Grangers rumble past Fayette County on the road for important region win

Published 10:46 pm Friday, October 27, 2023

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Twice from the 1-yard line, LaGrange High School lined up with lineman Jycel Mosley in the backfield in a Wildcat formation.

And twice in a row, the Grangers committed a false start penalty. The second time, it resulted in a fourth and goal, all the way back around the 5-yard line.

Even from the 5, Head Coach Matt Napier kept the play call the same and Mosley showed some speed beating the Fayette County defense around right end for a touchdown that made everyone in Granger blue smile. The celebration was every bit what you’d expect after a “big man” touchdown.

Mosley’s run was the final touchdown of the night during LaGrange’s 49-13 victory over Fayette County High School.

Like the sequence that led to Mosley’s touchdown, the game wasn’t always pretty, but the Grangers (7-2) gritted through an up-and-down first half to pull away from the one-win Tigers.

Fayette County actually scored first on an 81-yard touchdown run, giving the Tigers a 6-0 lead.

LaGrange High scored the next three touchdowns to take a commanding lead.

Caydin Thomas opened the Grangers scoring with a 21-yard touchdown run.

The second score was a 69-yard pass by quarterback Mailk Kemp to Tayshon Lemon to make the score 14-6. Lemon almost could’ve walked the 30 yards to the end zone because he was so far behind the Tigers defense.

Jhamarion Johnson scored the next touchdown from 10 yards out, one of three on the night, to make it 21-6 Grangers with 1:06 left in the second quarter.

However, anyone that went to the concession stand thinking the half was over would’ve been really surprised when they got back to their seats.

Fayette County ran the ensuing kickoff back for a touchdown, breathing new life into the Tigers sideline, and pulling within 21-13 with just 54 seconds left in the second quarter.

LaGrange was undeterred.

The Grangers called a double pass from their own 20-yard line to begin the ensuing drive and Parker Shattuck hit a wide-open JJ Johnson for an 80-yard touchdown. All in all, the play capped a sequence of three touchdowns in less than 30 seconds of gameplay.

The second half was all Grangers.

Johnson scored on a 2-yard rush to start the scoring in the second half, making it 35-13. After Kayden Sutton recovered a fumbled option pitch by the Tigers at the 1-yard line, Johnson ran it in from 1-yard out to extend the lead to 42-13 with 2:21 left in the third quarter.

A 40-plus yard pass to Kalvin Snowberger in the fourth set up Mosley’s touchdown run.

The second and third string for the Grangers received extensive playing time in the fourth quarter with the game well out of reach.

LaGrange plays rival Troup High next week at Callaway Stadium in a game that will be very important for determining playoff seeding.