West defeats East in War of the Border

Shane Thomas, The Valdosta Daily Times, Ga.
·2 min read

Dec. 19—VALDOSTA — For one night, high school football returned to Bazemore-Hyder Stadium as East met West in the annual War of the Border All-Star game Friday night.

However, despite the East having the home field advantage, the West dominated en route to a 26-7 victory.

Though the Brooks County's Saveon Cason came up with an interception on the 4-yard line with 9:07 left in the game, the East couldn't capitalize as the ball was snapped out of the back of the end zone on second-and-11 from the 3-yard line.

Cason picked off another pass with 3:11 left in the game ,but it was too late for the East to make any impact on the scoreboard.

A pick-six by Brookwood's Destin Moore opened the scoring with 10:59 left in the first quarter. After a fumble by the East, Bainbridge quarterback Bo Smith broke in on a short touchdown run to push the lead to 14-0 for the West.

After the East punted the ball away, the West marched down the field before getting held up inside the 10 on third down. Despite not getting into the end zone, the West still came through with points as Cairo's Landon Vickers banged in a 20-yard field goal to make it 170 West with 4:34 left in the first half.

The East made impressive plays to find the end zone as Georgia Christian's Seth Copeland caught a long pass and made it down to the 1-yard line before Coffee's Antwain McDuffie powered into the end zone to score to cut the West lead to 17-7 with 1:38 to go before the half.

The final score on the night may have been the most impressive as Taylor County's DraQuez Woodard busted through the East defense to roll 54 yards to the house to put the West up 24-7 with 11:46 left in the game.

WEST AWARDS

Offensive MVP: Bo Smith (Bainbridge)

Defensive MVP: Destin Moore (Brookwood)

ZJ Lewis Heart of the Champion Award: Parker Weaver (Worth County)

EAST AWARDS

Offensive MVP: Antwain McDuffie (Coffee)

Defensive MVP: Saveon Cason (Brooks County)

ZJ Lewis Heart of the Champion Award: Jayden Battle (Lowndes)

Shane Thomas is the sports editor at the Valdosta Daily Times.