By Rob Phraner

For the News Courier

The defense did not rest in Athens last night, leading the Golden Eagles to a 31-8 victory in front of their home crowd. Besides a touchdown surrendered with seconds to play and no starters on the field, the Athens defense pitched another shutout against a formidable Johnson squad.

“This was an extremely talented team we played tonight,” Athens head coach Allen Creasy said.

Tyree Malone recovered a fumble and intercepted a pass for the Golden Eagles, while JT Young led the offense, rushing for one touchdown and throwing for two more. The win gave Athens its second consecutive victory in region play (2-1, 2-0).

“Athens is a tough team,” Jaguars head coach Harold Wells said. “We expected that. They capitalized when we made mistakes.”

One of those mistakes was created by a swarming Golden Eagles’ defense. After a Devin Crutcher sack, the Jags were forced to punt from their end zone. The defense sent the house and sacked the punter at the four-yard line. Young ran it in for a score and Bryan Brown tacked on the extra point for a 7-0 lead.

Athens would add a field goal as time expired in the first half after a Keith Chronister sack forced a fumble that was recovered by Crutcher. An acrobatic 36-yard catch by Julius Jones near the goal line set up the field goal by Brown.

“Julius is a great player who we’re counting on to be one of our playmakers,” Creasy said.

The score remained 10-0 deep into the third quarter, but the game turned on another strong defensive play for the Golden Eagles.

Johnson drove all the way to the Athens 18-yard line, but on 4th and 13, Zach Weatherford, William Ming and Clint Lamb converged on the scrambling quarterback, stopping the drive and breaking the Jaguars back.

“We ran a twist on the defensive line on that play, which takes a lot of energy, and we beat their blockers,” Creasy said.

Soon Young would find Trey Brooks for a short touchdown pass, increasing the lead to 17-0. Then after Malone’s interception, another Young-to-Brooks touchdown, this one for forty-five yards, gave Athens a commanding 24-0 advantage.

“We knew the safety would bite on that play because we saw him do it throughout the game,” senior quarterback Young said.

Sedale Bailey finished the scoring for Athens with a two-yard run to put the game away.

Jamaal Bess rushed for 45 yards and Chris Cain added 40 yards rushing for Athens, while Brooks hauled in three passes for 77 yards and Jones caught three passes for 75 yards for the Golden Eagles.