Indians Mash Jackets In Second Half
Despite trailing 12-7 at halftime, the Vidalia Indians gave a performance that would have made Travis and Hilda McBride smile in the second. The primogenitors of one of Vidalia finest football families, who both have now passed away, were honored in a pregame ceremony on Friday night. The McBride family, Jason, wife Nita, sister Angie, and son Nic, a member of the Vidalia coaching staff, were present. Son Nate, of course, is existing in the football bubble at the University of Georgia.
Lloyd Mobley, Richard Lawrence, and Homer Waller presented Jason with his father Travis’s letter jacket, the 1955 South Georgia champion patch embroidered black jacket with white leather sleeves. The Yellow Jackets, who entered the game at 5-0 are a good football team, and for a half, they played that way. They do not have the bigplay ability that this Vidalia team is developing halfway through the season. Coach Jason Cameron said, “We just made some adjumstments. We had played a good first half, we just couldn’t punch one in on offense. You know, when you play a wing team like that, you just have to take away what they do best, and we did.” When asked about Bryce Davis’ yardage on the night, he added, “A lot, and I’m just glad he’s on our team.” Davis ended his night with 179 yards on just 13 attempts and 4 TD’s. He also had his best passing night, completing 8 of his 14 throws for 93 yards. Jaedyn Stanley also broke the 100-yard barrier running the football. Stanley had 114 yards on 27 carries and 2 TD’s. The Indians received the opening kickoff and immediately passed and ran their way to the Yellow Jacket 21. The stingy Yellow Jackets stuffed the Indians on a fourth down play, though.
Two plays later, the Indians got the ball back when linebacker Jaylin Burns smacked Yellow Jacket running back Austin Wood and the ball flew into the air, where it was grabbed by Kaylan Johnson.
Three plays later, senior running back Jaedyn Stanley followed blocks from the right side of his line for 8 yards and the game's first TD. Tate McDaniel’s extra point made it 7-0 with 6:20 left in the first quarter.
Jeff Davis scored their first touchdown on their next possession, getting a 33-yard touchdown pass from QB Cade Walters to Michael Dotson with 2:11 left in the quarter. A run by Walters came up short as the Yellow Jackets' try for 2 points failed.
A long clock-eating drive by the Indians misfired when Tate McDaniel missed a short field goal midway through the second quarter.
The Yellow Jackets put their best drive of the night together on their next possession. This time, Walters lofted a perfect little 6-yard pass into the right hand corner of the end zone to C.J. Parker with just 22 seconds left in the first half. The try for 2 points failed again to leave the score at 12-7.
The Indians exploded in the third quarter, scoring 21 points in 5 minutes and 10 seconds after they kicked off and stopped the Jackets on three plays.
On the Indians’ first offensive play of the second half, Bryce Davis scored his first TD of the night when he took off into the line, veered away from traffic and sprinted into the right corner of the end zone. McDaniel’s extra point gave the Indians for good.
Davis set up the next Indian TD when he play-faked, and hit lanky wide receiver Matt Hill in stride down the sideline for 40 yards down to the Yellow Jacket 4-yard line.
Jaedyn Stanley picked up his second TD on the next play. McDaniel's kick made it 21-12 with 8:54 left in the third quarter. Senior defensive back Ira Clements set up the next Indian touchdown when he stepped in front of a Yellow Jacket receiver to intercept one of Walters’ passes. Walters was under pressure on the play. Again, it was Davis, this time from 11 yards out cutting up-field for his seond TD of the night. McDaniel kicked his fourth PAT to make it 28-12 to end the onslaught with 5:27 still left in the third quarter. Vidalia added two more TD’s in the fourth quarter, both on long runs by Davis, who simply would not be contained by the Jeff Davis defense. The first one of 25 yards was set up by Clay Morris’s fumble recovery at the Yellow Jacket 25.
Davis’s fourth TD came on a 65-yard run after the Yellow Jackets scored their third TD against Vidalia’s subs. McDaniel finished a perfect night by going 6-for-6 on his PAT’s to make the final score 42-18. The Indian’s first team defense really shut Jeff Davis down in the second half. Antrevion Williams and Ira Clements had a lot to do with shutting down the sweeps.
Williams had 10 solo tackles and Clements had 6 to go along with his interception. Jaylin Burns also had a good game, forcing a fumble and contributing 5 solo tackles.
Vidalia goes on the road next week to play East Laurens in Laurens County on this Friday. The Indians are now 3-2 overall and 1-0 in Region 2-AA. The East Laurens game is a region contest.
