Spartans break Bulldogs' hold

Glenn Hills coach Ernest Tolbert replayed the images of past years in his mind.

Last year's overtime loss to Harlem. An eight-point defeat two years ago. And another overtime loss in 2005.

But on this muggy Friday evening, Glenn Hills held a secure six-point lead needing just to run out the final two minutes. Then, like in years past, a funny thing happened. The Spartans fumbled the ball away.

"It's a dogfight every year," Tolbert said. "There's always something weird that could almost make it go their way. I was just determined tonight it wasn't going to happen."

Michael Clark and Thomas Jones might have been more determined. The defenders each returned interceptions for touchdowns in the fourth quarter as Glenn Hills beat Harlem, 20-7.

"It was real intense, because they've beaten us the past three years," said Clark, a senior linebacker. "We wanted to open up the region with a big bang and show everybody in Augusta that we're on the map this year and we're for real."

Glenn Hills (1-1, 1-0) opened Region 3-AAAA play with a victory -- overcoming four turnovers. Harlem (0-2, 0-1) helped. The Bulldogs committed six turnovers, all in the second half.

"It's hard to win when you've got that many turnovers," Harlem coach Jimmie Lewis said. "And it's hard to win when you drive the length of the field twice and don't get any points out of it."

Despite their mistakes, the Bulldogs had a chance to steal the game. After Clark returned an interception 20 yards for a touchdown to give Glenn Hills a 13-0 lead early in the fourth, Harlem drove to the 10. But on fourth-and-goal, backup quarterback Zach Morris' desperation pass was picked off.

Still, Harlem got the ball back with four minutes remaining. The Bulldogs went 59 yards in two minutes, with Seth Hill punching it in from the 1 to cut it to 13-7.

Glenn Hills recovered the ensuing onside kick and only needed to run out the clock, because the Bulldogs had no timeouts with 1:55 left. But quarterback Chris Washington's exchange to Lonnie Moore squirted free and Harlem recovered.

The Bulldogs tried to start their drive with a screen pass. Tolbert told Jones that Harlem was going to pick on him in the slot. The junior defensive back adjusted, moving up to the line and then in front of Tyler James' pass, his fourth interception. Jones scampered 47 yards down the sideline into the end zone.

The Spartans, who scored one TD on their first three drives into the red zone, squeezed two touchdowns out of their defense.

"We needed to score," Jones said. "Defense needed to put some points on the board."

Reach Chris Gay at (706) 823-3645 or chris.gay@augustachronicle.com.