Trojans unseat Knights

Published 11:33 pm Friday, October 19, 2018

BETHLEHEM, Ga. — This season marks the third straight time the John Milledge Academy football program has begun a season 8-0, but something had been missing in 2018.

The Trojan defense pitched its first shutout of the year in the team’s 49-0 romp past Bethlehem Christian Academy on the road Friday and moved to 1-0 in region play in the process.

“The defense played well, the offense played great, and we came out and got a much-needed region win,” JMA head coach J.T. Wall said of his team’s performance Friday night.

The John Milledge defense set the tone right out the gate when linebacker Justin Aldridge hauled in an interception on the very first play from scrimmage. The Trojans entered knowing they were facing a pass-heavy offense, and put up huge numbers in two categories important categories when facing such a team. The defense sacked Bethlehem’s quarterback 10 times throughout the night and tallied five interceptions.

Offensively, JMA punted and turned the ball over just one time each and capitalized on the scoring opportunities they were given. 

Friday’s shutout also puts the Trojans way ahead of the competition should a tiebreaker situation come into play at the end of the regular season.

“You’ve got to think about tiebreaker stuff too,” Wall added. “We knew that the region tiebreaker was points allowed in the first half, so one of our main goals was to not allow a point in the first half.”

John Milledge has only one other region foe this year in Augusta Prep, but before that the Trojans will travel to St. Simons Island next weekend to face one of the top GISA teams in Frederica Academy.