The Ware County Gators took a bite out of the host Evans Knights on Friday, Oct. 9, winning 28-6.
The leading passers on the day were Ware County’s Demitris Isaiah White, who completed six of his seven attempts for 103 yards, and Evans’ Grant Deal, who had a respectable 102 yards and ten completions on 13 attempts. Neither quarterback throw for an interception or a touchdown.
Both teams were more successful on the ground, with several players pitching in from the backfield. The Knights would run the ball 30 times for 127 yards and a score while the Gators picked up an even 200 yards on the ground on 33 attempts. The leading rusher for the Gators was Jimmy Taylor (107 yards on 13 touches) and Brycen Gault for the Knights (85 yards, a fumble and a touchdown on 12 attempts).
Evans started the day with the ball after winning the coin toss, but an odd decision to call for a fair catch from senior receiver Christian Scott placed them at their own two. They struggled to find consistency but were bailed out of a third-and-long by a 17-yard completion from Deal to Scott before punting from just inside their own 40.
The Gators’ special teams came out swinging, though, and forced a shank to give their offense the ball at the Knights’ 45-yard line. Ware County’s offense matched this energy and, despite a 19-yard sack due to a high snap on the Gators’ very first play, would score in just five snaps. White would jumpstart them with a gorgeous 53-yard completion to Lavon Lawson on a third-and-23 call from their own 42, and running Back De’Shavious Gibson would punch it in from there.
The Gators would attempt a surprise onside kick and fail to recover it, giving Evans the ball at midfield to start its next drive. However, miscommunication between Deal and Gault would spell disaster for the Knights, as a fumbled handoff let Gators linebacker Ja’Quavius Owens take a scoop-and-score 46 yards to the house, and a successful extra point kick from Jeffery Gonzalez put Ware County up 14-0 with a little over three minutes left in the first quarter.
Desperately needing momentum, the Knights had a 90-yard kickoff return touchdown called back for a chop block and would stall out yet again. Evans’ defense stood up, though, and held the Gators to a scoreless drive after letting them inside the home team’s 10-yard line. \
However, Evans’ offense couldn’t find anything, and the Knights’ defense would make another fantastic stand inside their 10 as the clock expired in the half to keep the game at 14-0 in favor of the Gators.
Ware County coach Jason Strickland expanded on why his team struggled to score in the red zone after the game.
“We really have arguably our best running back unavailable to us,” he explained. “Moose (a nickname for running back Moo Moo McKoy) is dealing with an ankle injury, and he’d normally take those carries. We’ll be punching those in once he’s back.”
The second half began with Ware County picking up with where it had left off, dominating. The Gators’ Fred Denton saw daylight and almost had a touchdown on the opening kickoff, but was stopped at the Evans 41.
Gibson would immediately follow this with an 18-yard rush. Steadily pushing the ball in increments of six to eight yards, and with White throwing his only pass of the half for 14 yards, the Gators would find pay dirt after four minutes on an 11-yard run by their quarterback.
Evans finally answered though, with Gault seemingly waking up and ripping off a 26-yard run to open the drive and an 18-yard touchdown to end it. The Gators would block Nick Farmer’s extra point attempt, though, and the score would be 21-6 with three minutes and 20 seconds left in the third quarter.
The Knights’ defense made yet another stand, holding the Gators to a three and out, and the offense looked primed to narrow the score even more after a 22-yard run to cross midfield. They’d be held there, though, and Deal would overthrow Scott on a deep ball on fourth down to give possession back to Ware County with eight minutes to go.
The Gators made the most of this opportunity and drove 58 yards. Taylor carried the ball the first four plays to take his team 50 yards, and freshman Mekhi Porter punched it in from the eight-yard-line to make it a 28-6 game with six minutes left.
After that, Deal found Scott for a 37-yard pass, but it wasn’t enough, and a turnover on downs with a little under three minutes left let the Gators run the rest of the time out.
Strickland was complimentary of the Knights after the game.
“Evans played their rear end off tonight,” he said. “Coach (Lee) Hutto and his staff did a phenomenal job creating a game plan that kept our offense off the field. I tip my hat to all of his squad. But thankfully we were able to make enough plays to get the win.”
The Gator coach’s greatest pride Friday night was in his offensive line.
“We’ve been in disarray in our offensive trenches, injuries causing us to play backups and move guys around and such,” he said through a smile. “Today we saw everyone gel, and our quarterback and backs just trusted them. They’ve gotten stronger as the year has gone on and now we’re seeing what they can do.”
The now 5-2 Gators will take next week off before facing a solid Jenkins Warriors team at home on Oct. 23. The 3-4 Evans Knights will take next week off as well and then look to get back to .500 against the 4-3 Statesboro Blue Devils at home on Oct. 23.
Cooper Brady is an Augusta University student. Augusta Good News is an award-winning member of the Georgia Press Association, receiving a second place General Excellence in 2025 and 2026 Sign up for our free weekly newsletter here.
