Word of God topples Athens Drive football
With moments to go Friday night, Word of God players doused two coaches with water buckets and declared, “David beat Goliath!”
The tiny Holy Rams had reason to celebrate having dispatched NCHSAA 4A Athens Drive 64-44.
Despite having a roster half the size of the Jaguars – and a school enrollment 20 times smaller – Word of God controlled the game from start to finish, building a 20-0 lead in the first quarter and never looking back.
They said it
“There’s athletes on both sides. When we come over here, we don’t expect to lose. It’s the will of these young men when they got on the field.” – WOG coach Eric Clemmons.
Turning point
With 57 seconds left in the first half, Dylon Washington’s 2-yard TD run cut the Holy Rams’ lead to 26-20. On WOG’s next play from scrimmage, Athens’ Wyatt Summers scooped up a fumble to give the Jaguars the ball back at the WOG 33 with 47 seconds left in the half.
But the Jaguars weren’t able to capitalize. On their first play, WOG’s Josh Peacock intercepted a pass and raced 80 yards the other way for the touchdown and a 32-20 lead. Athens wouldn’t get any closer than 10 points the rest of the game.
3 who mattered
Jheri Walton, Word of God: The WOG quarterback didn’t look like he was making his first start. He was 10 of 20 passing for 259 yards and four TDs.
Josh Peacock, Word of God: In addition to the game-turning INT, the WOG WR/DB also caught 4 passes for 119 yards and two TDs.
Chris Gilliard, Word of God: The WOG running back ran for 138 yards and two touchdowns.
By the numbers
6: Athens Drive turnovers, including 5 interceptions
3: Rushing TDs for Athens tailback Dylon Washington. He finished the night with 123 rushing yards.
2: Interception returns for touchdowns that were called back due to penalties. Athens Jalen McNish returned his first quarter interception 28 yards, only to have it wiped out by an illegal block. The same thing happened to WOG’s Atavious Taylor, who saw a 100-yard return wiped off the scoreboard.
289: Yards thrown by Athens QB Tre Echols, who also had four touchdown passes.
0: PATs attempted by WOG. The Holy Rams went for the two-point conversion after all nine of their touchdowns, converting on five of them.
This story was originally published October 10, 2015 at 12:51 AM with the headline "Word of God topples Athens Drive football."