TIFTON — Tiftarea Academy picked up its fourth win of the season Friday night, defeating Terrell Academy 38-22.

Spence Massey scored all but one touchdown for TIftarea, which improved to 4-1 for the season. Casen Royal contributed a defensive touchdown for the Panthers, scoring on an interception.

Tiftarea head coach Tully Payne described the game as being “back and forth, back and forth.”

The Panthers took a 22-0 lead, but had to play part of the first half without Massey. In his absence, Terrell cut the score to 22-14 at intermission.

Terrell then tied the score at 22 in the third quarter, Payne said.

All of the Eagles’ touchdowns came by way of Gabe Dominey, a runner Payne described as “surprisingly fast.”

“We didn’t have anybody that could chase him down,” Payne said.

Fortunately for Tiftarea, when Massey was examined by the team trainer, his injury was not found to be serious and he was able to play the second half.

Massey scored two second half touchdowns, allowing the Panthers to pull away.

Payne said he also had strong runs from Jackson Lee and while the squad’s passing game did not click for most of the night, both Render Robbins and Bo Cunningham had big catches. Robbins aided one Tiftarea drive with a catch and run deep into Terrell territory.

While Tiftarea came through at the end, they nearly did not arrive.

The team’s bus broke down on the way, said Payne, pushing the game’s start time from 7:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The Panthers will be at Southland Academy next Friday. Southland was scheduled to play Saturday at Holy Spirit Prep. They were undefeated going into the Holy Spirit game, averaging nearly 44 points per game and had only given up 20 points.