Jontavis Curry’s 61-yard go ahead fourth quarter touchdown run, and his 86-yard game sealing score punctuated Thomson’s 32-27 GHSA Class 2A state championship game victory over Fitzgerald Friday afternoon at Center Parc Credit Union Stadium, the home of Georgia State University football. The Bulldogs won fourteen consecutive games after dropping their opener, and Curry, a senior who transferred back to his hometown high school after a season-and-a-half at Richmond Academy, has to be considered one of the most electric performers in Georgia high school football history after a five-game playoff run for the ages.
The speedy Curry rushed 17 times for 244 yards and 4 touchdowns Friday. And along with his almost equally impressive peers on defense, Curry and the Bulldogs were able to halt the momentum Fitzgerald had gained during the third quarter when a pair of Thomson turnovers allowed the Hurricanes to take a brief 21-20 lead.
Three plays after Thomson fell behind by a point, the Hurricanes forced and recovered their second fumble in 4 snaps by Thomson’s offense to resume possession at midfield with 11:01 remaining. But Thomson’s defense responded by turning Fitzgerald over on downs four plays later. Senior Marcellus Brigham made a heat seeking tackle on fourth down to swing the momentum back towards the Bulldogs.
On the game’s next snap, Curry started towards the left side, planted, reversed field and sprinted 61 yards for a touchdown to give Thomson a 26-21 lead with 8:21 remaining.
Starting from their own 29-yard line, Fitzgerald chewed up more than five minutes of clock before Thomson’s stingy defense put the clamps on the Hurricanes again to force a punt from midfield with 2:48 remaining. First, Dan’Quavious Cummings made a tackle on first down after a one-yard Hurricane gain to the Thomson 35-yard line. Then Storm Hunt made a tackle for a loss to push Fitzgerald back to the 40. Then on third down, Cummings applied pressure up the middle to flush the quarterback out of the pocket and into the arms of Cervantes Felts for a sack near the 50-yard line.
Fitzgerald pinned Thomson inside of its own 5-yard line with a punt as the Bulldogs assumed possession with 2:48 remaining. Six snaps and two false start penalties later, Curry broke his longest touchdown run of the post season when he ran 86 yards to the house to give Thomson a 32-21 lead with 1 minute remaining.
Curry’s Astonishing Postseason Run
Curry’s championship game performance capped an astonishing five-game run. The thrilling blur of a back accounted for 1,260 total all purpose yards and 16 touchdowns during Thomson’s five game playoff streak in which the Bulldogs, who exited the regular season ranked No. 4, topped the No. 2, the No. 3 and the No. 1 ranked teams, respectively in the final three rounds.
Curry scored all 3 of the team’s touchdowns in last Friday’s 20-14 semifinal win over No. 3 Appling County, including a 76-yarder to go ahead in the fourth quarter.
He scored 5 touchdowns in a 56-38 quarterfinal win over No. 2 South Atlanta, including two kickoff returns of more than 90 yards in the fourth quarter. On one of the touchdown returns, Curry dropped the ball in traffic only to pick it up and still run 93 yards to the end zone.
Thomson’s Fast Start
Curry’s first two touchdowns in Friday’s championship game came during the first half when Thomson sprinted out to a 20-14 lead.
First, Curry scored on a 57-yard run on Thomson’s first offensive series that gave the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead with 4:24 left in the first quarter.
Then he scored again from one yard out to put Thomson ahead 14-7 with 11:53 remaining in the second quarter. That touchdown was set up by an 80-yard completion from junior quarterback Jah’Kiaus Jones to senior tight end Jaquan Hart.
After Fitzgerald tied the game at 14, junior Jordan Lane ran back the ensuing kickoff 76 yards for a touchdown to give Thomson a 20-14 lead with 4:36 remaining in the second quarter.
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