Early County's Taylor Wimberly celebrates after getting a sack Friday night.

THOMASVILLE — Last year’s edition of the Florida-Georgia War of the Border Game in Moultrie featured a late come-from-behind win from Georgia’s team. 

In Thomasville High School’s first time hosting the event, the Peach State kept the late-game heroics coming.

After losing the lead early in the second half on a costly turnover, Georgia engineered a drive in the game’s final 2 minutes, with Worth County’s Horace Everson scoring the go-ahead touchdown with 37 seconds remaining, lifting Georgia to a 20-14 win over Florida at Veterans Memorial Stadium on Friday night.

The game was a fitting end to the high school football careers of all the players, and Thomasville head coach Zach Grage was grateful for the chance to lead the squad representing southwest Georgia. 

“I talked to the kids before the game and said, ‘This is definitely, without a doubt, the last time you’ll put on high school pads, period,’” he said. “To have an opportunity to have a part of that with these kids was awesome. I’m excited to see where they may go from here.”

Up 10-7 at halftime, Georgia was on top in what was a defensive battle from the start. After recovering an onside kick to begin the third quarter and driving to Florida’s 4-yard line, things were looking up for the home team.

The tides quickly changed when Zoron Wade of Florida’s Jefferson County High School recovered a fumbled snap and sprinted all the way to a 96-yard return, giving his team a lead for the first time at 14-10 with 12:45 left in the third.

Bad snaps were an issue for both teams throughout the night, and it contributed to both offenses sputtering throughout the rest of the third, as Georgia entered the fourth quarter down by the same score. 

Georgia put together another solid drive early in the final period, but it stalled, leading to a 27-yard field goal from Colquitt County’s Isaac Malagon to cut Florida’s lead to 14-13 with 12:11 left in the game. That set the stage for the game’s final drive, which began near midfield. 

Cairo’s John Michael Owens led Georgia’s offense down the field as the clock began to tick below 2 minutes, and set his team up for at least a game-winning field goal with a 38-yard pass to Colquitt’s Ty Powell. On the next play, Everson ran into the end zone from the 6, securing the victory for Georgia with less than a minute left.

“I was telling our coaches, ‘Just run the ball,’” Grage said. “‘If we happen to score, great. If not, we’re gonna kick a field goal to win it.’ Malagon was a little down because he missed a kick before half, but you always get another opportunity.” 

The first few drives of the game were dominated by defense, as neither team was able to put together a solid drive in the opening quarter. Thomasville’s Willie Bradshaw and Thomas County Central’s Reid Ansley contributed to the defensive nature of the game, with Bradshaw getting a big hit in and Ansley coming up with half a sack as part of a 1.5 sack, three tackle performance.  

Cairo’s Austin Shattles executed a successful fake punt pass to Powell for a first down late in the frame, but the drive slowed once again.

Early in the second, Georgia struck first when Lee County’s Giavonte Daniels ran into the end zone from 35 yards out on a sweep around the left end for a 7-0 lead. Soon after, an interception from Miller County’s JJ George gave Georgia great field position, which Malagon used to extend the lead to 10-0 with a 42-yard field goal with 13:23 left until halftime.

Florida answered with a 4-yard touchdown pass from Lincoln quarterback Chris Brimm to high school teammate Malik Garye to narrow the Georgia lead to three headed into the second half.

Owens finished his night 18-of-34 for 210 yards passing. Some of his favorite targets were Thomasville’s Tori Sapp and his Cairo teammate Shattles, who collected 31 and 30 yards receiving, respectively.

Grage got to know a lot of players he’d never met before this week. For them, the game was a nice sendoff, but the event may have certainly helped some of them as they reach the next level.

“I think there’s a lot of kids that learned from the coaches,” Grage said. “It’s fun to see the kids compete with all the different kids from different regions. Just a great time.”