Football - OC v GMC

Football – The Oglethorpe County Patriots hosted Georgia Military Friday night in a preseason scrimmage.  By the end of the night the Bulldogs went home with a 36-14 win and gave head coach Larry Milligan and his staff a laundry list of work for next week’s practice.

The Bulldogs (7-3 last year) opened the game with a big run down the sidelines on their first play from scrimmage starting at their own 30 yard line.  They scored on their second play and thirty seconds was off the first quarter clock. 

In this scrimmage kickoffs and punts were not covered or returned.  Touch backs and scores would bring the ball out to the thirty yard line to start play.  Also, the third quarter would be given over to the second teams to not only give them playing time but also rest the first string players.

OC scores.

OC started their first attempt at offense on their own 30 after GMC’s kickoff.  OC basically marched the ball down the field on a variety of plays and matched GMC’s seven points on a nice 25 yard run by quarterback Kendrick Presley.  Griffin Giles booted the extra point to even the score. 

Following OC’s kickoff the Bulldogs first play from scrimmage was a run to the outside for a 70 yard touchdown.  Following the extra point GMC was ahead 14-7.



Anthony Thornton gaining yards; Matt Beyatt blocking.

The first play from scrimmage for the Patriots saw Anthony Thornton, a sophomore, run for 43 yards to the GMC 27 yard line.  It would take several more plays but OC would score on a pass from Presley to receiver John Mathews.  The point after was good and the quarter would end with OC and GMC tied at 14 each.

The second quarter saw GMC really take command of the game by scoring 22 unanswered points.

The third quarter had both team’s younger players on the field for playing time.  There were some bright spots for OC in the form of Thornton, quarterback Tyler Hooper and Cody Smith and Taylor Liedberg. 

Both team’s first strings came back on the field for the final quarter, and to OC’s credit, they didn’t allow GMC into the end zone. 

The fact that OC was defeated handily might on the surface be depressing.  However, this was a scrimmage designed to test strengths and weaknesses.  It did reveal that the Patriots need to work on tackling and containing the outside runs.  The real test will come in two weeks when OC travels to Johnson of Gainesville for their season opener. 

You can see the pictures here:  http://hdgp.photoreflect.com/store/thumbpage.aspx?e=8642651