By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
PIEDMONT – Piedmont sophomore Cole Austin had a few moments during the 2024 football season where he showed he was the Bulldogs’ quarterback of the future.
The future is now for Austin.
Behind a dominant offensive line, Austin carried the ball 20 times for 144 yards. He also completed 11 of his 14 pass attempts for 93 yards with a touchdown and 2-point conversion before halftime, leading the Class 3A, No. 2 Bulldogs to a 24-8 victory over Highway 9 rival Cherokee County Friday night at the Field of Champions.
The win snapped the longtime series tie, with the Bulldogs (1-0) now in front in the series 40-39 with three ties.
“This game gave us a starting point, gave us some confidence,” Austin said. “I feel like some people needed this game. I personally needed this game. I wanted to see what I could do. I think if we carry this over to region play, we’ll have a really fine season.”
“Cole did what we expected. He’s a young guy, but we expect greatness out of him,” Piedmont head coach Jonathan Miller said. “We expect him to be who he is and he’s a good football player. He was very good tonight, but our offensive line, I can’t say enough about them. The two stars of the night were our offensive line unit and our defense.”
As Miller mentioned, Piedmont’s defense was stingy all game. The unit held the Class 4A, No. 2 Warriors (0-1) scoreless with a pair of turnovers – an interception and a fumble recovery that killed substantial Cherokee County drives.
A 50-yard touchdown run by Nick Mixson and an Austin 2-point conversion run put the Bulldogs in front 8-0 with 2:16 remaining in the first quarter.
Mixson finished the game with 73 yards on seven carries with a score.
With the Warriors driving inside the red zone early in the second quarter, an Adam Griffith pass was batted in the air picked off by junior linebacker Bentley Chandler at the 13-yard line.
From there, Piedmont’s offense marched 87 yards in 17 plays, resulting in Austin’s 11-yard touchdown toss to Jacksonville State commitment Rollie Pinto with 33.4 second remaining in the first half.
Pinto led Piedmont’s receivers with six catches for 81 yards and a touchdown.
Following the touchdown to Pinto, Austin then completed a 2-point conversion pass to Taylon Swain to give the Bulldogs a 16-0 lead at halftime.
“That was a big score right before the half,” Miller said. “I think when you have that cushion, and when you have two 2-point conversions, that’s big too. It’s a little different than being up 14-0.”
“That changed the whole thing, up two touchdowns and two 2-point conversions,” Austin said. “We just had to stay relaxed and hold on to the football, don’t give their offense much time, and I feel like we did a pretty good job with that.”
Piedmont’s defense continued to come up big in the second half. The unit turned the Warrior offense over on downs on their first drive of the second half and forced a Warrior punt on their second drive, helping preserve that 16-0 cushion heading into the fourth quarter.
The Bulldogs essentially put the game away on a 10-play, 56-yard drive early in the fourth quarter. Junior running back Jaxson Howard capped the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run, and Carson Sanders added another Bulldog 2-point conversion for a 24-0 lead with just under seven minutes left in the game.
Howard had 74 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries for the Bulldogs.
About the only drama left was if Piedmont could shut out the Warriors for the first time since 2021, but that was quickly dashed on the ensuing kickoff.
Quintavious Rogers dashed 62 yards for the score. Griffith connected with Keshawn Thomas on a 2-point pass to make it a 16-point game again with 6:52 remaining.
After a Pinto punt, the Warriors had one last chance to bring themselves closer, but the Bulldog defense put the exclamation point on the game with a Sanders sack of Griffith. Griffith lost the ball on the play, which was recovered by Bulldog linebacker Chase Kirkpatrick with 1:50 to go in the game.
Griffith led the Warriors by completing 7-of-14 pass attempts for 111 yards. Ben Moseley was his top target, with four catches for 76 yards.
Keyshawn Woods added 81 yards on the ground on 19 carries for the Warriors.
It was the second straight year Piedmont has defeated the Cherokee County in football. Last year, both teams went on deep playoff runs, with the Warriors earning their third straight trip to the Super 7.
Friday night’s loss leaves Warrior head coach Jacob Kelley wondering if this year’s team can do that again.
“We’ll see how they handle it,” a frustrated Kelley said. “Last year’s bunch handled it well. We’ll see if this bunch wants to do the same.
“I didn’t like where we were at halftime. I didn’t like the look in their eyes. I don’t know what they were thinking to be honest. It’s frustrating because we know what they are capable of. We just couldn’t finish. We had too many inconsistencies. We’ve got to fix us.”
Cherokee County hosts Class 5A Arab on Friday. Piedmont opens region play at home against Saks.
