Staff report
THOMASVILLE — The defending GISA Class AAA champs played like it at Brookwood Friday night.
Tony Zenon lived up to the hype and so did the Knights in a 45-0 rout of Region 3 rival Brookwood in the regular season finale for both teams.
Brookwood finished the 2-8 overall and 0-3 in region play and will travel to Pinecrest next week for the first round of the playoffs.
“(Deerfield) is a fine football team,” Brookwood coach Robert East said. “They executed very well. We had a very difficult time containing their running backs, not just (Tony) Zenon. They had a nice stable.
“I’ll go on the record and say the stable Deerfield’s got, especially Tony Zenon, are among the best in the state, no doubt.”
Zenon, the state’s leading rusher, carried just six times for 170 yards and three touchdowns. He highlighted a first half that saw Deerfield tally 38 points. The big deficit created a running clock the entire second half.
“They came out of the locker room fired up and ready to play,” East added. “We made mistakes, and when you’re playing a team that is as good as Deerfield, you can’t afford to make mistakes. Our mistakes were small mistakes, but they were costly.
“When I say small mistakes, I’m referring to, we’d be on the verge of a six- or seven-yard gain and we’d miss a block and get two.”
It was the eighth straight victory for the Knights, who had already sewn up the region championship following last week’s 27-7 win against Westfield. The Knights outscored their three region opponents 112-14. According to East, Deerfield definitely has the components to make a run at back-to-back state titles.
“If they can keep moving forward like they are right now, definitely,” East said. “They have progressed since the beginning of the season very well. They seemed primed to make a run for it.”
The loss for Brookwood was its third straight after a three-game stretch in which it notched its two wins. The Warriors will open the playoffs in Cumming against the Pinecrest Paladins. Entering Friday night’s game against Holy Spirit Prep, Pinecrest had won eight straight after a season-opening loss.
“It’s a school that we’re familiar with because we played them in the playoffs in soccer many times in boys and girls. It’s not a football program we’re familiar with, (though),” East noted. “We’re going to do what we’ve done all year. We’re going to go back to the practice field on Monday. We’re going to try to get better at winning battles and get better at doing the little things that we’re supposed to do on each and every play and move forward.”
The Paladins have not allowed more than 14 points in a game this year. That’s a concern for the Warriors, who have been shut out in their last two games.
“They have some high-caliber athletes. They’re a good group,” East said. “They like to throw the ball a lot. They run some spread.
“They are extremely good on defense. They’re very big individually. There are some large athletes out there. They’re a good football team.”
