Sports Writer

There are two halves in a football game, but Friday night, the Upson-Lee Knights needed just one to knockout the Harris Co. Tigers.

Upson-Lee put together it's best game of the season in one of the most crucial games to date, as they exploded for 35 first-half points against the Tigers in Hamilton and cruised to a 35-0 romp over the Tigers.

The opening kickoff was Harris Co.'s only momentum of the game. After kicking the ball two yards deep in the Knights' endzone and forcing the Knights' to go 80-yards on their opening drive, Harris Co. was out of the game.

Upson-Lee moved 80 yards in just three plays, as sophomore quarterback Fred Bussey sprinted 64 yards on the first play of the game. Two plays later Cameron Searcy scored the Knights' first touchdown of the game on a 13-yard run with 10:40 left in the first half. On the scoring play, Bussey was knocked out of the game with a mild concussion and would miss the remainder of the game.

"The opening drive was big because it made a statement," Upson-Lee head coach Mike Majors said. "Fred made a great play on the first play of the game. That was just our midline, and Fred did a good job of reading the defense and after that he did a good job of breaking a couple of tackles and getting into the open field."

But even the absence of the starting quarterback couldn't get the Knights' down, as freshman Demarcus Snipes came in and took over the signal calling duties.

Snipes led the Knights' on three first-half touchdowns in his biggest game of the season, the first coming on the Knights' second possession of the game.

Antroun McDaniel capped off the Knights' second drive with his first touchdown of the game on a 10-yard run with 6:34 left in the first quarter. Jack Sisterson made his second of five extra points to give Upson-Lee the 14-0 lead.

McDaniel scored his second touchdown of the game on the Knights' ensuing drive, this time on a one-yard plunge with 43 seconds left in the first quarter, as the Knights jumped out to a quick and commanding 21-0 lead.

After a costly illegal participation penalty on Harris Co. that gave the Knights' a first down after they were forced to punt, Snipes made the Tigers pay, as he scored the Knights' final offensive touchdown of the game as he walked in the endzone untouched on a 15-yard bootleg.

After watching the offense rack up 28 first-half points, the Knights' defense got in on the scoring explosion late in the second quarter when senior linebacker Derrick Dickey returned an interception 34 yards for a touchdown with 44 seconds left in the first half.

Dickey's interception return for a touchdown was the perfect exclamation on the first half, as the Knights' defense stepped up all night and stopped Harris Co.'s speedy running backs on the toss sweep that gave them so much trouble earlier in the season at Hardaway. The Knights' also played its best defensive game of the season without starting middle linebacker Nigel Atwater, who was injured early in the game with a hip-pointer.

"That was a great defensive effort," Coach Majors said. "We got after them all night and we played with a little meanness that we haven't had all season. We made a few personnel changes on the defensive line by moving some of our offensive lineman over for size and I think that made a big difference. Our defensive staff did an excellent job this week of getting them ready to play. That interception was just what we needed. Derrick probably had his best game and it paid off. He did a great job all night of stepping up and stopping the run and then he had the interception. I think that play is the one that broke their back."

The Knights' offense was held scoreless in the second half, as Harris Co. tried to claw its way back into the game, but a stingy Upson-Lee defense, which had been the talk of some of the Harris Co. coaches on the days leading up to the game, stepped up and held the Tigers scoreless for the Knights' second shutout in the head coach Mike Majors era.

"This is about as well as we have played on both sides of the ball this year for sure," Coach Majors said. "This was a great team win. It was a big win for us."

The 35-first half points might be the storyline of Friday night's win, but the presence of Snipes and his performance off the bench in a crucial region game might have been even bigger. Snipes, who has seen limited time throughout the season was forced into the game on the Knights' fourth offensive play, the first of the second drive, and never made a major mistake. He committed no fumbles and threw no interceptions.

"That's about as big of a performance as I've ever seen," Coach Majors said. "I am extremely proud of Demarcus and the way he played Friday night. He didn't get many reps in during practice this week because we had a whole nother game plan with Fred, but Demarcus did a great job of getting in there without many reps and getting the job done."

The Knights' offense had one of its best games of the season, but again the special teams' play of freshman return man Terrell Terry gave Upson-Lee great field position all night. Terry had 118 return yards on three punt returns, not including a touchdown return that was called back because of unsportsman-like conduct during the return.

"Terrell is a weapon," Coach Majors said. "I've never seen a freshman that has that much talent. He can give us a spark any time he touches the ball, and that's what he did Friday night. Our blockers also did a great job of setting the wall and giving him room to run."

McDaniel led the Knights' offensive production with 95 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 21 carries, while Bussey followed with 67 yards on two carries. Searcy also chalked up 61 yards rushing on eight carries and freshman Jesse Garmon picked up 31 yards on eight carries.

"The running backs did a good job all night of hitting the holes hard and holding on to the football," Coach Majors said. "But this was a great team win. Everybody did a great job of stepping up when Fred and Nigel went out of the game. What you have to remember is that those two players went out of the game early, so we played almost the entire game without two of our most important players. That says a lot about the character of this team. I'm proud of everybody for stepping up and playing a great game."

The win was much more than a win for the Knights for two reasons.

The win gives coach Majors a 26-14 record as head coach of the Knights, making him Upson-Lee's all-time winningest coach.

Along with the record, the win keeps coach Majors' team very much alive in the playoff picture with just two regular season games remaining. The Knights are off this Friday night and will return to action Nov. 8 when they host Kendrick for senior night and then will travel to LaGrange to face the Troup Co. Tigers for a Saturday night finale that could decide the fourth and final playoff spot from the region.

"Right now I don't know a whole lot about Kendrick," Coach Majors said. "They usually have more talent than us, but that's about all I know. They are very athletic. We are in a good position. We control our own destiny and that's exactly what you want at the end of the season."