Bob Jones wears down Florence

FLORENCE - Except for a two-touchdown, third-quarter burst by Florence, Bob Jones pretty much owned Braly Stadium on Friday night.

The Patriots won a key Class 6A, Region 8 matchup against the Falcons 41-26 in a game dominated by a couple of guys named Ragland.

Trai Ragland ran for 136 yards and four touchdowns, and Reggie Ragland crashed in from the 2 on a fourth-down play for what proved to be the clinching touchdown midway through the fourth quarter as the Patriots (3-0, 3-0) remained unbeaten.

For the Falcons (2-1, 2-1), it was their first loss.

Bob Jones rolled up 391 yards, including 237 on the ground. That was the game plan going in, said Bob Jones coach Kevin Rose.

"I thought if we played well we could move the ball on them," Rose said. "Our offensive line has gotten better each week, and we felt like we wanted to win with our running game because that's where we had an advantage."

Florence coach Alvin Briggs lamented missed tackles that allowed Ragland to wriggle free for extra yards.

"Our first guy would have him and would miss the tackle," Briggs said. "You can't do that against teams like that. That's a quality football team over there."

Trai Ragland scored three times in the first half as the Patriots pulled away to a 28-7 halftime lead, and his 54-yard halfback pass to Quintrell Rogers set up his fourth touchdown, a 5-yard run, as the lead went to 34-6 early in the third quarter.

Florence answered with two touchdowns in a two-minute span of the third quarter - the result of two Bob Jones turnovers. But after Florence trimmed the lead to 34-19, Bob Jones went on a 19-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that consumed more than 8 minutes. Reggie Ragland's 2-yard TD run capped the drive and clinched the victory.

Bryce Curtis passed for 282 yards passing and 2 TDs on 14-of-25 passing with 2 interceptions. He had three completions to Raheem McCray of 54, 63 and 57 yards. The 54-yarder went for a touchdown, but the Falcons couldn't convert on the other two long passes.

Tied at 7 in the first quarter, the Patriots began to pull away after the first of two Darius Robinson interceptions set up Ronald Ragland's 7-yard run.

"We got behind the 8-ball when they had the interception early in the game," Briggs said.

Zach Freeman's 25-yard TD pass to Collins Moore and Ragland's 1-yard run closed out the first-half scoring.

Trailing 34-7, Florence converted Austin Summerhill's interception into a Beniquez Brown 3-yard TD run in the third quarter. When Dalton Royce recovered a fumble on the kickoff, the Falcons struck again to pull within 34-19. The touchdown came on a 7-yard pass from Curtis to Zach Beckwith, who had three diving catches on the 48-yard TD drive.

That was as close as the Falcons could get. Austin Curry got Florence's final score with a 29-yard TD drive with 40 seconds to play.

Gregg Dewalt can be reached at 740-5748 or gregg.dewalt@TimesDaily.com.