Putnam County senior Jalon Kilgore had a career night last Thursday in a 48-6 win over Glenn Hills. The South Carolina commit scored four TDs, powering the War Eagles to victory over the Spartans.
The War Eagles have had several breakout games so far this season from different skill players, including Tamarion Peters, DJ Bland, Keywon Blue and Rashod Daniel, but head coach Shaun Pope said he was glad to see Kilgore finally get his.
“Jalon (Kilgore) stepped up in a huge way,” Pope said. “He’s such a special player.”
Pope said he feels “blessed” to have “several dynamic athletes” at various positions on offense.
“We’re blessed to have two big running backs in Tamarion and Rashod. We also have DJ, Keywon and obviously, Jalon,” Pope said. “Jalon’s a special athlete. Everybody knows that. In the last few weeks, he hadn’t been as involved in the offense. It’s just a rotation. It seems like there’s a different guy each night and that’s a good thing for us because the other teams have to prepare for more than just Jalon, or more than just Rashod, Tamarion, DJ or Keywon. Whoever it may be.”
The Spartans set up Kilgore and the War Eagles’ offense nicely in the second quarter. They had three botched punts, which led to short-yardage situations for Putnam.
The War Eagles led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter as Peters had two rushing scores. His effort set them up well as they controlled the ball for most of the opening 12 minutes.
Kilgore had three total TDs in the second quarter, with two coming on the ground, and the other on a 55-yard punt return for a score. Putnam led Glenn Hills 34-0 at the half.
“We talk to them all the time about not worrying about our competition,” Pope said. “We talk about Putnam (County) and making Putnam better. I thought we did that in some areas. I thought we got a little sloppy right before halftime and didn’t really play a clean game. And I keep saying that every week, but I think we are getting better in some areas. Our goal is always to be playing our best football around weeks seven, eight, nine, ten and then, hopefully into the playoffs.”
The second half didn’t get much easier for the Spartans, at least from a special teams perspective. Kilgore notched his fourth TD of the contest on the opening kickoff.
Putnam led 41-0 at that point as the mercy-rule clock ran continuously in the final two quarters. Peters tacked on his final TD of the contest with 6:48 left in the third. However, Glenn Hills was able to score during garbage time in the fourth quarter.
The War Eagles had 193 yards of total offense on Thursday, with 173 of it coming on the ground. Peters rushed for a team-high 89 yards on seven attempts with three TDs. Also, freshman quarterback Branan Griffin was 2-of-3 passing for 20 yards.
According to Pope, the War Eagles (6-1, 3-0 Region 4-AA) have secured a playoff spot for the fourth-straight season with their win over Glenn Hills (2-5, 1-3 Region 4-AA). Putnam now heads into its final bye week tied with Laney (6-0, 3-0) in the Region 4-AA standings.
“We’ve still got a lot to clean up. We got a couple of injuries, too,” Pope said. “We also got to get some guys well. Blake (Tiller) was out last night, so we were down a defensive lineman. We’ve got to get some injuries healed up because it’s going to be a big one in two weeks with Thomson, which they’re all big at this time of the year.”
Laney-Thomson game to resume
After their initial Sept. 16 matchup was interrupted and postponed due to an altercation that involved gunfire, the Thomson Bulldogs will resume play against the Laney Wildcats this Friday night, according to The Augusta Chronicle.
Thomson was leading Laney 15-14 with 6:28 remaining in the third quarter when the gunfire occurred. The game will resume at the same point it was called off in September.
Two McDuffie County teens, Santana Mance and Roosevelt Demmons, both 17, were arrested Sept. 17, in connection with the shooting, while a third suspect, 17-year-old Kinte Green, of Thomson, also was arrested more than a week later.
Laney (6-0, 3-0 Region 4-AA) and Putnam County are tied for first in the region standings. Thomson (5-1, 2-0 Region 4-AA) sits in second place.