Savannah Country Day has raised its level of play heading into the GHSA state football playoffs, which is exactly how Joey Blackmore, in his first season as the Hornets’ head coach, wants it.
“I’ve said it since August … my goal has always been to play our best football on Nov. 14 and then continue to improve from there,” Blackmore said after Savannah Country Day closed out the regular season with a 35-12 home victory over Vidalia on Friday night.
“I think we’re beginning to establish a little bit of an identity offensively,” he continued. “We’re allowed to do that because of our defense. We’re playing pretty good complementary football the last two weeks, and I think we’ll continue to do that moving forward.”
The Hornets followed a non-region victory at Episcopal School of Jacksonville, Fla., with the win over Vidalia to improve to 4-6, 1-3 in Region 3-A Division I. But region standings don’t figure into the GHSA formula for postseason rankings.
Blackmore said Country Day came into the regular-season finale at No. 18, with the top 16 seeds getting home-field field for the Private school playoffs. The coach is hopeful that the Hornets will rise to the top 16 when the new rankings are calculated this weekend, but he knows that they will be playing somewhere when the playoffs start on Nov. 14.
One certainty is that Savannah Country Day will depend on an improving defense, a strong-legged kicker/punter in senior Cash Ramirez, and a ground attack that runs through junior tailback Thomas Holland.
A week after his career-high 221 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries against Episcopal, Holland had 133 yards and all five of the team’s touchdowns – on runs of 3, 3, 6, 1, and 3 yards -- on 25 carries against Vidalia.
The 1-yard run was the only one that Holland, a bruiser who runs hard to contact with a low center of gravity, didn’t end up on the ground after crossing the goal line.
“I was just trying to run angry,” said Holland, noting that the Indians talked trash to the Hornets. “It kind of made me angry and put a chip on my shoulder.”
Vidalia (1-9, 0-4 region) also had 25 carries as a team for 116 yards – including 80 on one play.
Andre Jackson’s 80-yard touchdown run on the right sideline had closed the Indians’ deficit to 14-6 in the second quarter, but they were stopped on the conversion run. Vidalia was down only 14-12 after Kashun Coney’s 4-yard touchdown run on the second play of the fourth quarter, but again the SCD defense stood tall on the conversion run.
Blackmore said that the Hornets’ defense probably gave up only two explosive plays on the night, with two missed tackles on Jackson’s run, and the other, Alton Boles’ dazzling catch over the middle for 29 yards to set up Coney’s TD on the next play with 11:18 left in the fourth quarter.
“I thought our defense kept us in it and allowed us to keep running the football,” Blackmore said.
Up only two points, Country Day stuck to its offense, which meant plenty of Holland and quickly delivered short- to medium-range passes from sophomore quarterback Devin Trawick.
“I believe in developing a tailback run game and leaning on the o-line, trying to establish it, (and) easy completions to go along with runs. That’s kind of our goal,” Blackmore said.
“Thomas (Holland) does a great job, our o-line does a great job and Devin (Trawick) was really, really good tonight completing those quick, efficient passes to keep (Vidalia) off balance.”
The Vidalia defense was playing off the receivers and backpedaling to take away deep pass routes, Blackmore said, but they were playing man-to-man with sophomore receiver Peyton Bean. The coach liked that matchup, and Trawick had success getting the ball to receivers on hitch, slant, and quick-out patterns. Trawick was 12-of-19 passing for 110 yards and one interception.
The Hornets responded to the Indians by scoring touchdowns on their next (and last) three drives of the fourth quarter.
The first drive was saved by a defensive pass interference penalty on the Indians on fourth down on a rare deep pass. That put the ball on the Vidalia 26, and Holland covered the remaining ground on three carries for 21-12 with 7:10 to go in the fourth.
The next drive came after the Hornets sacked quarterback Henry Adams on third and fourth downs – with linebacker Aiden Frazier, who recovered a second-quarter fumble, in on both sacks. The turnover on downs gave SCD the ball 20 yards from the end zone with 4:44 left in regulation. No surprises as Holland covered it in three rushes, the last a 1-yard stroll for 28-12 with 3:26 left.
The Hornets’ Amir Atkinson returned an interception to the Vidalia 14, setting up Holland for two runs – an 11-yarder and a 3-yarder for the score and a 35-12 advantage with about 1:35 left.
Adams finished 7 of 10 for 80 yards and the interception.
For Country Day, a huge difference for both the offense and defense has been Trawick’s return on Oct. 3 after a hip injury on his first play of the first game on Aug. 15 against Charlotte Country Day School.
Holland filled in ably at quarterback – very much a running QB – and guided the team to two wins in their first five outings. But the coaching staff didn’t want to risk injury to their new No. 1 QB and, out of caution, kept the 5-foot-11, 180-pound Holland off the field at linebacker, which Blackmore feels is his best position as a college prospect.
“He’s a great player,” Blackmore said. “He made a tremendous sacrifice, did not blink, whatever the team needed. Then with Devin back, it allowed (Holland) to move to running back and also continue to play linebacker, which is where he is extremely good.”
The coach said the Hornets are very happy that Holland (who also returns kicks) is a two-way player again – and so is Holland.
“I really like my position now, and the o-line is doing great,” Holland said. “We’re just moving the football and imposing our will on them.”
Savannah Country Day 35, Vidalia 12
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Total | ||
| VHS | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 12 | |
| SCD | 7 | 7 | 0 | 21 | 35 | |
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First Quarter |
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SCD—Thomas Holland 3 run (Cash Ramirez kick) |
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Second Quarter |
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SCD—Holland 3 run (Ramirez kick) |
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VHS—Andre Jackson 80 run (run failed) |
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Fourth Quarter |
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VHS—Kashun Coney 4 run (run failed) |
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SCD—Holland 6 run (Ramirez kick) |
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SCD—Holland 1 run (Ramirez kick) |
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SCD—Holland 3 run (Ramirez kick) |
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Records—Vidalia 1-9, 0-4 Region 3-A, Division I; Savannah Country Day 4-6, 1-3. |
Week 12 Schedule
FINAL SCORES
Thursday, Oct. 30
Benedictine 49, New Hampstead
Jenkins County 27, Savannah High 8
Bethesda 49, St. John's Christian 14
Friday, Oct. 31
Colquitt County 28, Richmond Hill 21
Evans 38, Bradwell 34
Effingham County 42, Statesboro 41 (0vertime)
Brunswick 46, South Effingham 19
SE Bulloch 48, Beach 8
Calvary Day 41, Liberty County 0
Windsor Forest 26, Groves 22
Long County 49, Islands 7
Jenkins 56, Johnson 6
Toombs County 52, Savannah Christian 24
Savannah Country Day 35, Vidalia 12
Metter 35, Bryan County 0
Photo Credit: Courtesy Darryl Reynolds Photography
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