High School Sports
Houston County goes for second home playoff win in a row
WARNER ROBINS -- For a few hours, while it had the night off after dispatching LaGrange, Houston County was a collection of Sequoyah fans.
And by midnight last Friday, that was over.
Sequoyah’s win over Lanier, a mild upset on paper, meant that Houston County’s first home playoff game would be followed by its second home playoff game nine days later.
The Chiefs bring their challenging wing-T offense to McConnell-Talbert Stadium for a second-round GHSA Class AAAAA playoff game against Houston County on Saturday night.
The Bears haven’t faced that offensive scheme since playing Jones County last year. And the Chiefs are a bit better at it, if not more versatile. Quarterback Austin Tracy has completed 58.4 percent of his passes for 1,470 yards and has 10 touchdown passes to six interceptions.
“They make it dangerous by being able to get the ball to their playmakers in space,” Houston County head coach Von Lassiter said. “And they’re able to run the football and control the line of scrimmage.”
Junior Trey Mitchell, a 5-foot-9, 190-pounder, gets the bulk of the action, with 186 carries and 1,235 yards.
“He’s powerful,” Lassiter said. “He gets out in the open, he can really run.”
Barring remarkable circumstances, Houston County quarterback Jake Fromm will surpass 3,000 yards for the season. He’s only 91 yards away, so that could come in the first quarter.
Jaylen Searcy is first in Houston County career receptions (91) and third in yards (1,198), while Darion Anderson is first in career touchdown catches (19) and second in yards (1,324).
That group will be without one key offensive lineman. Tackle Steven Robinet is out after being ejected last week for targeting on a play that led to LaGrange’s Dontavius Joiner being wheeled off on a cart. Lassiter disagreed with the call and appealed to no avail.
But Daniel Jackson has plenty of experience and the Bears are fairly deep up front.
It has been an odd time frame for Houston County, which went from a short week to a long week.
“When you play on Saturday and you played on Thursday, you’ve got an extra day you’ve gotta fill,” Lassiter said. “But it’s been good. We can take the extra day and get ready for that wing-T.”
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