Laney head football coach Ronnie Baker didn’t need Xs and Os, strategy or trick plays as much as he needed grit and determination from his players — not to mention hydration — to earn a hard-fought 16-13 win over Hephzibah on a heat-soaked Friday night on Laney’s brand new turf playing surface.
On a night when temperatures were still in the lower 90s even with a delayed, 8 p.m. kickoff, the Wildcats got over 100 yards rushing from CJ Holmes, some timely passes and playmaking from quarterback DJ Daggett, and a staunch defensive effort to notch its second straight win over Hephizbah, not to mention a feel-good bounce back win after last week’s close loss to Strom Thurmond (S.C.).
For Baker, it showed him that his team has the potential to be just as tough mentally as it is physically.
“It’s the thing about mental fortitude when things get rough, that’s when you gotta play your best,” Baker said. “It was a lot of character with the heat and competition we played tonight. You can’t take nothing away from Hephzibah. They came to play tonight, and they were in the same position as we were with the heat and everything, and we just wanted to come out and play a clean game and play physical, and I thought we did that for the most part.”
The physicality came across particularly down the stretch when Laney needed it most. After Hephzibah stopped the Wildcats inside the red zone, Laney caught a break when it forced and recovered a fumble on the very next play. That placed Laney’s offense back in business inside the Rebels 15-yard line.
Shortly after, Holmes strolled into the end zone from three yards out, then converted on a 2-point conversion to produce what would come to be the final score.
The Wildcats overcame a slow start as Hephzibah took the opening kickoff and marched down the field for the game’s first touchdown. It came when running back Telly Johnson bullied his way in for a 1-yard score.
Laney answered promptly with a 7-play scoring drive of its own on the very next possession. The 2-point try made it 8-7 toward the end of the first quarter, and that score remained at halftime.
Johnson made his presence known once again in the third when he bounced off a few Laney tacklers, as well as one of his own teammates, en route to a 68-yard rumble down the right sideline for a touchdown that put the Rebels back on top again, 13-8.
Laney found a way to corral Johnson the rest of the way, but Baker saluted Hephizbah’s senior tailback for being as good as he thought he’d be.
“He was just as advertised,” Baker said. “You hear about people all the time, how good they are, and how well they can play, but then you get on the field with them, and you may have some other ideas. But he was just what they said he was — just what the film said he was. You don’t tackle him, you don’t hit him, he’s gonna run harder. Tonight, he made a lot of plays, and we were just lucky to get him down when we did.”
The win evened Laney’s record to 1-1, while the loss did the same for the Rebels. Hephzibah will try to find the win column again when it travels to Augusta Christian next week. Meanwhile, the Wildcats will get a bye before taking a trip to Macon to face First Presbyterian Day on Sept. 8 and then to defending Class AA state champion Thomson on Sept. 15 to begin region play.
Baker says he’s looking forward to seeing just how far his gritty squad can go.
“The sky’s the limit for them,” Baker said. “They can be as good as they want to be. As long as we keep our minds focused on the job at hand, we’ll do fine. Trust the process is the thing we like to say. You don’t know what you’ll get at the end of it, but you trust the process. Come to work every day. That’s our motto, and that’s what we’ve been going by.”
Other Area Scores:
Grovetown (1-1) 36, Greenbrier (0-2) 21
Harlem (2-0) 48, Hancock Central 14
Savannah 41, Richmond Academy (0-2) 0
Thomson (1-1) 46, Jefferson County (0-2) 7
Aquinas (2-0) 14, Westside (0-2) 12
Midland Valley (2-0) 21, Strom Thurmond (1-1) 16
Dorman 34, North Augusta (1-1) 13
