Chris Whitaker
The Americus Times-Recorder
LAGRANGE —
Kedrick Jones returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown, and he intercepted a pass in the end zone, but that wasn’t enough Thursday night.
Americus-Sumter fell in another hole thanks to turnovers, and Troup held on for a 17-14 win Thursday night at Callaway Stadium.
A Panther fumble led to Troup’s first touchdown. The Tigers’ Quan Bray fumbled into the end zone when lineman Maurice Swain scooped it up for the touchdown.
Then with 8:08 left in the half Lemonta Truitt intercepted Thomas Haugabook’s pass and raced in 20 yards for a 14-0 lead. The Tigers also stuffed the Panthers on a fourth-and-one from the 2 late in the half.
Americus-Sumter finally cracked the scoreboard in the third quarter when it drove the field, and Haugabook scored on a 29-yard run. A bad snap on the extra point left the score 14-6.
Troup’s Jordan Vann tacked on the decisive field goal from 21 yards out for a 17-6 lead, but Jones wasn’t going to let the Panthers go down without a fight.
Jones returned the ensuing kickoff for the touchdown, and the Panthers converted the conversion to cut the lead to three.
Penalties against the Panthers down the stretch helped Troup run the clock before the Panthers got the ball back with no timeouts and less than 40 seconds remaining in the game. Their last-ditch effort came up empty.
Troup improved to 2-1 while Americus-Sumter fell to 1-2.
The Panthers are back at home this week to host Houston County, which beat Crisp County 37-12.
