JEFFERSON, Ga. — It was dubbed a slugfest and lived up to the hype.
No. 4 Jefferson beat Clarke Central 22-14 Friday night at Memorial Stadium to open Region 8-5A play undefeated.
It wasn't flashy. It wasn't high-flying, and it wasn't for those football fans who wanted to see a lot of scoring. As Jefferson head coach Travis Noland put it, It "was a great old fashioned slobber knocker kind of game."
Noland was concerned with the size of the Gladiators' offensive and defensive lines. But the Dragons were just fine in the trenches.
Jefferson (5-0, 1-0 Region 8-5A) held Clarke Central (3-2, 0-1 Region 8-5A) to just 56 yards in the first half, including five plays for a loss and a safety.
"I'm very proud of some of the things that we were able to do," Noland said. " They're a very talented, defensive front seven. We changed some things schematically to create more double teams, which was very effective for us at times. But that's a good football team we beat tonight."
Offensively, the Dragons went to the air to score their first two touchdowns -- a 44-yard pass to Sammy Brown on the opening drive of the game and a 14-yard pass to Chris Law with 3:12 to go in the first quarter to take a 13-0 lead.
Junior quarterback Gavin Markey finished the night 8-of-15 for 111 yards, one interception and two touchdowns.
"Gavin did a great job executing the game plan," Noland said. "We had some shots and some different things set up, and he made some good throws at the critical times to help execute the game plan."
The Dragons added a safety in the second quarter thanks to a 57-yard Brown punt that pinned the Gladiators inside the four. On the next play, Clarke Central was flagged for holding in the end zone, resulting in a safety and a 15-0 lead for the Dragons.
Although it seemed like a tractor pull at times for Brown and the Dragons' rushing attack, the senior Clemson commit finished the night with 179 yards on 23 attempts and one touchdown -- a three-yard run touchdown with 11:55 to go in the game. He also led the team in receiving with two catches for 68 yards and a touchdown.
"I'm glad he's on our team," Noland said about Brown. "But, you know, he played well. He had some hard-fought yards inside the tackle. But again, we were trying to control the clock control, keeping their offense off the field as much as we could. I thought our guys did what we asked them to do to give ourselves a chance to win."
Clarke Central rallied back behind a couple of passing touchdowns -- a 38-yard pass from Chase Berrong to Jaylen Cofer with 9:32 to go in the third quarter, and a 13-yard pass to tight end Jamarion Davis with 1:22 left in the game.
Corey Watkins Jr. led the Glads with 23 carries for 114 yards. Berrong was 14-of-21 for 167 yards and two touchdowns. Cofer finished the night with seven catches for 111 yards and a touchdown.
The Dragons travel to Winder-Barrow next week. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.
