CARROLLTON, Ga. - In the final home game of the 2022 season, the 24th-ranked UWG Wolves football team gave 19 seniors a victory in their final appearance at Ra-Lin Field, defeating in-state rival Shorter by a 49-14 final.
It was another all-around great effort as the Wolves put up over 500 yards of total offense for the third straight game, and the defense held Shorter to 249 yards including only two on the ground. A big part of that was seven sacks by the West Georgia defense, the most in a single-game since 2016.
Offensively, the Wolves got 98 yards and three touchdowns from senior Jaxton Carson, who broke the single-season rushing touchdown record with his second of the night. Carson has 17 rushing touchdowns on the season with two games remaining in the regular season.
After West Georgia scored on its opening drive with a 36-yard pass from Harrison Frost to LaPerion Perry, the Hawks answered quickly to tie it up, but after that it was 42 unanswered points by the UWG offense.
With 50 seconds left in the opening quarter, Carson found the end zone from one yard out, and then it was Frost to Mason Yost on the next score to stretch it to a 21-7 lead. Late in the half, UWG had the ball 1:09 left and landed a big blow with a four-play, 83-yard drive that took just 37 seconds as Frost found Ronnie Blackmon for the score to make it a 28-7 advantage at the break.
Carson was at it again in the third quarter scoring touchdowns at the 9:33 and 3:58 marks to stretch the lead to 42-7.
West Georgia's final touchdown of the game came on a quarterback keeper by redshirt freshman Ben Whitlock who pulled it on a zone read to score from three yards out for his first career rushing touchdown.
Shorter found the end zone for the second time on the night with just 1:09 remaining in the game.
The UWG defense was led by Jalin Shepherd who had six total tackles, but it was Allen Johnson who had a big night in the backfield with two sacks on the night. Keith Harris and Amos Dahn also had big nights in the backfield with two tackles for loss each.
Frost finished the game 22-for-33 for 240 yards and three touchdowns with Terrill Cole hauling in 117 of those yards on eight catches. Cole also hit a career milestone, going over 1,000 career receiving yards as the 17th player in UWG history to do so.
Along with Carson's 98 yards, Ashamed Roberson had a productive night in the backfield with 80 yards on seven carries while Darius Clark had 56 yards on 10 carries.
West Georgia is back to the road next week, traveling to Delta State for a pivotal Gulf South Conference matchup against the Statesmen. Kickoff is slated for 3 p.m. EST.
