No. 16 GMC routs College of DuPage 52-6
GLEN ELLYN, Ill. – Georgia Military College fell behind 6-0 early in the first quarter of its game Saturday afternoon vs. College of DuPage. But that deficit wouldn’t last long as GMC scored the final 52 points en route to a 52-6 win over COD at Bjarne Ullsvik Stadium-Chaparral Field.
The 46-point win marked the third straight game that GMC, which came into the game ranked No. 16 in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Top 20 poll, has scored 50 or more points on offense. Martine Perez got COD (3-2) on the scoreboard first with a 10-yard run to give the Chaparrals a 6-0 first-quarter lead. But Jordan Brown (Charlotte, N.C.) broke loose on a 78-yard scoring run and Nicholas St. Germain (Powder Springs, Ga.) made the extra point to give GMC a 7-6 advantage and a lead the Bulldogs would never relinquish.
Jovon Robinson (Memphis, Tenn.) got in the end zone on a 2-yard run in the second quarter to give GMC a 14-6 lead heading into halftime. “We really struggled early on offense in the first half to get some things going,” GMC head coach Bert Williams said. “It just took us a little while against a very good defense to play the way we wanted to on offense. But defensively, we were solid for 60 minutes and that gave us a chance to get going offensively.”
After the slow start on offense, GMC did most of its damage with a 38-point second half to pull away for the win. After St. Germain made a 21-yard field goal, Dominique Taylor (Columbia, S.C.) hauled in a 72-yard pass from Tyler Herman (Lawrenceville, Ga.) to give GMC a 24-6 lead to close out the third quarter.
GMC poured it on the final quarter as Herman hit Keinan Lewis (Anderson, S.C.) on a 6-yard scoring pass and Quez Nesbitt (Greer, S.C.) on a 57-yard TD strike to make it 38-6. GMC added a Tresvon Coakley (Johns Island, S.C.) 5-yard TD run and a Zentavious Cobb (Lawrenceville, Ga.) 78-yard interception return for a TD to complete the scoring.
“After halftime, we got settled down and had everyone pulling the rope in the same direction, so to speak,” Williams said. “We started to pull away in the second half and had some things bounce our way. I’m proud of the way we found a way to handle our business.”
Herman finished 17 of 30 for 290 yards with three touchdown passes and a pair of interceptions. Julian Williams (Suwanee, Ga.) led the way for the receiver corps with five catches for 55 yards while Taylor had four catches for 112 yards and a TD. Eight different receivers had at least one reception in the game.
Brown led the ground attack with 135 yards on just 14 carries and scored once. Coakley added 67 yards on 13 carries and one TD while Robinson had 36 yards on 10 carries and a TD.
It was also the third consecutive contest that GMC has held an opponent to 10 points or less. Devonte Covington (Rockingham, N.C.) led the way on defense for the Bulldogs with nine tackles, including five tackles for lost yardage. Devontae Freeman (Griffin, Ga.) and Jarnor Jones (Ellenwood, Ga.) added eight tackles each on a GMC defense that recorded 13 tackles for lost yardage.
The GMC defense allowed just 200 yards of total offense by COD and blanked the Chaparrals over the final three quarters. GMC has allowed just 19 points in its last three games and those three opponents (ASA, Middle Georgia and DuPage) have gone scoreless in the second half.
GMC (3-2) won its third in a row and is back on the road again next Saturday at No. 7 Nassau in a 1 p.m. ET contest in Garden City, N.Y.
GMC 7 7 10 28 -- 52
COD 6 0 0 0 -- 6