St. James scored a touchdown on its first offensive drive in its third consecutive game, and on their second and third drives as well, and Graham Sutter tied the school record again with a 51 yard field goal as the Trojans celebrated a Happy Homecoming with a 31 - 12 victory over the Bullock County Hornets, keeping their playoff hopes alive.

The Trojans moved down the field, 67 yards worth, to open the game.  Clinton Freeman and Matt Dean shared a majority of the carries.  Will Martin completed two passes to Freeman for 11 and 14 yards, the second giving the Trojans first down on the Hornet 4.  Two plays later, Martin snuck it in from the one for the first score of the game.  Graham Sutter's first of four extra points gave the Trojans an early 7 - 0 lead.

After an endzone kickoff, the Trojans got another chance to score almost immediately.  A fumble by Bullock County quarterback James Tarver was recovered by Nathan Newton at the Hornet 25.  After an incomplete pass, Newton took the ball on a counter play and broke into the secondary where he avoided potential tacklers until he was in the endzone for another touchdown and a 14 - 0 lead.

The Hornets moved the ball, primarily on the running of Norris Lee, and got as close as the 30 yard line.  However, four different consecutive plays each failed to gain, and St. James took over at their own 30.  A 16 yard run by Dean moved the ball into Hornet territory on the last play of the first quarter, and the Trojans consumed nearly half of the second quarter on the same drive, a nice mix of runs and passes.  From the one, Martin converted his second sneak for a touchdown and a 21 point Trojan lead.

Bullock County drove on their next possesssion 74 yards for a touchdown.  Kylen Grace and quarterback Tarver joined Lee in the running game.  On second down from the 9, Tarver tossed a pass to Grace on the far right sideline.  He tried twice to push through tacklers, changed his mind, and reversed field all the way across, being pushed out of bounds just short of the goal line on a play where he ran probably 60 yards to make 8.  On the next play Tarver carried in on his own quarterback keeper for a Hornet touchdown in the last minute of the half.  A two point conversion pass was incomplete, but the Hornets had cut the lead to 15 late in the first half.

St. James gave the Hornets one last chance to score as they fumbled the ball away on their first play from scrimmage.  However, several incomplete passes were all Bullock County could manage before the halftime horn and the 2006 Homecoming Festivities.

As on their initial drive of the first half, the Hornets fumbled on the second play of the opening drive of the second half and St. James had a very short field starting at the Bullock County 13.  A holding penalty on first down was offset by 10 yards gained on the next two plays.  On third down, Freeman took the handoff on a play which faked me and quite a few on the field Hornets out, and off right end he carried a tackler or two into the endzone for a touchdown.  Sutter's extra point gave the Trojans a 28 - 6 lead early in the third quarter.

Bullock County appeared to be stopped on their next drive, but the ensuing punt hit a Trojan in the heel and was recovered by the Hornets at the St. James 29.  A 12 yard run by Lee gave them a first down at the 15, but twice in the next few plays holding penalties negated sizable runs.  The second of those penatlies forced the Hornets into a fourth and 37 at the Trojan 42, and an incomplete pass gave the ball back to St. James.  The Trojans began the fourth quarter in Hornet territory, but 6 plays later Sutter was called in for a 51 yard field goal attempt, one which would tie his and Michael Ritch's co-owned school record.  The kick was high enough and chugged over the crossbar, giving Sutter his second line in the field goal record book and a 31 - 6 lead for St. James early in the fourth quarter.

The Hornets could not move the ball on their next two drives, but Trojan ballcarriers getting their first career varsity carries ever fumbled the ball back on two consecutive drives.  Bullock County travelled 40 yards late in the game against primarily defensive substitutes to add a touchdown in the last minute of the game, a 6 yard pass from usual running back Theodis Baldwin to the 6'5 Tarver, who outlept defenders and even withstood a shove in the endzone to come down with the catch.   On the two point conversion attempt, the snap flew over the head of the quarterback Baldwin who fell on the ball harmlessly with no points added.

One squib kick and one kneel down later and the Trojans had their second victory in a row and were priming for a chance to advance to the state playoffs.

---

SIDELINE STATISTICS - GAME EIGHT

ST. JAMES      RUSHING   35 attempts  191 yards  4 TDs  (5.46 yards per carry)

                        30   Freeman          9 / 66  (1 TD)     19   Newton          9 / 64  (1 TD)       14   Dean                6 / 41
                          3   Martin             7 / 15  (2 TDs)    11   Joyner           1 /   5                     5   Westerveldt       1 /  2
                        31   Lankford          1 /  0                  16   Enslen           1 / - 2

                        PASSING   3 completions  5 attempts  0 INTs  36 yards  0 TDs  (no sacks of)

                          3   Martin              3 - 4 - 0     36 yards
                        14   Dean                0 - 1 - 0       0 yards

                        RECEIVING

                        30   Freeman          2 / 25                   4   Sutter             1 / 11

                        TOTAL YARDS:   227

                        KICKS:  XP  4 / 4                FG  1 / 1    (51 made)
                        2 POINT CONVERSIONS:  0 / 0
                        KICKOFFS:  6  (EZ,52,52,44,42,EZ)             PUNTS:  0
                        KO RETURNS:  3  (6,21,0)                           PUNT RETURNS:   1  (0f)
                        FIRST DOWNS:   15    (13 rushing, 2 passing)
                        FUMBLES:  5, lost 4
                        TURNOVER MARGIN:   - 2
                        PENALTIES:  2 / 15 yards
                        TIME OF POSSESSION:  20:02

BULLOCK CO RUSHING   43 attempts  143 yards   0 TDs  (3.33 yards per carry)
                        PASSING      6 completions  12 attempts  0 INTs  41 yards  2 TDs  (1 sack of, - 6 yards)
                        TOTAL YARDS:  184

                        KICKS:  XP  0 / 0                FG  0 / 0
                        2 POINT CONVERSIONS:  0 / 2
                        KICKOFFS:  3  (33,42,19)                          PUNTS:  3  (21,8,33)
                        KO RETURNS:  4  (25,18,0,22)                  PUNT RETURNS:  0
                        FIRST DOWNS:  12  (11 rushing, 1 passing)
                        FUMBLES:  3, lost 2
                        PENALTIES:  3 / 30 yards
                        TIME OF POSSESSION:  27:58