Traveling Turner Rebels take on Miller County
Published 1:00 pm Friday, November 9, 2018
TIFTON — Turner County head coach Leroy Hood has been giving his football players reminders for the state playoffs.
“I told the kids everybody’s 0-0,” he said. “We’re in the playoffs. That’s something to say — you’re one of the last 24 teams.”
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The Rebels, who travel to Miller County tonight for a first round game, qualified with ease to state as the 17th-ranked team in the Georgia High School Association Class A (public) power ratings. Turner fell one shot short of earning a first round home game; Miller, No. 16, had a power rating of 11.15 to Turner’s 10.97. Still, said Hood, they made it.
Miller County is one of the most heralded teams in the state to have not won a championship. The Pirates have 11 region titles under their belts, but have only twice made it as far as the semifinals, those coming in 1999 and 1978. The 1999 team in particular was a memorable one, starring running back Don Calloway. He merited Player of the Year picks by both the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Associated Press.
This year’s Miller squad isn’t as vaunted, but do operate similarly.
“They like to run the ball,” said Hood.
That is very evident based on stats Miller has entered into MaxPreps. They are credited with 2,081 rushing yards, but just 263 through the air. Only once this season have they attempted as many as 10 passes in a game. Their leading receiver has caught four passes.
Turner will be keying in on that. Hood has his eye especially on a pair of backs, Chris Stovall and Janorris Byrd. Stovall has slightly more yardage, 859 to 745, but nearly double the touchdowns, 13 to 7.
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Stovall, Hood said, was “the best player of the team.” Like most Class A schools, his excellence is not just on one side of the ball. He is credited with 11 tackles for losses. Byrd, too, is a defensive specialist, leading the team with seven interceptions, one going for a touchdown.
Miller is 6-3 for the season. Hurricane Michael forced the cancelation of a game against Sneads, Fla. The hurricane almost cost the county more than that. Students were out of school from Oct. 10 until Oct. 29. In that span, the Pirates won two games, one against Stewart County and another against Calhoun County. They will enter with a four-game victory streak. David Bell is in his first year as a head coach. He replaced a name familiar to many south Georgians, Brent Miller. Miller coached all across the state and had stints at Lanier County and Berrien.
Turner fell in its final game of the regular season, a 48-14 decision against No. 1 and undefeated Irwin County.
Despite the score, Hood saw some good things from the Rebels, particularly from quarterback Demarcus Barnes. Barnes threw for 136 yards and a touchdown (to Keonvay Clark) and was the leading rusher at 29 yards.
“He’s a competitor,” said Hood. “He had a pretty good night.” Though Turner did not score, Barnes did throw a big 41-yard pass to Aletan McKinney, he said.
Tae Martin had Turner’s other touchdown, a 10-yard run.
Years ago, Turner and Miller were once fairly regular opponents. They played from 1960-75 when they were in the same region (1-B and later 1-A), again from 1996-99 and for two final years in 2004-05. Turner has an 11-9-2 record in these contests with two straight wins.
If the Rebels get the win tonight, they will face none other than Irwin County in the second round. The Indians are ranked No. 1 by the GHSA among all Class A public schools.