In a true marquee matchup of top-10 ranked teams, #2 Stephens County won the turnover battle against #9 Elbert County in a wild 38-21 final at The Reservation. Tripp Underwood threw 5 TD passes on the night, as the Indians pulled away in the second half.
Jonah Swinton was a ball hawk, picking off a pair of Jayvyn Hickman passes in the first three minutes of the game, including the game’s first play. Elbert County also fumbled away a ball in the first quarter, though Stephens County also lost a fumble and threw an interception.
The Indians were stood up after a first and goal late in the first quarter, and settled for a 19-yd field goal by Luke Waters. The Blue Devils went ahead early in the second on a Hickman TD pass of 17 yards to Dakhovin Winn.
Not to be outdone, the Indians immediately responded when Underwood found Davon Swinton on a post route, and he went 76 yards to the house for the go-ahead score. Stephens led 10-7. After getting the ball back though, Underwood threw another deep ball that was picked by Jose Rodriguez. Elbert made it count, as Hickman threw to the back of the end zone to Brady Dickerson, who made an amazing catch for the 23-yd TD and the 14-10 lead with 3:37 left in the half.
The Indians then notched the eventual game-winner, driving down and draining the clock on an Underwood-Jonah Swinton 17-yd TD for the 17-14 lead. Late in the third, Stephens County padded the lead with an 11-yd TD from Underwood to Zykemian Durham.
The 24-14 lead would hold up, though Elbert would add one more score. The Indians scored twice more, including a TD pass from Underwood to Brock Tankersley. Underwood passed for 315 yards and 5 TD, while Javin Gordon had 104 rushing yards. Tankersley closed with 68 receiving yards and 19 rushing, while Davon Swinton (84 receiving yards, 1 TD) and Jonah Swinton (66 receiving yards, 1 TD, 2 INT) were big threats offensively and defensively. Hickman threw for 258 yards and 2 TDs, while Dickerson had 4 catches for 118 yards.
Stephens County is now 2-0 on the season, while Elbert County is 0-2.
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