Oconee County (1-2) proved its dominance over Putnam County (0-2) again on Friday with a 51-14 win.
Warriors’ running back Caiden Wood also shined, scoring four touchdowns in the win. He rushed for 161 yards on 23 attempts, averaging right at seven yards per carry in Oconee’s first victory of the year.
The Warriors never trailed in the non-region matchup, leading the War Eagles 23-0 at the end of the first quarter. They took advantage of early mistakes and built off their lead the rest of the game.
At the intermission, Oconee County was in complete control, up 37-7 over Putnam County.
War Eagles’ first-year head coach Joel Harvin gave credit to the Warriors on their dominant showing, but also mentioned his team’s mistakes and penalties led to it falling behind early in the game.
“Honestly, if anything could go wrong, it went wrong on Friday night,” Harvin said. “I think as a young team like we are and being in this situation before as a head coach, you understand and can expect anything that’s going to happen. As far as Friday, we made plenty of mistakes. We’re turning the ball over still, missing assignments, and overall, we got hit in the mouth by a solid Oconee team … we didn’t respond well.”
Oconee got on the board quickly as quarterback Titus Watkins connected with senior wide receiver James Holland on a 14-yard pass to the corner of the end zone, giving the Warriors a lead.
A costly mistake on Putnam’s first drive gave Oconee a 9-0 lead. After going three-and-out, the War Eagles’ center sent a botched snap over the punter’s head, and the Warriors recovered it in the end zone.
Oconee got the ball back following the safety and quickly scored again. The Warriors marched right down the field and Wood scored from 12 yards out on an inside zone rush.
During the play, the War Eagles were flagged for a facemask penalty. Oconee decided to go for two and Wood rushed in for the short conversion, giving Oconee a 17-0 lead with 5:28 left in the first quarter.
However, the Warriors weren’t done yet in the opening 12 minutes. On the next drive, Putnam quarterback Branan Griffin was picked off by Oconee’s Mac Ricks, who returned it for six.
Harvin saw a lot of mistakes in the game but thought those committed in the first quarter were the most critical.
“At the end of the day, we’ve got to grow up. As a team, we’ve got to keep growing and learn from the mistakes, develop a sense of physicality, and keep doing what we do,” Harvin said. “Keep it simple for our kids until they get used to what we’re doing. We are going to grow from this.”
Putnam did show a few flashes of potential. After getting down 23-0, the War Eagles answered with a long scoring possession, capped off by a 1-yard rushing touchdown by Griffin.
Putnam’s final scoring play came late in the third quarter when backup quarterback Jamarion Robertson found senior Mark Little for an 88-yard touchdown, cutting Oconee’s big lead to 37-14.
Overall, though, Oconee was dominant on both sides of the ball. The War Eagles were limited to a season-low 189 yards of total offense, while the Warriors racked up over 330 yards on the other end.
Griffin finished the game completing 2-of-6 passes for 15 yards and an interception. Robertson was 2-of-4 passing for 88 yards and a touchdown. Little led in receiving with one catch for 88 yards.
Putnam’s rushing attack also struggled, averaging 2.1 yards per carry. The War Eagles were led by Bryson Foster with 33 yards on nine attempts, while Rashod Daniel was limited to 21 total yards.
Harvin sees his team has a long road ahead of it but believes things can turn around quickly.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us,” he said. “It all starts with moving on from this and learning from it.”