Standout senior Rob Brown and the Trion High School football team's running game continued to dominate Saturday night, when the Bulldogs beat visiting Social Circle 55-21 in the first round of the GHSA Class A public playoffs.
Brown, Georgia High School Football Daily's state player of the week after rushing for more than 400 yards two weeks ago, had four rushing touchdowns and one through the air for the Bulldogs (10-1). On Saturday, he totaled 443 yards on 45 carries.
Brown had a 35-yard touchdown run to start the scoring and made it 14-0 on the next Trion drive with a 41-yard catch on a pass from Kade Smith. Social Circle (6-5) twice cut the lead to seven on touchdown throws from Logan Cross to Mason Moore, but Brown had a 24-yard score and Smith hit Nathan Willingham on an 18-yard pass just before the half to make it 28-14.
Brown, who now has 39 total touchdowns this season, later scored on runs of 24 and 45 yards. Smith added a third touchdown pass to Brody Brown for the Bulldogs, who will travel to Region 4 champion Wilcox County (8-3) for in the second round next Friday.
Also in northwest Georgia, Ringgold (10-1) visits Thomson (10-0) in Class AAA, Northwest Whitfield (8-3) travels to Bainbridge (8-3) in Class AAAA and Calhoun (9-2) faces Ware County (9-1) in Waycross in Class AAAAA. Those teams won Friday night.
Washington-Wilkes 28, Gordon Lee 7: The Trojans (5-6) ended their season on the road as Washington-Wilkes' Jamarqueze Tyson rushed for 81 yards and had touchdown runs of 3 and 11 yards, with quarterback Dalen Cobb adding 136 yards passing and 96 more rushing with a touchdown.
Holt Roberts topped Gordon Lee's attack with 85 yards on the ground, including a 4-yard run in the second quarter that cut the deficit to 14-7. Washington-Wilkes improved to 9-2.
Wesleyan 21, Christian Heritage 14: In Class A private, the Lions (4-7) fell behind 21-0 before rallying for a pair of touchdowns against their Atlanta hosts. Jamie Tremble and Andrew Willis had touchdown runs and Jett Miller hit James Hufham with a 25-yard touchdown pass to give the Wolves (8-3) the big first-half lead.
Christian Heritage's rally started with a Solomon Locke touchdown run after he returned a kickoff 84 yards. Locke again put the Lions in good position in the third quarter with several strong runs before Eli Thomason cashed in on a 3-yard run to cut the lead to seven. The Lions reached the Wesleyan 33 with five minutes left before the drive was stopped on downs.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.