Week 4 roundup: What happened for Athens-area high school football teams

The fourth week of high school football in the Athens area is in the books, a quarter of the way through already. Many schools were on bye or postponed due to the shooting that took the lives of two students and two teachers, one of which was defensive coordinator Richard Aspinwall, on Wednesday morning.

Commerce pulled out a win over Madison County 28-12 with their new quarterback, senior Jaiden Daniels, rushing 64 yards for one of the four touchdowns. Athens Christian clocked another win, evening their sheet, while Athens Academy and Bethlehem Christian push forward to 4-0. Jefferson found redemption in the second half to pull out the win over a previously undefeated Stephens County and Oconee County picked up its first win of the season over Loganville.

Here's a look at the highlights in Week 4 of the season.

JEFFERSON 45, STEPHENS COUNTY 28: At Memorial Stadium in Jefferson, the Dragons — ranked No. 2 Class 3A — blistered Stephens County — ranked No. 2 in Class 2A — as senior Rett Hemphill had a career night.

Hemphill tallied three touchdowns, and recorded a fumble recovery and an interception in the fourth quarter as the Dragons came back from an early 14-0 deficit to post the victory.

Mickell Pittman scored Jefferson’s first touchdown on a 12-yard run in the second quarter and Taylor McCall added a 32-yard field goal with a minute left before halftime. Hemphill scored his first touchdown on a 7-yard rush with 10:55 in the third quarter after Jefferson recovered an onside kick to start the second half.

With five minutes left in the third quarter, Dallas Russell scored on a 5-yard run as the Dragons went up 24-21. With 2:13 remaining in the quarter, Gavin Markey threw a 19-yard scoring pass to Hemphill to make it 31-21 and with 11:33 left in the game, Markey ran in from 1 yard out to make it 38-21.

Hemphill’s last touchdown came with 1:48 remaining, and with 25 seconds left in the game, he intercepted a Stephens County pass to seal the victory.

Jefferson (3-1) will play at 7:30 p.m. Friday at North Oconee.

NORTH OCONEE 36, CLARKE CENTRAL 13: At Titans Stadium in Bogart, North Oconee — ranked No. 6 in Class 4A — got five touchdowns from Georgia commit Landon Roland to go to 3-0.

The Titans scored the game’s first 29 points, starting with a 47-yard touchdown pass from Harrison Faulkner to Roland with 9:40 left in the first quarter. Roland scored his second touchdown on a 5-yard run with 11:56 left in the second quarter after the Titans blocked a Gladiator field goal attempt and drove 95 yards.

With nine minutes left in the second quarter, Faulkner and Roland connected on a 12-yard pass to put North Oconee up 22-0. Early in the third quarter, Faulkner tossed another scoring pass to Roland as the Titans went up 29-0. Roland scored his final touchdown of the evening on a 5-yard run with 10:17 left in the fourth quarter.

Clarke Central got on the scoreboard with 30 seconds left in the third quarter on a 30-yard run by Corey Watkins and scored with eight minutes left in the game on a short run by quarterback Hezekiah Miller (who came into the game with 567 passing yards).

North Oconee will host Jefferson at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The Gladiators (2-2) are off Friday and will play at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 20 at Jackson County.

ATHENS ACADEMY 47, JOHN MILLEDGE ACADEMY 14: At Trojan Field in Milledgeville, the Spartans — ranked No. 5 in Class A-3A Private — remained undefeated a lopsided victory over GIAA opponent John Milledge Academy. It was Athens Academy’s second shutout of the season.

Quarterback Hampton Johnson (who came into the game with 718 passing yards) scored on a 1-yard sneak with 6:14 left in the first quarter to get Athens Academy on the board and Jamari Welch (who came into the game with 327 rushing yards) added a 44-yard run with 2:30 left in the first to give the Spartans a 14-0 lead.

Athens Academy scored five times in the second quarter as Johnson threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Keyon Standifer with 11:34 remaining; Jamari Welch reached the end zone after a 14-yard dash with 9:54 left; Jalen Welch added a 35-yard fumble return for a touchdown; Johnson tossed a 64-yard pass to Standifer (who came into the game with 494 receiving yards) with 6:33 left; and Andrew Smith scored on a 3-yard rush with 2:50 remaining before halftime.

The Spartans (4-0) are off Friday and will play at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 20 at Commerce.

OCONEE COUNTY 45, LOGANVILLE 7: At Red Devils Stadium in Loganville, the Warriors won their first game of the season with a decisive victory over winless Loganville. It was the 100th career victory for coach Ben Hall.

Darius Darden scored two first-quarter touchdowns and Tyler Garrett added an early score as Oconee County marched 21-0 first-quarter lead. Darden scored his third touchdown of the night on a run in the second quarter and Bo Boykin nailed a 38-yard field goal in the final seconds of the first half to make it 31-0.

Garrett had a 30-yard interception return in the third quarter and scored on a 21-yard run in the fourth quarter. Conner Jackson added a defensive touchdown in the fourth quarter to complete the scoring.

The Warriors (1-3) will play at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Stephens County.

ATHENS CHRISTIAN 27, LOGANVILLE CHRISTIAN 13: At Loganville, the Eagles evened their record at 2-2 with a GIAA victory over the Lions.

Athens Christian was led by Trey Bowleg, a transfer student from the Bahamas who was playing in his first high school football game. Bowleg rushed for 78 yards and a touchdown and scored on a two-point conversion.

Harper Ford rushed for 82 yards and a touchdown and quarterback Layden Bryson ran for a touchdown and threw a 57-yard touchdown pass to Bryson Campbell; Bryson also recorded 82 rushing yards.

Junior Jacob Sass led the Athens Christian defense with 13 tackles.

The Eagles will host Riverside Prep at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

WESTMINSTER CHRISTIAN 16, COVENANT ACADEMY 8: At Watkinsville, the Lions improved to 4-0 with a GIAA victory over the Rams.

Josiah Richards rushed 19 times for 109 yards and a touchdown. Ethan Townsend passed for 86 yards and threw a 77-yard touchdown pass to Asa Morecraft, who also posted 12 tackles. William Hall led the defense with 13 tackles.

Westminster Christian will play at Holy Spirit Prep at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Atlanta.

BETHLEHEM CHRISTIAN 37, RIVERSIDE PREP 0: At Maginnis Field in Gainesville, the Knights remained undefeated and recorded their first shutout of the season with a victory over winless Riverside Prep.

Tristian Puckett led Bethlehem Christian with two touchdowns while Asa Swift, Zeke Clanton and John Mark Christopher all added touchdowns. The Knights also recorded a safety against the Eagles.

Bethlehem Christian (4-0) will play at King’s Academy at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Woodstock.

LANEY 34, OGLETHORPE COUNTY 14: At Lucy C. Laney Memorial Stadium in Augusta, the Patriots fell to 0-4 as the Wildcats improved to 3-1.

Oglethorpe County recorded all its points in the third quarter as Jordan Johnson scored on a long run and Darius Heard reached the end zone on a 35-yard run, with O’Maury Huggs adding the two-point conversion.

The Patriots are off Friday and will host Elbert County at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 20.

WHITE COUNTY 55, EAST JACKSON 27: At White County Stadium in Cleveland, the host Warriors won their first game of the season by thumping the Eagles, who saw their two-game winning streak come to an end.

East Jackson (2-2) scored first on an 80-yard run by quarterback Drew Richardson on the third play of the game. White County (1-3) scored the next 28 points before Denim Cooper scored on a 38-yard pass with five minutes left in the second quarter.

Branturan Callahan added an 80-yard run with 10 minutes left in the third quarter and Richardson scored on a short run with 10 seconds remaining in the game.

The Eagles are off Friday and will host East Hall at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 20.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Week 4: Roundup from Athens-area high school football