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Friday, Oct. 30, 2009

Henry County wins again in Macon

Henry County has made the best of its time in Macon this season.

The Warhawks (6-3, 5-1 GHSA Region 4-AA) have arguably played their best games this season in Macon in two blowout wins on Thursday nights. They followed a 36-13 win over Central earlier this season with a 32-14 win over Howard on Thursday at the Ed DeFore Sports Complex.

Henry County quarterback Dylan Shaddix passed for 221 yards and three touchdowns in the second quarter as the Warhawks cruised to a 32-0 halftime lead. Shaddix finished with 304 yards on the night, all coming in the first half.

“They have a very explosive offense, and we knew we needed to play ball-control offense to have a good shot,” Howard head coach Bobby Hughes said. “If It just got out of hand in the second quarter.”

Howard (2-7, 1-5) hung close for a quarter, but the Huskies couldn’t convert on two scoring opportunities. That summed up the first three quarters for the Huskies, who had two touchdowns called back for penalties.

Henry County, meanwhile, scored on the second play of the second quarter when Donterrious Shannon snatched an errant Howard pitch out the air and ran 8 yards for the touchdown.

The Warhawks’ offense started clicking immediately thereafter after they went to a little schoolyard football on offense.

Shaddix essentially threw the ball up to his big-play receivers and allowed them to make plays.

He connected with Markeith Ambles, who is committed to Tennessee, on third-and-12 for a 51-yard touchdown midway through the second quarter. On the next possession, Shaddix hit Ambles on a 22-yard score.

Following a fake punt attempt by Howard deep inside its own territory, Shaddix found Shavarez Smith for a 39-yard touchdown with 56 seconds left in the half.

“You’re talking about two D-I receivers,” Hughes said. “You don’t want to let them get loose. They made a lot of plays (Thursday).”

Henry County tried to get in one final score before the end of the half when it attempted and recovered an onside kick leading 32-0 with 43 seconds left.

Hughes said he was “extremely upset” by the onside kick call at the end of the half, and he used the kick as motivation during his halftime talk. Hughes declined to have a running clock in the third quarter, instead challenging his players to respond to the adversity.

The Huskies did that with a strong second half. The Huskies picked up 10 second-half first downs to Henry County’s two — although most of the Warhawks’ starters sat out for much of the second half.

Howard scored two touchdowns in the final 10 minutes of the game after the officials went to the mandatory running clock with the Huskies trailing by more than 30 points.

The Huskies capped a strong drive with a 2-yard touchdown run by Aarion Palmer with 9:32 to play in the game. On the next Huskies’ possession, Palmer capped a 72-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown run off an option pitch by Javaris Kelly with four seconds to play in the game.

“I’m extremely proud of how our guys responded in the second half,” Hughes said. “That showed a lot of heart. I’m very pleased with the effort.”