Griffin High receiver Quay Mangham (80) was wide open for the first score Friday night at Woodland-Stockbridge. The 33-yard halfback option pass from Anforne’ Stroud ended a four-play, 80-yard drive. No. 3-state ranked Griffin won 52-20.
Explosive might be an understatement. The offense scored 40 points in a 42-16 season-opening win at Dutchtown, 35 points in a 35-6 win at Northgate and 27 points in a 34-33 win against Jonesboro two weeks ago as well as a season-high 52 points in a 52-20 win Friday at Woodland-Stockbridge.
That’s an average of 38.5 points per game. The modern day school record is 37.5 ppg, set by the 2009 state semifinal team.
Of course, that’s over an entire season. Of course, this team isn’t through yet. Games await against Stockbridge, Riverdale, North Clayton, Upson-Lee and Spalding before a game No. 10-crossover.
No one was on fire Friday night more for the No. 3-state ranked Bears than Devontae Freeman. The Junior rushed for a game-high 137 yards, including touchdown runs of 5, 19 and 50 yards. Junior quarterback Jaquez Parks also inflicted his share of damage, throwing for 198 yards on 14-of-21 passing and rushing for 51 yards on 11 carries. On a night where he threw touchdowns passes of 3 and 14 yards to sophomore Keyston Fuller, his favorite target was sophomore Christian Owens who ended the night with seven receptions for 115 yards.
Backup quarterback Anforne’ Stroud, sophomore, also got in on the action, throwing for 42 yards on 2-of-3 passing — which included a 33-yard touchdown pass to classmate Quay Mangham — and running for 32 yards on six carries which included a 5-yard touchdown run.
It should be noted Griffin limited Woodland running back Malcolm Miller to 36 yards on 14 carries, though the senior did have a 5-yard touchdown run in the early going. Wolfpack junior quarterback Taylor Poff threw for 213 yards on 20-of-26 passing, which included touchdown passes of 72 yards to senior Darrow Ramsey and 5 yards to sophomore Justin Strozier. Strozier ended the night with eight receptions for a respectable 83 yards.
With that, a few observations about Region 4-AAA are in order after Friday night’s action. No. 3-state ranked Griffin (4-0 overall) is for real. Those who improved to 3-1 overall included: Jonesboro, Dutchtown, Stockbridge and Locust Grove, while Riverdale also fell to 3-1 after being upset by 38-0 by Dutchtown.
(John Sullivan is the sports editor at the Griffin Daily News.)
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