It has been a long road back to prosperity for Worth County, a once-prominent South Georgia program that had fallen on hard times in recent years.
Jeff Hammond had a plan when took over as the head coach four years ago, and that plan paid off with a championship Tuesday afternoon at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Lyndon Worthy threw the go-ahead 7-yard touchdown pass to Jayden Farley with 3:46 remaining in the third quarter, the Rams’ defense tightened down the stretch, and Dashaun Rockwell sealed the victory with an interception in the final minutes of a 17-13 win over defending champion Toombs County in the Class A Division I final.
Top-ranked Worth County, playing in its first championship game since 1990, won its first state title in any sport since 1987 and finished 15-0 for the first time in its 66-season history.
All of this at a school that had gone 11-39 with no playoff appearances in the five years before Hammond’s arrival in 2022 and had been 0-10 as recently as 2017.
“It was belief,” Hammond said of the program’s turnaround. “The biggest thing we changed was the weight room, our weight room habits. Our booster club has done an unbelievable job with the nutrition, us being able to feed them six nights a week and getting the strength level where we can compete.
“This group, my first day on the job, I said, ‘We’re going to make the playoffs, we’re going to win the region, and we’re going to win a state championship.’ They believed that, and they worked their tails off to get there.”
Credit: Daniel Varnado/For the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Daniel Varnado/For the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Worth County fell behind 10-0 in the first eight minutes of the game but pulled even after a 1-yard touchdown run by Tre’shaun Jones late in the first quarter and a 35-yard field goal by Brodey Hancock with 3:30 to play in the half.
“I knew it was going to be tough with all the players they have,” Hammond said. “They’re a great football team early. I thought at some point, if we could keep it close, the game would come back to us, and our speed and our conditioning would be a major factor. And it kind of went that way. We eliminated some big plays on defense, and we made them earn everything. We were able to run the football. Nobody’s run the football on them all year, and we made some timely throws.”
Worth County, which trailed 13-10 at halftime, began its game-winning drive at its 25-yard line after a Toombs County punt midway through the third quarter. The Rams drove 75 yards in seven plays, ending with Worthy’s touchdown pass to Farley for a 17-13 lead.
Toombs had three more possessions after falling behind, but their final one was the biggest threat. After getting the ball at midfield with 4:40 remaining, the Bulldogs eventually faced a fourth-and-1 at the Worth 31. A 5-yard penalty turned it into a fourth-and-6, and Joseph Owens’ pass was intercepted by Rockwell at the 24 and returned to the Toombs County 15 with 1:13 left.
Worth County took three kneel-downs and ran out the clock.
Worthy was 22-of-30 passing for 217 yards, putting him over 3,000 for the season (3,021).
Credit: Daniel Varnado/For the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Daniel Varnado/For the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“It’s fun. There’s not a concept that we can’t run,” Hammond said of Worthy. “He’s a phenomenal quarterback. He makes really good decisions, he takes care of the football, and he’s a great point guard and runs our offense really well.”
Jones led the running game with 70 yards on 11 carries, and Worth County finished with a 325-289 advantage in total offense.
Toombs County (13-2) got off to a hot start, driving 64 yards in three plays and scoring on a 42-yard pass from Owens to Nick Carroll for a 7-0 lead just 1:15 into the game. The Bulldogs increased the lead to 10-0 on their next possession with a 26-yard field goal by Alex Otero.
The Bulldogs struggled from there, however. Toombs County had 133 yards of total offense in the first quarter but managed just 156 more the rest of the game. Toombs County’s final points came on a 19-yard field goal by Otero for a 13-10 lead with six seconds remaining in the first half. Justin Powell, who finished the season with 1,869 yards rushing, had 150 in the finale, but 90 of them came in the first half.
“I knew our defense was going to have us and figure things out,” Worthy said. “After that, it was smooth sailing.”
The Bulldogs also were hurt by penalties. Toombs County was penalized seven times for just 45 yards, but two of those flags wiped out touchdown passes, including a 57-yarder from Owens to Gavin Fletcher on the first play of the fourth quarter that would have given the Bulldogs a 20-17 lead.
Credit: Daniel Varnado/For the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Daniel Varnado/For the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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