No stat line guarantees a win for a football team.

But when the offense accumulates more than 500 yards, totals more than 20 first downs, scores on nearly every drive and shuts out its opponent in the second half, let’s just say the odds are pretty good. The John Milledge Academy football team did all of that and more Friday night in its 45-14 trouncing of the visiting Bulloch Academy Gators out of Statesboro, Georgia. The win means the Trojans advance to the GISA state semifinals for the sixth time in seven seasons. This time they will face fellow undefeated Tiftarea Academy next week in Chula, Georgia, near Tifton, Georgia. The victor there will go on to play for the state title at Mercer University the following Friday, Nov. 30.

While the Trojan offense as a whole put forward one of its best efforts of 2018 against Bulloch, it was sophomore running back Amaad Foston who carried the load in head coach J.T. Wall’s pro-style offense. The big ballcarrier totaled more than 350 yards rushing on 38 carries unofficially and scored four touchdowns to aid his team. 

“We had a gameplan offensively that if they were giving us certain looks we were going to take advantage of them,” Wall told The Union-Recorder after addressing his team. “They made an adjustment right before halftime, but Bellflower (Brandon, JMA quarterback) did an unbelievable job checking out of the play and into something else. I think the first time they made their adjustment and had us outnumbered, he checked it and Amaad broke loose for a big run again.”

Although it was the senior quarterback getting his unit into the right plays and Foston’s cleats chewing up the turf, there was another group of players who worked extremely hard all night long to give the team a huge leg up.

“I can’t do anything without my linemen,” Foston said. “I give all the credit to them. They make the holes big enough for me to run through.”

“We challenged those guys a couple weeks ago, and they really took it to heart,” added Wall when asked about the play of his offensive line. “Coach Mahler’s (Cody) done a great job getting them where they need to be. That offensive line, including Jared Prestwood at tight end and Jacob Prestwood at fullback, with the way they’re playing right now you can win a lot of football games.”

The Trojans received the opening kick and wasted no time in giving the Bulloch defense a glimpse at what it was in for all night long. Wall opted to feed Foston eight times on that opening drive, amassing 67 of the team’s 80 yards on the possession. The sophomore capped off the effort with a 6-yard touchdown run less than halfway through the period. 

Foston notched his second score before the quarter ended, and the score sat at 14-0 until more than halfway through the second. The John Milledge offense was in the midst of what would be another scoring drive, and got to the end zone in fairly unconventional fashion with what had to be the least expected play call of the season. Bellflower stood in the shotgun with Foston at his side and took the snap before putting it in his running back’s belly. The senior signal caller, not well-known for his running ability, pulled it this time though and lumbered 14 yards down to the Gator 1 to set himself up for a quarterback sneak on the next play for the score to go up 20-0.

Bulloch would not go quietly into the night, though, as the visitors matched the Trojans 14-14 in the second period to enter the half down just 28-14. The Gators got a long touchdown before the break that could have turned the game around since they were to receive the second half opening kick, but they were unable to do anything with that opportunity. Bulloch had to get out of its comfort zone on offense, and the John Milledge defense feasted, sacking the opposing quarterback multiple times throughout the second half.

The Trojans won the final two quarters 17-0 to bring home the victory, and Coach Wall was extremely proud of the way his team competed in what was the biggest game of the year to date.

“We told our kids before we came out that we’re not bigger than anybody we play, we’re not stronger than anybody we play and we’re not faster than anybody we play,” he said. “The reason we are where we are right now is because our guys play freaking hard. They’re fun to coach, and they want to win.”

John Milledge will now prepare for next week’s state semifinal game against the Tiftarea Panthers who had a pretty dominant performance themselves Friday, defeating Trinity Christian 49-7.