FFITZGERALD - It was what a region championship game should be, two proud teams battling for four quarters.
But at the end Friday night the Fitzgerald Purple Hurricanes emerged with the Region 1AA championship with a 33-20 victory over the visiting Thomasville Bulldogs.
Fitzgerald began the game by getting a long return on the opening kickoff by Kody Krause. That gave the Canes the ball on the Bulldog 48.
Thomasville forced a 4th and 2 to begin the drive but Fitzgerald quarterback James Graham hit Rawal Cheema on an 8-yard pass to the Bulldog 32 for a first down.
Fitzgerald would face another fourth down situation from the Thomasville one.
The Canes converted that one as well when Damien Devine scored from one yard out for the game's first touchdown. The snap was mishandled on the point after and the score was 6-0 with 6:18 left in the first.
Fitzgerald's Gerald Price would add to the Cane lead when he caught a 24-yard pass from Graham with 4:51 left in the first. The kick made the score 13-0.
Thomasville took the Fitzgerald kickoff and drove 77 yards to the Hurricane three.
On a third down play the snap sailed over quarterback JT Rice's head and Fitzgerald's Malik Balom recovered and returned the ball to the Cane 45.
After a 35-yard pass from Graham to Montrell Harris and a run for no gain, Graham raced 20 yards for a Cane touchdown. The kick was good and Fitzgerald led 20-0 still in the first.
Thomasville would then take ball and drive 80 yards on 17 plays for a touchdown. The score came on a Rice five-yard run.
With the score at 20-7 the Canes would add to their lead on a Devine 38-yard reception from Graham.
Thomasville cut the lead to 27-14 with 42 seconds left on a Rice one-yard quarterback sneak.
The two teams combined for 447 first half yards. But the second half was a different story as there was only 260 combined yards and only one offensive score.
That came on a 20-yard run by Fitzgerald's JD King with 8:00 left in the third quarter. A try for two failed and the score was 33-14 in favor of Fitzgerald.
Thomasville scored one last time when Wiilie Bradshaw intercepted a Graham pass with 11:01 left in the game and raced 40 yards for a touchdown. A try for two failed.
Graham ran 17 times for 90 yards and was 6 of 12 passing for 117 more yards.
King rushed 12 times for 101 yards in the second half and ended the game with 124 yards on 20 rushes.
Rice was 18 for 39 passing for 189 yards. 143 of those yards came in the first half.
Fitzgerald will enter the state playoffs as the No. 1 seed from the region. Cane coaches said Fitzgerald will host Dublin in the first round next week.
