftime.
Aside from the general details in Burke County’s opening win, here are three things we learned from Friday night’s matchup.
Don’t ignore special teams play
Both Stephens and Thomson coach Michael Youngblood had plenty to say about special teams and the pivotal role it played in Friday night’s game. Their comments came from opposite ends of the spectrum, though.
“Special teams were horrible tonight, and that’s on me,” Youngblood said. “When you’re playing a big game like this, it’s going to always be nip and tuck. And it’s going to come down to two or three plays. In this game, we had two blocked punts and a blown coverage where we just got beat man to man, and there’s no excuse for that. And those three plays caused them to score 14 points to win the game.”
Thomson also got an extra point attempt blocked after taking a 6-0 lead in the first quarter. That play ultimately made it necessary for the Bulldogs to have to try for two to tie it in the end.
Meanwhile, Stephens was thrilled with the way his team managed the third aspect of the game.
“We’ve been working on special teams since June,” Stephens said. “We’ve been working on some phase of it since June, and I’m very fortunate to have come up under a good coach in Jeff Herron down there in Camden County, and special teams was his big thing. So ever since I became a head coach, we’ve tried to be good at special teams. And after tonight, hopefully they’ll see more the importance of it. If it ain’t for special teams, we don’t win.”
Defenses salty, offense a work in progress
In a game chocked full of big hits, forced turnovers and mistakes, both teams looked to be in midseason form on the defensive side of the ball. Lively was named defensive player of the game, and probably was north of 10 tackles on the night. But Thomson also showed great lateral quickness on defense all night, while also being particularly stingy against the run.
Neither offense is going to be guilty of airing it out on a Friday night, but both teams did make some decent plays in the passing game. Thomson’s offense looked most crisp when Jones had it in his hands. Quarterback Noah Story threw a couple of darts to Jones as a receiver, and Jones’ ability to gain substantial yards after the catch was put on display. Both teams have potential stars at quarterback.
One Burke County coach remarked to another that “that number 26 is hell, man.” He was referring to Thomson tailback Anthony Jeffery. Jeffery scored one of Thomson’s two touchdowns and, at times, ran like a player with a SEC football offer. Burke County’s A’merre Williams is no slouch, and several times was one broken tackle or one block away from breaking big runs. Still, there’s plenty of work to do on offense, and that coming directly from the mouths of both coaches.
Deja vu all over again
To be sure, nobody’s pressing the panic button at Thomson. Last year’s championship team suffered a similar fate, losing a close season opener against Burke County. Of course we know what happened next — 14 straight wins en route to a state crown. Meanwhile, Burke County managed a 9-3 season and second round playoff appearance despite navigating tough obstacles and a coaching change along the way. Both coaches feel like they have what’s needed to either equal or improve upon last season’s feats.
People love this rivalry
News of increased police presence at Friday night’s game to offset concerns of gang violence trickling onto the school campus did absolutely nothing to scare away the crowd. With more than a half hour before kickoff time, the line of cars trying to get into the Burke County High School parking lot extended more than a half mile up Burke Veterans Parkway. Inside, the stadium was nearly full to capacity with both team’s fans making plenty of noise. It was Georgia high school football at it’s finest, and it’s safe to say that there is no shortage of love for this rivalry from Thomson and Burke County fans alike.
