CLEVELAND — Even with the firepower of both offenses coming in, it was the White County defense that made the most noise Friday night.
The Warriors defense forced seven turnovers -- four in the first half that turned into 24 points -- scored twice itself, and held Lumpkin County scoreless over the final three quarters in sparking a stunning 66-14 win at White County Stadium.
It was supposed to be a showcase of new spread offenses in an annual battle of traditional run-oriented programs. And it was for the first five minutes as the two teams traded four touchdowns to forge a 14-14 tie.
But the Warriors defense forced three consecutive Lumpkin punts while the offense scored on four consecutive possessions in the first half. A Will Anglin 25-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown helped put the exclamation point on a 31-point second quarter as White County (2-0) scored 45 unanswered points for a 52-14 halftime lead.
The latest effort was coming off a shutout of Franklin County in the season-opener.
“Those guys played well,” White County coach Tim Cokely said of his defense. “They're buying what we’re selling as a coaching staff. They’ve worked really hard hard in the summer and in the fall.”
Despite the early offensive barrage, the Warriors defense forced a Lumpkin County fumble on the Indians’ first play of the game. It was a foreshadowing of what was to come.
The White County offense and freshman quarterback J. Ben Haynes took quick advantage scoring on their first official play after a holding penalty connecting with Kaleb Crane for a 29-yard touchdown pass for a 7-0 lead just 23 seconds in.
But Lumpkin (0-1) answered right back with a 5-play, 80-yard drive, capped by Chandler Woodham’s 27-yard touchdown run with 9:42 left to tie the game.
The Indians defense then forced a punt and Woodham needed just 1:18 to give them the lead finding Jonas Ramirez on a 30-yard strike and then a 20-yard touchdown pass for a 14-7 lead.
It was all White County after that.
The Warriors answered back on the very next play as Crane serpentined through the Lumpkin County defense for an 82-yard touchdown to tie the game at 14.
The White County defense then took over forcing a short Lumpkin punt and the Warriors offense needed just four plays, with Haynes connecting with Austin Rowland on a 14-yard touchdown pass to retake a 21-14 lead with 4:48 still left in the first quarter. Haynes was 3-for-3 for 51 yards on the drive.
The game settled down until midway through the second quarter when the Warriors defense, and Jay Lepkoske in particular, took control with three turnovers. Lepkoske recovered a fumble and snared an errant Woodham pass and both led to touchdowns -- one 4-yard Crane touchdown run, the other a 39-yard TD pass from Haynes to Ty Ulrich -- in a 2:14 span to blow the game open and Anglin’s fumble return gave them four scores in four minutes.
But they weren’t done as a bad punt snap with 6 seconds left in the half set up a 37-yard field goal by Brett Bardenwerper as time expired for a 52-14 halftime lead.
Even with a running clock to start the second half the Warriors struck quickly as Bailey Anderson took the first play of the third quarter 80 yards for a score and a minute later junior defensive lineman DeeJay Fleming scooped up another Lumpkin fumble and rumbled 25-yards for the final touchdown.
Crane finished with 101 yards on 6 carries and two touchdowns while Haynes was 10-of-18 for 197 yards and four TD passes for White County.
“Kaleb just had an excellent game and I thought we improved offensively from last week,” Cokely said. “The guys are really growing up and making progress.”
SCORING SUMMARY
Lumpkin Co.....14......0.....0.....0 -- 14
White Co...........21....31....14....0 -- 66
First Quarter
W -- Crane 29 pass from Haynes (Bardenwerper kick) 7-0, 11:37
L -- Woodham 27 run (Wells kick) 7-7, 9:42
L -- Ramirez 20 pass from Woodham (Wells kick) 14-7, 7:23
W -- Crane 82 run (Bardenwerper kick) 14-14, 7:04
W -- Rowland 14 pass from Haynes (Bardenwerper kick) 21-14, 4:48
Second Quarter
W -- Crane 4 run (Bardenwerper kick) 28-14, 6:10
W -- Ulrich 39 pass from Haynes (Bardenwerper kick) 35-14, 4:41
W -- VerSluis 46 pass from Haynes (Bardenwerper kick) 42-14, 3:05
W -- Anglin 25 fumble recovery (Bardenwerper kick) 49-14, 1:24
W -- Bardenwerper 37 FG 52-14, 0:00
Third Quarter
W -- Anderson 80 run (Bardenwerper kick) 59-14, 10:50
W -- Fleming 25 fumble recovery (Bardenwerper kick) 66-14, 9:04
