Clayton News Daily

Photo by Derrick Mahone For the second straight season, Drew coach Jarrett Laws will take his team to South Georgia to open the season with a game against Cairo tonight.

Drew nearly pulls the upset

CAIRO — As a coach, Jarrett Laws is never happy with a loss, but after Friday’s near upset of third-ranked Cairo, he was pleased about his team’s effort.

Drew lost 7-6 at Cairo, a periennal South Georgia powerhouse in the season-opener for both.

Down 7-0 late in the fourth quarter, Drew junior quarterback Jay Murray connected with senior Ray Evola on a 78-yard pass with two minutes remaining. Laws decided to go for the win on a two-point conversion, but was stopped.

The Titans recovered an onside kick, but had a 35-yard field goal attempt blocked at the buzzer.

“If I said I was satisfied with the way we played, we will never win a region or state championship,” Laws said. “I’m beyond proud of my guys because we went toe-to-toe with a South Georgia powerhouse. We can cry all weekend, but we have to dry those eyes on Monday and get back to work.”

Jonesboro defeated Tri-Cities 35-17

Cardinals senior quarterback Cedric Nettles accounted for three touchdowns in the road win Friday.

Nettles threw two touchdown passes and returned an interception 70 yards in the Region 4-AAAA win in the season-opener for both teams. He threw touchdown passes to Taurean Ferguson and Rodney Singleton, who also had a rushing touchdown. Junior Cameron Sutton accounted for the Cardinals’ other score.