Aaron Philo breaks Trevor Lawrence's Georgia passing mark

ATLANTA, GEORGIA – With a victory over Swainsboro all but secured in the waning seconds of Monday night’s Class A Division 1 state championship, there was still unfinished business for the Prince Avenue Christian Wolverines to attend to.

Senior quarterback Aaron Philo, who entered the game needing 301 passing yards to become the new All-Time leading passer for the state of Georgia, found himself needing just two yards on their final drive of the night.

With a chance to make history, Philo did it in style tossing his third touchdown pass of the night to CJ Dockery to break the record and win the game going away, 48-32. Philo surpassed the previous career mark of 13,902-yards established by NFL star Trevor Lawrence, who graduated from Cartersville High School in 2017.

He also finished 57 touchdown passes this season tying the mark set in 2016 by Macon County's K'Hari Lane.

The win gives Prince Avenue Christian its second straight Class A Division 1 state title over Swainsboro, and its third state title in four years under head coach Greg Vanagriff.

“The kids are believing that they can do this every year, so they expect this,” Vandagriff said. “Nobody wants to go home Week 11 or Week 12. It’s just a credit to the players and great coaches.”

The Wolverines couldn’t have asked for a better start to the game after senior defensive end Blaine Pittman stripped Swainsboro quarterback Kason Edenfield just three plays into the first drive.

The loose ball was scooped up by defensive tackle Austin Head at the Tiger 37, and two plays later, Philo tossed a 36-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Dockery to give the Wolverines an early 7-0 lead.

But the early misfortunes for the Tigers were very quickly placed in the rearview mirror.

Starting their next drive at their own 41, the Tigers set up a wide-receiver screen to Damelo Jones, and after making one man miss, the senior rumbled his way down the left sidelines for a 59-yard touchdown run.

A failed two-point conversion kept the Wolverines out in front 7-6 with 9:17 remaining in the first quarter.

The Wolverines quickly responded with a 69-yard touchdown drive with a heavy dose of the run, and scored when Mac Bradley punched it in from one yard out to extend their lead to 14-6.

A quick three-and-out by the Tigers gave the ball right back to Philo and the Wolverines, and this time the Georgia Tech commit turned it loose for much of the drive before using his legs to score a short 3-yard run.

That gave the Wolverines a commanding 21-6 lead with 11 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Prince Avenue continued to dominate the game and found themselves just five yards away from taking a 28-6 lead with less than six minutes remaining in the second quarter, but everything changed from there.

Electing to go for it on fourth-and-goal after just missing a would-be touchdown pass on the previous play, Philo was intercepted by Jones, who jumped a route and returned it 98 yards for a touchdown to get the Tigers back into the game.

The huge turn of events helped the Tigers cut the Wolverines lead to just 14-12 after another failed two-point conversion with just over five minutes remaining in the half.

Looking for another big play, the Tigers got one.

After forcing the Wolverines to punt for the first time in the game on their next drive, their punt was blocked by Swainsboro’s Bryson Tarver, who then scooped up the ball and returned it down to the Prince Avenue 4-yard line.

On the very next play, Jones scored his third touchdown of the game, this time on the ground, to cut into the Wolverines’ lead further 21-18 after a third failed two-point conversion attempt.

With a chance to stop the bleeding and score their first points of the second quarter, the Wolverines marched back into the red zone, but were stopped on a short fourth-down attempt at the Swainsboro 10-yard line.

That ended the first half with the Wolverines clinging to a 21-18 lead.

Despite several mishaps in the second quarter, Prince Avenue remained confident heading into the third after dominating the stat sheet.

The Wolverines got the ball to start the second half and promptly marched 69 yards and scored when running back Connor Causby raced into the end zone on a great 20-yard scamper.

Causby’s touchdown snapped Swainsboro’s 12-point run and his score extended Prince Avenue’s lead back out to 10 points, 28-18 with just under eight minutes remaining in the third quarter.

But Swainsboro wasn’t going anywhere.

The Tigers answered back with a long, methodical drive on the ground and after getting stopped on third-and-goal at the 2-yard line, Jones punched the ball into the end zone on fourth-and-goal for his fourth score of the game.

Jones then converted the Tigers’ first two-point conversion attempt of the game, and that cut Prince Avenue’s lead down to just two points, 28-26 with 2:39 remaining in the third quarter.

With the two Class A Divison 1 powers trading scores to start the third quarter, Philo and the Wolverines went marching again.

A big 38-yard completion from Philo to freshman Hudson Hill set up the Wolverines with a fresh set of downs at the Tigers’ 26, and a few plays later, they were celebrating in the end zone again after a 12-yard touchdown pass from Philo to Dockery.

The score gave Philo his 55th touchdown pass of the season, and gave the Wolverines some much-needed breathing room with a 35-26 lead with 11 seconds left in the third quarter.

After several big plays in the second quarter got Swainsboro back into the game, the Tigers gave one back to start the fourth quarter.

Edenfield was picked off for the first time in the game by Causby at the Swainsboro 44, and the Wolverines turned it into more points with Philo’s second touchdown run of the game.

After clinging to a slim two-point lead earlier in the third quarter, back-to-back touchdown drives put the Wolverines up 16 points with under nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, 42-26.

Needing a pair of touchdowns and two-point conversions to tie the game, the Tigers checked the first box with a huge 37-yard touchdown run from Quindarius Brown with 6:02 remaining.

Their subsequent two-point conversion failed, however after Jones was stopped just shy of the goal line, a play that was challenged by the Tigers.

Struggling to stop the high-powered Wolverines offense for much of the game, the Tigers elected to try for an onside kick, rather than kick it deep with just over six minutes remaining.

Their attempt was no good and after recovering the ball near midfield, Philo and the Wolverines made history.

Entering the game needing 301 passing yards to set the All-time passing record for the state of Georgia, previously set by current Jacksonville Jaguars star Trevor Lawrence, Philo broke the record with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Dockery.

The score all but iced the game for the Wolverines with a 48-32 lead with 2:37 remaining.

Philo finished his night with five total touchdowns - three passing and two rushing - while Jones was responsible for 26 of the Tigers’ 32 points on the night.

PRINCE AVENUE 48, SWAINSBORO 32

Swainsboro 6 12 8 7 – 32

Prince Ave. 21 0 14 14 – 48

FIRST QUARTER

Prince Avenue: CJ Dockery 36 pass from Aaron Philo (kick), 9:35

Swainsboro: Damelo Jones 59 pass from Kason Edenfield (failed 2-point conv.) 9:17

Prince Avenue: Mac Bradley 1 run (kick), 6:52

Prince Avenue: Philo 3 run (kick), :11

SECOND QUARTER

Swainsboro: Jones 98 pick six (Failed 2-point conv.), 5:09

Swainsboro: Jones 4 run (Failed 2-point conv. ), 3:37

THIRD QUARTER

Prince Avenue: Connor Causby 20 run (kick), 7:43

Swainsboro: Jones 2 run (Jones 2-point conv.) 2:39

Prince Avenue: Dockery 12 pass from Philo (kick), :53

FOURTH QUARTER

Prince Avenue: Philo 9 run (kick), 8:34

Swainsboro: Quindarius Brown 37 run (Failed 2-point conv.) 6:02

Prince Avenue: Dockery 8 pass from Philo (kick), 2:37