THOMSON, Ga. — North Augusta High School opened its season with a 25-18 win over Thomson at the Brickyard on Friday, Aug. 23, handing the Bulldogs their second straight loss.
Thomson fell to Evans in its Aug. 16 season opener, giving Thomson its first 0-2 record since 2013.
The last time North Augusta played Thomson in the regular season was in 2019, and the Yellow Jackets lost 26-0.
“The kids fought,” said North Augusta Head Coach Richard Bush. “The kids played for four quarters, and that is what we asked them to do. North Augusta football is four quarters, and it lasted till the last play tonight as the games usually do. We got to build on it. We got a tough game next week, but we got to cut the undisciplined and selfish penalties out.”
Friday looked to be a defensive battle as both teams were sacked and halted their first drive.
North Augusta quarterback Corey Tillman scored the first touchdown of the game for the Yellow Jackets on a 3-yard run with 2:14 left in the first quarter. The Bulldogs blocked the extra point, making the score 6-0.
Thomson seemed to be driving early in the second quarter, but was stuffed on fourth down at midfield.
Tillman connected with wide receiver Connor Brown for a 30-yard touchdown pass with three minutes left in the half. The Yellow Jackets failed the two-point conversion to make the score 12-0.
Thomson fumbled once again on their next drive and North Augusta took advantage as Tillman threw his second touchdown pass of the day to Mike Doe. Another failed two-point conversion gave North Augusta a 18-0 lead after the first half.
In third quarter, Brown leaped to catch his second touchdown of the game and give the Yellowjackets a 25-0 lead.
On the very next play, Thomson wide receiver Jaris Sinkfield broke off for a 94-yard kickoff return touchdown. Thomson also failed to convert the extra point, making the score 25-6.
Sinkfield scored his second touchdown of the game after a 28-yard pass from quarterback Markevion Jones. Sinkfield helped cut the Yellow Jackets lead after his third touchdown of the game, catching a 12-yard pass from Jones and making the score 25-18.
The Bulldogs had one more chance with 30 seconds remaining, but Jones threw an interception on the last play of the game to hand North Augusta the win.
Tillman led both teams with four total touchdowns on the evening.
“He played good enough to get the win, but he knows his expectations,” Bush said. “We’re glad he is on our team; but he missed some reads early and missed some stuff late, but hey it is the first game of the year and it is the game of getting better each and every week and I know he will because he is a heck of a competitor.”
Despite the victory, Bush was disappointed on how his team closed the game with eight penalties in the second half.
“We didn’t finish,” Bush said. “We had some undisciplined penalties. We didn’t execute when we needed to execute. We got undisciplined in our gameplan offensively and defensively and special teams and it hurt us.”
North Augusta (1-0) will play its first home game of the season as they host Lexington (1-0) next Friday, Aug. 30. Thomson (0-2) will look for its first win as the Bulldogs travel to the Academy of Richmond County (0-1) also next Friday night.
Christopher Rickerson, an Augusta University graduate, has covered area sports for Augusta University, The Augusta Press and Augusta Good News. Subscribe to the Augusta Good News newsletter here.
