Friday Night High School Football Roundup: N0. 3 Roswell survives furious Milton rally, defeats No. 5 Eagles, 41-39, Behind Trey Smith's four touchdowns and Vorosmarty’s 48-yard go-ahead field goal to clinch region title

The third-ranked Hornets hosted fellow Class 5A powerhouse Milton in a showdown with the Region 7-AAAAA title at stake in the Drive for the GHSA State Title series and secured a 41-39 back-and-forth win. Four touchdown runs by senior quarterback Trey Smith and ago-ahead field goal from 48 yards by senior kicker Balint Vorosmarty proved deciding factors in the victory.

Roswell led early and often, but the Eagles repeatedly closed the gap, getting a 75-yard touchdown run from Bentley Hickman — his second from 60+ yards out of the night — to cut it to 21-13 late in the second, then back-to-back scores on an Ayden Williams reception and Keelan Wonsley’s scoop-and-score for a 28-27 tally at the end of the third.

Nick Peal found the end zone to reclaim momentum for Roswell moments later, however, and Nicholas Daniels’ pass breakup led to a failed faked punt on the ensuing Milton drive. From there, Roswell converted on 4th-and-1 to set up a field goal, giving the Hornets a 38-28 edge. Hickman added a third touchdown with 3:31 on the clock, but Josh Emerson tackled him short of the goal line to keep it a five-point game. Lawson Estes then successfully recovered an onside kick for Milton to set up an Aedyn Meintzer touchdown reception for the first Eagles lead of the night at 39-38.

Dre Cousey returned the resulting kickoff past midfield with 1:54 remaining, and Vorosmarty sent the go-ahead field goal bouncing off the upright, then through. The win marks Roswell’s third region title in four seasons, and the first under new head coach Jonathan Thompson.

“You’re going to make me emotional because of how much these kids mean to us,” said Coach Thompson when asked what the win meant to him. “How much these kids mean to our family, how much these kids mean to our community, and everything they’ve done these last nine months. It shows tonight, and that’s why you do it.”

Had Milton come away with the win, the Region Title would have gone to Gainesville. Milton now falls to the three-seed at 7-3 overall and 4-2 in region play. Roswell improves to 9-1, with its only loss of the season coming at the hands of Class 6A’s Buford in Week 4.

“When you get a chance to play this long, you’ve gotta find a way each week to get better at something, because it becomes monotonous,” said Coach Thompson of his message to his team over the next two weeks. “You’ve gotta find things to get better at each and every day as a staff and as a program.”

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See the class-by-class recaps below

Class 6A: Sophomore quarterback Cohen Lawson hit Antwan Lockett for a 27-yard touchdown and a two-score lead over Richmond Hill early in the fourth, and No. 8 Colquitt County held on for a 28-21 win to clinch a fourth straight region title. … Cam Woods had four touchdowns and Rontre Welch returned a 99-yard kick for another in the Trojans’ matchup with Douglas County, securing No. 3 Carrollton’s fourth straight region title with the 55-22 victory. … Top-ranked Grayson secured a perfect regular season and the Region 4 title with an emphatic 37-12 win over host Archer. … North Paulding’s 28-24 victory over Marietta forced a three-way tiebreaker in Region 5 between the two schools and North Cobb, with North Cobb coming out on top of the standings. … No. 2 Buford trailed visiting Mill Creek early before closing with 35 straight points to secure the Region 8 title.

Class 5A: Houston County quarterback Ryan Maxwell threw a pair of touchdown passed to MJ Mathis to go with rushing scores by Colin Anderson, Westen Ard and Austin Stinson in the eighth-ranked Bears’ 34-28 win over No. 6 Lee County. … Host Creekview cut No. 9 Sequoyah’s lead to a field goal heading into the final frame, but the Chiefs closed out the night with back-to-back scores for a 31-14 final and their first region title since 2003. … Jackson County won its region for the first time in its 45-year history with a 53-6 rout of Habersham Central. Daylan Maxwell had a trio of touchdown runs for the Panthers, who also got a scoop-and-score from Bryce Garrison, a touchdown pass from RJ Knapp to Landon Jones, Kaleb Culver’s blocked punt returned for a touchdown, a rushing score from Jason Lee and a field goal from Chris Burrows.

Class 4A: The No. 9 Cambridge Bears came back from down 28-20 to force overtime against No. 8 Blessed Trinity, then blocked the Titans’ field goal and completed one of their own for a 31-28 victory. … No. 6 Marist, which clinched the Region 5 title prior to Friday’s game, defeated Tucker by a margin of 35-14 to improve to 9-1 on the year and 7-0 in region play. The War Eagles’ lone loss of the season came against Class 3A powerhouse Jefferson.

Class 3A: Top-ranked Sandy Creek comfortably defeated No. 4 Troup County, 42-17, to finish its regular season a perfect 10-0 and secure the Region 2 title. Amari Latimer had five rushing touchdowns and one receiving for the Patriots. The loss drops Troup to 9-1 and the two-seed in the region. … Mason Hester found the end zone for Lumpkin County in the fourth to reclaim the lead after back-to-back-to-back scores put Pickens ahead, then completed the two-point pass to Martin Hulsey to seal the 29-22 victory.

Class 2A: No. 3 Morgan County finished the regular season a perfect 10-0 with a big 43-22 win over Callaway for the Region 2 title. Christian Monfort scored three times for the Bulldogs, which also got a pair of touchdown passes from Davis Strickland to Ty Tillery and another to Cole Wesley. … Appling County extended its win streak to six games with a 31-14 road win over Pierce County, securing a fourth-straight region title in the process. … No. 4 Rockmart clinched its ninth-straight region title with a 42-7 win over No. 8 North Murray.

Class A Div I: Dodge County nearly upset No. 9 Dublin, holding a 13-7 lead late in the third and a 16-14 edge in the fourth before Jamarcus Knight’s 7-yard touchdown run secured the 22-16 win. … Savannah Christian led No. 2 Toombs County 10-0 after the opening frame before the Bulldogs seized control with a 31-0 run en route to a 52-24victory. That scoring outburst included Joseph Owens touchdown passes to Justice Wilds and Gavin Fletcher, a pair of Justin Powell touchdown runs, and an Alex Otero field goal.

Class A Div II: Demarko Ward’s rushing touchdown and Luke Hynds’ PAT gave Screven County a 22-21 edge over host Emanuel County Institute late in the final frame, and an interception on the following Bulldogs drive secured the Gamecocks victory, and the Region 3 title. … No. 2 Clinch County is now 28-0 all-time against Lanier County, which it defeated by a margin of 48-0 Friday night to secure a 10-0 regular-season record for the first time since 2010 and set up a home playoff game against Chattahoochee County in two weeks.

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