LaGrange 36 Fayette County 20

The Grangers avenged a loss last year to Fayette County by beating the Tigers 36 to 20 Friday night at Callaway Stadium.  LaGrange remains one game behind the region leaders with three games left to play.

The Tigers opened the scoring with a 59 yard pitch from Daveion Nash to Montrell Kelley to take a 7-0 lead. The teams exchanged turnovers but LaGrange had to punt the ball away. Fayette turned the ball over on downs after a failed fake punt but the teams traded ineffective drives. The Grangers cracked the egg on the scoreboard on their first drive of the second quarter by going 62 yards.  Benny Gray scored from four yards out and the two point conversion gave LaGrange an 8-7 lead.  Desmond Harris recovered a fumble for the second time and LaGrange got points from it. A 52 yard pass from Wynton Heard to Tay Rivers set up a one yard touchdown plunge by Gray. 15-7 Grangers. Fayette responded with a 60 yard TD catch from Nash to Milan Astin. The teams would go to the locker room with LaGrange leading 15-14.

The Grangers opened the second half with a bang. On the first play from scrimmage, Mon Denson raced 65 yards to the end zone. 22-14 Grangers. Emmanuel Mann recovered a fumble but LaGrange could not get points. The defense held the Tigers to a three and out and the offense scored again.  A 24 yard pass to Hayden Olive extended the Granger lead to 29-14. Fayette County returned the favor with a 41 yard quarterback keeper. LaGrange blocked the extra point attempt and it was 29-20. The Grangers got an insurance score when Heard found Quan Delaney in the end zone. 36-20 would be the final score.

The kicking game improved as Taylor Stanford was a perfect 4 for 4 in PATs.  The defense found new playmakers as I called Desmond Harris and Dontavious Joiner's name more often than any other game.

Now LaGrange travels to The Battlefield to face Sandy Creek. The Grangers played toe to toe with Alexander and Alexander played toe to toe with the Patriots. LaGrange will have to play with no mistakes to beat the number one team in AAAA. I believe the Grangers have the talent and the coaching to win. But they will need to make the plays in all three phases to come out on top. Let's pack the stands and cheer on the Men in Blue.