Following a scoreless opening quarter, the American team got on the board with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Jeremy Hecklinski to Jordan Bride (GAC). The connection capped an 8-play 52-yard drive and gave the Americans a 6-0 lead with 4:25 left in the half. The Nationals answered with a 9-play, 70-yard drive that ended on a 1-yard touchdown run by Caden Williams (Calhoun) with just 8 seconds left in the half. Williams also added the 2-point conversion to give the Nationals an 8-6 lead to open the second half.
Omarion Tucker–who led the Nationals on the defensive side of the ball in the first half with six solo tackles and a sack–switched to the offensive side of the ball in the third quarter and ran in a 17-yard touchdown to increase the Nationals’ lead to 14-6. The Americans’ turned it over on downs on its following possession and then Williams finished off a 4-play, 35-yard drive with a 14-yard touchdown run and his second successful 2-point conversion of the game to make it a 22-6 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Hecklinski found Bride for the duo’s second touchdown connection of the game just five seconds into the final frame with a beautiful 24-yard pass to the corner of the end zone, but the 2-point attempt failed and the Americans still trailed 24-12. The Nationals tacked on a 7-play, 70-yard scoring drive on its following possession and Jones County athlete Zion Ragins found the endzone on an explosive 37-yard touchdown.
The Nationals found the endzone again on a Maverick Shippman (Lakeside) 12-yard rushing touchdown and Shippman 2-point conversion to pad the lead to 36-12 with 5:27 left in the game. Williams finished the game with a game-high 144 rushing yards off of 18 carries and was named MVP. He also 3 tackles on the defensive side of the ball.
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