Trojans win as Wall’s house call helps end comeback attempt

Published 11:31 pm Thursday, August 22, 2024

MARTINEZ – The John Milledge football team had a fight on its hands for the second week in a row Thursday. This time the Trojans (1-1) prevailed as they defeated now 0-2 Augusta Christian on the road 39-19.

JMA was holding on to a two-score 32-19 lead midway through the fourth quarter. The host Lions had the football looking to shrink the margin, but they never did thanks to a clutch play made by freshman linebacker Asa Wall, son of head coach JT Wall. On the big play the younger Wall was lined up on a slot receiver pre-snap, and all the while the head coach/father was “yelling at him to get back inside.” Turned out, the son was in the right position after all as he undercut the receiver’s short route, picked the football off, and returned it some 35 yards for a touchdown that with the extra point put his team up 20.

“He made a big play,” coach Wall said, a smile evident even through a phone interview. “I was proud of him.”

Wall’s oldest son may be seeing his first action at the varsity level this year, but he already looks the part of a multi-year starter as he’s listed at 6-1, 200 pounds on the team roster. And it’s not just size either. The freshman Wall was third in the program’s Trojan Iron Man this preseason. The competition scores players across several weightlifting and running events, and to place third as a freshman is pretty rare. The player’s on-field performance seems to be trending in a good direction as well. He had a couple of catches for first downs offensively in the season opener followed by Thursday’s late pick-six to add on to the Trojans’ advantage.

For awhile Thursday, it looked as though a defensive score was going to be necessary to put any points on the board. The first half was a punt fest until the final minutes before halftime. The senior duo of QB Kolt McMichael and TE/WR David Todd had the first of what they hope to be many scoring connections this season as they hooked up inside the red zone for the night’s initial points. A missed PAT made it 6-0 Trojans.

Apparently that’s what was needed to break the dam open. Despite facing third and long, Augusta Christian matched on a screen pass that covered 80 yards. The Lions’ PAT was bad too, so the score sat at 6-6 with about three minutes left in the half.

JMA got the football again looking to go back up, but it was ruled that McMichael fumbled when going for a first down on a QB sneak. The ball was returned to the visitors quickly though, thanks to an interception and return to the AC 25 by Todd at linebacker. The Lions were flagged for a personal foul on the play, one of multiple they had on the night, so John Milledge was set up at the 10. A few plays later McMichael snuck across the goal line with 29 seconds to go before the break, making it 13-6 Trojans.

Augusta Christian fumbled away its first possession of the second half, setting John Milledge up nicely at around the Lion 6. The Trojan QB scored on that chance and again before the third quarter was up to put his team up comfortably at 25-6 heading into the final period.

The two teams traded scores early in the fourth to bring the score to 32-13 with just over nine minutes to play. Asa Wall’s pick-six was the icing on the cake for this group of Trojans that looks as though is going to have scratch, claw, and fight a lot more than their predecessors in recent years.

“We still started a little slow offensively,” coach Wall said. “Defensively we played well all game, we just gave up three big plays that gave them 19 points. All in all, I thought the guys played hard. We were definitely better this week than we were last week. We corrected some things, but there are others we’re still trying to correct.”

John Milledge football will see just how much it can correct between Thursday’s win and the next challenge at Tiftarea Academy Aug. 30.