AUGUSTA, Ga. — When taking only the final two quarters of Friday night’s sub-region bout between GMC Prep and Aquinas High School into account the result was a 21-21 tie. The bad news for the Bulldogs (3-3 overall, 0-3 region) was that they entered halftime already down 27-0 to the host Fightin’ Irish.

Put it all together and you get a 48-21 victory that allowed Aquinas to remain undefeated (5-0 overall, 2-0 region) on the 2018 season. 

The Irish kept finding gold at the end of each offensive drive in the first half, scoring each time the unit touched the football. Every touchdown came on the ground and interestingly enough was from further and further out as the first two quarters progressed. Kam Brinson and A.J. Williams were the culprits for Aquinas in the early going as Williams scored from 14 yards out in the first quarter and 25 yards out on the first play of the second to put the home team up 14-0. Brinson did his damage from much further out as he ran the ball in from 43 and 49 yards away to bolster an extremely efficient Irish running attack. Though the Aquinas offense is certainly talented, missed tackles on GMC Prep’s part allowed plays to go a lot longer than they should have.

“Defensive execution tonight killed us,” GMC head coach Steven Simpson told The Union-Recorder via postgame phone interview. “We just didn’t make tackles when we were in position to make tackles.”

Conversely, the Bulldogs struggled to get anything going on offense, and when they did, mistakes or lack of execution killed the drive. For example, it appeared as though GMC Prep’s Devin Stephens scored on a 60-yard touchdown run about halfway through the second quarter, but a block in the back penalty brought the football back to the Aquinas 45. The drive would end in an unsuccessful field goal attempt. Although that opportunity was lost, Stephens would get his shot at redemption later.

The Aquinas offense picked up right where it left off when it received the football to begin play in the second half because on just the second play from scrimmage Brinson zipped 62 yards to put his team up 34-0 and notch his third score of the night. It was on the ensuing kickoff where GMC Prep’s Stephens showed why he was the one back there returning kicks. He showed off his moves and took the ball back 95-plus yards to get the Bulldogs on the board. 

Following another long Aquinas touchdown, Stephens again struck on a big play after adjusting to catch a pass from quarterback Grayson Hopkins. He followed the good downfield blocking of wide receiver Malcolm Clayton to get into the end zone from 45 yards out, which brought the score to 41-14 late in the third. 

The Irish got on the board using the ground game once again in the fourth to put a running clock into effect. That didn’t stop the Bulldogs from finding paydirt once again though, this time it was freshman Chaze Goddard who ran it 56 yards to bring the contest to its final tally. 

“Defensively I don’t think we played overly well,” Simpson added when asked to sum up his team’s performance. “Offensively I thought we did some good things, but considering the talent level at Aquinas and their recent history, I was really proud of the way our kids played. I thought they continued to fight even though they were down.”

GMC Prep football will be at home next week, playing host to Region 7-A Division B opponent Warren County. Like the Bulldogs, the Screaming Devils were 3-2 entering play Friday night.