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Putnam County’s DJ Bland had a big night in a 40-0 win over Josey High on Friday at Al Reaves Field.
The senior wide receiver hauled in a team-high four receptions for 96 yards and two TDs. Bland also led the War Eagles in rushing yards, racking up 76 and a score on one attempt. He also had two tackles and an INT on defense against the Eagles of Augusta.
“DJ’s very special. We knew that whenever he was a 9th-grader,” Putnam County head coach Shaun Pope said. “He’s had a laser focus this offseason going into his senior year. Nobody’s out-working him, whether it’s in the weight room or on the practice field. He’s such a great leader. Tonight opened it up for him. He hadn’t had the stats or numbers through the first part of the season, but he hasn’t wavered at all.”
Bland and the War Eagles’ offense got the night started in a huge way on their first play from scrimmage.
Freshman quarterback Branan Griffin hit the senior wide receiver, Jalon Kilgore, in the flat. The South Carolina commit then dropped back to pass, delivering a strike to Bland for a 53-yard, run-and-score touchdown to give PCHS an early 7-0 lead.
Josey was able to move the ball on the ensuing possession before penalties killed their drive. Putnam’s defense held strong on a 3rd-and-long, which made the Eagles bring out the punt unit.
The War Eagles started their second possession inside the Josey 50-yard line. A few plays later, they were threatening at the Eagles’ 15 after an encroachment penalty and a late hit on Putnam senior running back Tamarion Peters.
Griffin’s only passing score came on the next snap. The freshman signal-caller dropped back to pass and connected with Bland over the middle for a TD. Andrew Hildreth nailed the PAT and the War Eagles led 14-0 with 3:01 remaining in the first quarter.
“He’s continued to believe in the process, and tonight was his night,” Pope said of Bland. “We’re also very blessed and fortunate to have the athletes that we’ve got. It’s not going to be one person every night. It’s going to be somebody different every night, but tonight it was about DJ (Bland). You know, great players make big-time plays whenever they’re called on. He did that tonight. We are very proud of him.”
And neither the War Eagles nor Bland was done with the rout of Josey.
Peters had the next two Putnam TDs, with both coming on the ground. The 5-foot-10, 215-pound running back scored from 6 yards and 2 yards out, respectively. The War Eagles had a 28-0 lead with 8:35 remaining in the first half.
However, the Eagles of Augusta would catch a break on Putnam’s next possession. They stopped the War Eagles on fourth down at the 21-yard line, forcing Putnam to attempt a 32-yard field goal. Hildreth nailed his only FG attempt of the contest.
Bryan Canales also extended Putnam’s lead at the 3:52 mark of the second quarter with a 35-yard FG that gave the War Eagles a 34-0 advantage heading into the locker room.
“Josey has a lot of size up front, and we knew that coming into the game. We wanted to try and spread them out a little bit and getting running sideline to sideline. Then we came back with our inside run-game,” Pope said. “We were able to hit some explosive plays early. Anytime you’ve got Jalon Kilgore, DJ Bland, Keywon Blue, and some of those guys on the perimeter, you’ve got a chance to score. That double-pass to open the game kind of got us rolling right there. Special teams also played great. We didn’t have any turnovers. Between the defense and special teams, we were set up in some pretty good spots.”
In deference to the runaway score, the second half was a running clock.
Bland scored his final TD with 8:26 remaining of the third quarter on a 77-yard jet sweep. The senior took his coach’s suggestion to heart and went sideline-to-sideline, evading all of Josey’s defenders in the process.
The War Eagles’ defense also played stout against the Eagles on Friday night, forcing their second-straight shutout of 2022 after limiting Butler to zero points last week.
Senior Armon Webster had a season-high eight tackles, with freshman Jayson Smith and junior Rashod Daniel each totaling four, while Kilgore and Seth Boyer had three apiece.
“Once we settled in and got ready to play on defense (we were fine). They gassed us early on with a couple of runs, but yes, we continued to move and found ways to get pressure on the quarterback,” Pope said. “I really didn’t know (coming into the game) how much pressure we wanted to put on him because he’s a tough kid. He did hit some balls on us early on, but that’s when we tightened up our coverage.”
Putnam County (4-1, 2-0 Region 4-AA) is currently ranked No. 7 in Class AA, according to the Maxwell Ratings of Georgia High School Football Daily.
The War Eagles are set to face Westside (1-4, 1-1 Region 4-AA) Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. in Augusta (the game moved forward a day due to the potential of Hurricane Ian). The Patriots are coming off a 12-10 loss to region rival Glenn Hills last Friday. The War Eagles defeated Westside (Augusta) 19-7 last season.
“It’s the same thing every week, we try to focus on Putnam. Glancing at the film when Westside played Josey, they’re still huge up front,” Pope said. “Westside still has good skill players. It’s going to be another challenge for us on the road, so we have to be ready.”