Jacquez Williams rushed for 118 yards on 13 carries and two touchdowns to lead the Redan Raiders to a 26-19 victory over the Miller Grove Wolverines in the season opener at Hallford Stadium on Thursday night.

The two teams entered the night with the all-time series tied at 2-2-1 following Miller Grove’s thrilling 18-12 win a year ago. The win puts the Raiders up 3-2-1 after six games in the fairly new DeKalb County rivalry.

Back-to-back turnovers early in the first quarter led to Redan taking the lead they would never relinquish. The Raiders fumbled the ball on the fourth play of the game and Miller Grove’s Tony Randle recovered.

The next play Redan’s Christian Waters stepped in front of a Miller Grove pass, pulled it from the air and raced 60 yards for a touchdown with 9:51 to play in the first quarter. The PAT was no good and the Raiders held a 6-0 advantage until 2:15 to play in the first period.

Miller Grove forced Redan into a punting situation at the Wolverines’ 46 and Redan’s Corey Mikel dropped back to punt. The snap went over his and Mikel chased it back to his own 18 where he picked it up and started to the left. He made his way up the left sideline and cut towards the middle of the field and outraced the Wolverines for what would be a 46-yard scoring play.

A bad snap on the PAT kept the kick from being made and Redan held a 12-0 lead.

The Wolverines needed just four plays to cover 58 yards after the kickoff. Jayden Brown took the ball the final 14 yards for the touchdown to pull Miller Grove within 12-7 with 1:10 to play in the quarter.

Jacquez Williams finished off a 5-play, 78-yard drive with 1:21 to play in the first half with a 25-yard burst up the middle for the score. The try for two was no good. The Raiders would take the 18-7 lead into half.

Miller Grove opened the second half with an 11-play, 70-yard drive that took 5:27 off the clock in the third quarter to pull within 18-13. Phillip Russell subbing for quarterback Ashton Water who lost his helmet on the previous play helped finish the drive with a screen to Jalen Kelsey. Kelsey took the football 17 yards for the touchdown to cut the lead to 18-13 with 6:33 left in the period. A two-point pass attempt after a bad snap went incomplete.

Williams struck for his second touchdown of the game after a holding call on the Raiders made it first down and 20 from the Miller Grove 31. Williams got loose for the 31 yards and the score and then added the two-point run to make it 26-13 with 1:07 left in the third quarter. The play was set up by a 14-yard pass from Vatarras Thaxton to Ali McDaniel that had a personal foul penalty added onto the end for a late hit on Miller Grove.

Ashton Waters hit Russell for a 22-yard gain to help set up Brown’s second TD of the game. Brown finished the 34-yard drive with a one-yard TD run to close the gap to 26-19 with 5:39 to play.

Miller Grove forced a Redan punt, but after getting to the Redan 47 a pair of penalties led to a turnover on downs and Redan ran out the final 54 seconds to seal the first career win at Redan for Coach Rahman Sparks.

Lithonia 51, Forest Park 0
In other action on Thursday night, the Lithonia Bulldogs (1-0) rolled out to a 37-0 lead at the half on the way to a 51-0 win over Forest Park (0-1) at Southern Crescent Stadium.

Running back D’Vonte Slaton had touchdown runs of 30, 50 and 80 yards and racked up 182 yards rushing on just 6 carries for the Bulldogs. Quarterback Savion Lawson was 6 for 6 passing with two touchdowns in the first half before a late interception put an end to his perfect half.

Linebacker Asmar Hasan came up big on defense with 12 tackles and an interception in the game for Lithonia.

Twelve DeKalb football teams get their first action on Friday in nine games being played with two more teams in action on Saturday.

WEEK 1 DCSD FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Thursday, Aug. 22
Hallford Stadium
Redan (1-0) 26, Miller Grove (0-1) 19

Away Games
Lithonia 51, Forest Park 0

Friday, Aug. 23
Adams Stadium
Providence Christian vs. Cross Keys, 5:15 pm
Clarkston vs. Druid Hills, 8:00 pm

Avondale Stadium
McNair vs. Towers, 7:30 pm

Godfrey Stadium
Woodland-Stockbridge vs. SW DeKalb, 7:30 pm

Hallford Stadium
Columbia vs. Stephenson, 8:00 pm

Away Games
Chamblee at Forsyth Central, 7:30 pm
Lakeside at Decatur, 7:30 pm
Stone Mountain at Pickens Co., 7:30 pm
Tucker vs. Archer, 5:30 pm (Coolray Field)

Saturday, Aug. 24
Godfrey Stadium
Hapeville Charter vs. Cedar Grove, 8:00 pm

Away Games
Arabia Mountain vs. Carver-Atl, Lakewood, 3:00 pm

Open: Dunwoody, M.L. King
Games in DCSD Stadiums: Second team listed is home team