Cougars Face Brentwood Friday
Piedmont Academy’s football team will begin its “second season” this Friday as the Cougars travel to Brentwood in Sandersville for the opening round of the GISA Class AA state playoffs.
As the number three seed from Region 1-AA, Piedmont is on the road against Brentwood to face the Eagles, the number two seed from Region 4-AA.
“We are thankful for this opportunity,” Piedmont coach Wes Tanner said. “We have to get out of the habit of turning the football over deep in our own territory. That will be a key for us this Friday.”
Another key for the Cougars against Brentwood will be a balanced offensive attack.
“We need to take some chances throwing the football down the field while at the same time staying with our runner game,” Tanner said. “We also have some things in our back pocket we haven’t shown this season.”
Defensive coordinator Michael Wilson said this week’s playoff game will be a chance for redemption for Piedmont, who fell to the Eagles 41-7 in the regular season.
“When Brentwood came here our first half against them was as bad as we’ve had this year,” Wilson said. “We made some adjustments at halftime and since then I believe we have played much better football with excellent effort. I’m excited to see us step on the field with a chance at redemption.”
There will be little mystery as to what the Eagles will do offensively.
“Coach Bert Brown has run the Wing T for years and preparing for them is not a mystery,” Wilson said. “However, it’s not preparing for them that’s the hard part. Success will come from us playing disciplined, assignment football and not missing tackles. Our front seven must make correct reads and our secondary must stop the buck sweep.”
Brentwood typically uses the first quarter to see which plays work offensively and then stick with them the rest of the way.
“If we are able to execute and tackle and create some turnovers, we can make it a frustrating night for them,” Wilson said.
Other first round Class AA matchups include Westwood at Memorial Day, Thomas Jefferson at Unity Prep and First Presbyterian Christian at Terrell. The winner of the Piedmont-Brentwood contest will face Southwest Georgia Friday, Nov. 3, on the road. All other state playoff qualifiers earned a first round bye.
The Cougars closed out the 2017 regular season with a 34-14 loss to Flint River Academy last Friday at home. Piedmont finishes region play with a 1-2 record.
The game was competitive most of the way with the Cougars trailing just 14-7 at halftime. Later in the second half Piedmont was down 27-14 and had possession of the football and was driving.
“We had a couple of things happen that took the wind out of our sails,” Tanner said. “The game was much more competitive than the final score indicated. We still have some things we can get better at and we will work on them this week in practice.”
The Cougars scored touchdowns on pass connections from Tate Marks to J.T. Webb (12, 15 yards). Marks finished the contest with 157 yards through the air.
Marks and Logan Conner were the team’s leading rushers while Owen Brady hauled in 107 yards on four catches. Webb finished with 50 yards receiving.
Defensively, Parker Clark had six tackles and eight assists while Caleb Faircloth finished with five tackles and four assists. Webb added four tackles and seven assists while Tanner Coppock compiled four tackles and 11 assists. Conner (three tackles, 11 assists) and Noah Faubli (three tackles, three assists) also contributed to the defensive effort.