VHS Routed By Region Champs In Finale
On what was a miserable night for fans, and photographers for that matter, the Region 2-AA Champion Swainsboro Tigers made you miserable if you were from Vidalia. The Tigers used a quick defense and speedy and yes, greedy offense to put a 48-0 whipping on a young and seemingly shellshocked Vidalia team on a cold and windy field with a cold rain falling. It wasn’t pretty. The Indians will have a few days to get ready for a playoff game against Westside of Augusta, sort of a reboot since the Indians were almost certainly headed to Eatonton and a game against unbeaten Putnam County, the unbeaten Region 4-AA champions. Instead, because of a 10-7 upset of Toombs County by East Laurens, the Bulldogs were left out in the cold because of a predetermined point deferential between the three teams that finished in a tie for third place. The Region determined that Vidalia will go as the third place team, and East Laurens would get the fourth spot.
Westside’s Patriots, obviously a worthy opponent at 8-2 overall, finished in second in Region 4-AA. The Patriots’ losses were 19-7 to the region champion Putnam County War Eagles and by 23-17 to Lee Chomskis’ Lincoln County Red Devils.
Westside relies on the quickness and speed of running back Xavier Green; who’s only 5’8” tall and 160 pounds. Green has ground out over 1300 yards rushing this season and scored 15 TD’s for the Patriots.
Vidalia has played Westside in a 2012 playoff game, and beat the Patriots 57-0 in Vidalia.
In order to have a chance against Westside, the Indians will have to play much better than they did Friday night. Swainsboro beat Vidalia on the ground, running the ball 48 times for 375 yards. Their only pass fell incomplete.
Vidalia won the toss and deferred to the second half. It took the Tigers only 56 seconds to score when quarterback Ty Adams took off around the left side of Vidalia’s defense and ran untouched for 63 yards to make it 6-0. Daron Coleman’s extra point made it 7-0. Offensively, the Indians have been able to move the ball against every team they’ve played this year. Against the quick Tigers on a slick field though, they just couldn’t get anything going.
After a three and out, it was Ty Adams again, this time from 20 yards out. Coleman’s PAT made it 14-0 with 7:47 still left in the first quarter. The Indians still couldn’t get anything going, only this time it was worse. Indian QB Bryce Davis, trying to hit the quick out pass, was picked off by cornerback Domello Jones, who had nothing but green grass and goal line in front of him. The defensive touchdown made it 21-0 with 5:07 left in the first quarter. The next three Tiger touchdowns were courtesy of Bryson Tarver, a freshman who was last seen by J.R. Trippe fans last season helping ruin the middle school area championship game.
Tarver was responsible for the next three Tiger scores. The first one, a 2-yard run, boosted the score to 28-0 at the end of the first half.
The next one, an explosive 42-yard run by Tarver, made it 35-0 at the end of the third quarter.
A 4-yard touchdown run by Tarver with 9:50 left in the game, and another 4-yard run by Zacehaeus Grant ended the scoring with 1:00 left on the clock.
Offensively, Vidalia was able to produce only 69 yards of offense on their 29 plays. Bryce Davis was under constant pressure and was only able to complete 3-of-11 for 16 yards with 2 interceptions.
Davis also had 2 runs for 18 yards. Darrell Brown led the team in rushing with 22 yards on 13 attempts. Ahmelion Jones had 6 solo tackles and 1 assist to lead the Indians on defense. Ronald Pointer had 5 solos and 2 assists, and Brandon Beasley and Sam Sapp both had 4 solos and 1 assist.
Friday’s game will be played in Augusta at Westside.
