HAMILTON — In the last game of the regular season, the offensive struggles for the Thomas County Central Yellow Jackets continued as the Harris County Tigers took a 14-10 victory.

“We just aren’t very good on offense right now,” head coach Bill Shaver said after the game. “We just don’t seem to be able to make a play when we need one, or we line up wrong, or go in the wrong direction, or something of the sort. The defense played pretty well and gave us several chances to win the game, but the offense just couldn’t do anything with the opportunities they created.”

The Yellow Jackets threw three passes in the first quarter of the contest. One was a five-yard completion to senior Tay Cooksey, who returned to the field after suffering a broken leg in the Thomasville game. However, the other two were intercepted by the Tigers, with one of those leading to an early Harris touchdown.

On another first half possession, Central punter Dominic Scott snagged a high snap on fourth down deep on the Yellow Jacket end of the field and unsuccessfully attempted to outrun the Harris defense, who swarmed the ball and tackled Scott. Six plays later Harris used a trick play to perfection, using a double-reverse pass back to the quarterback from 36-yards out to take a 14-0 lead.

Central would put together an impressive drive to end the first half, with the Yellow Jackets moving down to the Harris County 11-yard line with 12 seconds remaining on the clock. On first down, freshman quarterback Kalique Guyton threw a tackle-eligible pass to senior lineman Trae Johnson, who caught the ball on the Tiger 7-yard line and lumbered into the left corner of the end zone for a touchdown.

As Central lined up for the extra point, the Harris County coaching staff protested the play with the officials, who decided to reverse the call and flag the Yellow Jackets for an ineligible receiver downfield.

“It was the right call,” Shaver stated. “The pass has to be thrown behind the line of scrimmage and we didn’t do that. We practiced it that way, but we just didn’t execute.”

With the points taken off the board, Central completed another pass, but the Yellow Jacket receiver was tackled at the Tiger six yard line as time expired. Harris went into the locker room with a 14-0 lead at the half.

The second half started well for Central. Harris received the second half kickoff, and on the first play from scrimmage the Yellow Jackets forced a Tiger fumble at their 20-yard line. Five plays later, junior running back Darian Daniels went in from two-yards out for a Yellow Jacket touchdown. With Huntley Rodgers PAT, the Harris lead was cut to 14-7.

After forcing Harris to punt on their next possession, Central put together an impressive 13-play drive that ate almost the entirety of the third quarter clock. However, the Yellow Jackets drive fizzled out and Central turned the ball over on down.

The Central defense created another fumble from Harris on first down of their next series, recovering the ball at the Harris 24-yard line. Four plays later, Rodgers 22-yard field goal cut the Harris lead to 14-10.

The next Tiger possession was again stopped by Central, as linebacker Amari Pettis stepped in front of a Harris pass near midfield and intercepted the ball. The Yellow Jacket offense bogged down, and four plays later were forced to punt.

Central would get the ball back again after the defense forced the Tigers to punt down to the Yellow Jacket 7-yard line. The Yellow Jacket offense would move the ball out to their 44-yard line before trying a trick play of their own on a double-reverse pass. Dominic Scott’s long pass attempt was intercepted by Harris, and the Tigers would run out the clock.

“We just don’t have a playmaker on the offensive side of the ball,” Shaver added. “The defense created three turnovers and we had several chances to win, but we just couldn’t make a play when we needed one. We tried to get the ball into Cooksey’s hands, but he’s out here trying to play at maybe 50 percent or so. It’s just really, really frustrating.”

Central would finish the game with just 203 total yards for the game.

With the loss, the Yellow Jackets finish the regular season with a 3-7 record, and will be on the road at Region 2-5A champion Wayne County next week for the opening round of the state playoffs. Central and Wayne met in the preseason scrimmage game, won by Wayne 47-21.