Week 2 HS football scoreboard: Houston County topples Perry 42-35 in instant classic

A lot can happen in eight minutes of football. Games can be stolen or squandered, seasons extended or cut short.

Rivals Perry and Houston County proved as much at Herb St. John Stadium in Perry on Friday night in one of the most enthralling games of the season so far. The teams combined to score six touchdowns in the last eight minutes of the game before the Bears came away with a 42-35 win.

The scoring frenzy included one stretch during which the teams scored three touchdowns in three minutes. The game also saw Perry immediately answer a Houston County touchdown with a kickoff return score with less than three minutes to play. All the offense came after Perry trailed 21-0 deep into the second quarter.

Quarterbacks AJ Hill of the Bears and Colter Ginn for the Panthers both fought hard, but Hill came up clutch in the end, scoring the winning touchdown with less than a minute left.

“He (AJ) was down on himself after missing a throw (late in the final drive), I had to get him to collect himself, and he collected himself and we came in and won the football game, so I feel really good about it,” Houston County head coach Jeremy Edwards said.

The game was marred by injury after Houston County played much of the contest without wide receiver Kale Woodburn, who was hit hard at the end of a play in the first quarter and was stretchered off the field. Though he could not play, Woodburn became a motivator for the Bears.

“I challenged the guys at halftime, just, Kale would do anything to be out there with ‘em, whatever we can do, we gotta win this game for him. So that was for him,” Edwards said.

The contest resembled last year’s game, in which Houston County came back from a 28-3 second quarter margin and won, 57-56. Perry goes to 0-1 after the heartbreaking loss to open its season, while the Bears move to 2-0 after a close call.

Game summary

Perry and Houston County entered the contest as top teams in Middle Georgia. The Panthers had a bye week to start the year, while Houston County dominated their first game against Sumter County 56-12 in Week 1.

While the game felt close early, Houston County got the separation it wanted thanks to explosive plays. The Bears opened the scoring when, backed up to their own 2-yard line, receiver Ricky Johnson caught a pass from Hill and bounced off of two Perry defenders with ease before gliding down the field for a 98-yard touchdown.

After another touchdown drive early in the second quarter gave them a 14-0 lead, the Bears widened the gap with a 40-yard interception return to make it a three-score game in the first half.

While it looked like Perry would enter the season with a bombastic offense thanks to Ginn transferring from Peach County and returning weapons, they were lackluster to start the night. The Panthers couldn’t muster any points until a fumble, one of two turnovers they forced in the first half, put them in great field position near the end of the half.

Even then, it took a 38-yard completion to wideout Dakarai Anderson on a fourth-down play to get into the red zone, where running back Ahmad Gordon punched it in to make it 21-7 at the half.

Perry got the drive it needed to start the second half, using Ginn’s arm less and relying more on runs from Gordon and Corrion Daniels. The Panthers drove roughly 80 yards up the field in small spurts, taking up most of the third quarter before Gordon scored his second touchdown to make it 21-14.

After a strong defensive stand where they sacked quarterback AJ Hill multiple times, Perry engineered another strong drive. Ginn threaded the needle on a throw to Donovan Funsch to tie the game at 21, completing the Panther comeback with about eight minutes to play.

With seven minutes to play, the game started to resemble the two teams’ barnburner matchup in 2022.

The Bears flew up the field on the ensuing possession, a 75-yard drive that came in less than a minute as Hill passed for another touchdown to give Houston County a 28-21 with seven minutes left. Perry had their own speedy drive, tying the game again at 28 with a little over five minutes left.

Another Houston County score gave them the lead, but a missed PAT made the margin just six points. Perry brought the packed Panther Pit crowd to its feet with an answer, though, as return man Khalid Miller took the kickoff 75 yards to the house to give the Panthers their first lead of the night.

With about two and a half minutes left, AJ Hill and the Bears marched downfield. After a missed pass for an incompletion near the red zone, Hill connected with Johnson, his favorite target all night, for a 19-yard touchdown. Their two-point conversion was good after Hill scrambled and threw it to the end zone.

Perry could not answer with the 30 seconds it was afforded, and Ginn was sacked on the final play to end a game for the ages at 42-35.

Other scores:

• Northside 28, Peach County 17

• Spalding 28, Mary Persons 14

• Jones County 44, Dacula 19

• Baldwin County 33, Putnam County 13

• Westside 35, Southwest 28

• Upson Lee 38, Lamar County 7

• Brentwood 28, Mount de Sales 13

• St. Anne-Pacelli 50, Tattnall 35

• Stratford 35, Westfield 13

• ACE 48, GMC 0

• Veterans 35, Griffin 0

• Terrell 20, Piedmont 9

• Taylor County 31, Crawford County 0

• Twiggs County 44, Portal 0

• Bleckley County 34, Wilcox County 20

• Howard 56, Central 0 (Thurs.)

• Hawkinsville 34, Rutland 20 (Sat.)

• John Milledge 58, Canton 12 (Sat.)

• Parkline, Miss. 28, FPD 7 (Sat.)