Sophomore quarterback Jamar Graham’s three touchdown passes keyed a 27-6 Cedar Grove Saints win over Appling County in the Class 3A high school state semifinals at “Buck” Godfrey Stadium on Friday night.

The victory puts the Saints into their four state championship game in six seasons as they face Region 5-3A foe Carver-Atlanta, a 19-17 winner over defending state champion Pierce County, in the Class 3A title game next Saturday (December 11) at 12:00 pm at Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium.

Cedar Grove took a shaky 6-3 lead into the half on a Rashod Dubinion five-yard touchdown run with 4:05 to play in the first half. A false start penalty backed up the PAT which went wide right.

Graham and the Saints came out throwing haymakers at the scrappy Pirates to open the second half. Graham went down the left sideline to Georgia Tech commit Janiran Bonner who managed to stay inbounds as he hauled in the pass for a 35-yard gain to the Pirates 24. Two plays later Trevon Ferrell got behind his defender and caught a 23-yard touchdown toss from Graham with 10:38 to play in the third quarter. Amari Forte’s PAT was good to make it 13-3 in favor of the Saints.

Appling and Cedar Grove exchanged punts following the score. The Pirates had Cedar Grove backed up in the shadow of its own goalpost and got the ball on the Saints’ 37 after the punt for an opportunity to close the gap.

The Pirates moved to the Cedar Grove 10 with a first and goal when the Saints defense stiffened with a tackle for a loss of three by Carlton Madden forced a third and goal at the 10. Appling got four more yards and were forced to kick a 23-yard field goal that Alex Garcia made it two-for-two on the night to trim the lead to 13-6.

Cedar Grove answered right back marching 70 yards in five plays to extend the lead to 20-6 on a Graham to Bonner 40-yard touchdown pass over the middle with 11:11 to play. Forte was good on the PAT.

Dubinion broke away for a 93-yard touchdown run on the Saints next possession, but a holding call way back behind the play nullified the big run. The Saints ended up having to punt with 6:01 to play.

A sack by Cameron Jackson and pressured fourth-down throw going incomplete for Appling turned the ball over on the downs to the Saints at the Pirates 35. Three plays later the Saints hit paydirt against as Graham threw a pass up down the right side for Ferrell who ran under it for a 35-yard scoring strike. Forte tacked on the PAT for the 27-6 lead with 3:38 to play.

Cedar Grove’s defense got a pair of turnovers in the final 3:26 of the game as Christian Miller recovered a fumble and Gary Turner closed out the game with an interception with 17 seconds to play.

The Saints appeared to take the early lead on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Graham to Bonner on their first possession of the game, but a hold in the backfield again nullified the score.

Appling would get a 32-yard field goal by Garcia with 3:58 left in the first quarter. The Pirates were threatening to go up 10-0 as quarterback Dayson Griffis swung a pass to the right side to Dawson Griffis. The receiver turned up field and was hit by a Saints’ defender as he got inside the five as he stretched the ball towards the end zone. The hit jarred the ball loose and it went out of the endzone for the touchback.

Cedar Grove took advantage of the first of three turnovers to drive 80 yards for the go-ahead score by Dubinion. Graham hit Bonner for gains of 10 and 26 yards. He then rolled to his right and while avoiding a Pirate defender tossed a strike to Bernard Mack who went 32 yards to the Appling five to set up Dubinion’s touchdown.

Graham finished the night hitting 14 of 16 passes for 267 yards and the three second half touchdowns. Janiran Bonner had 7 receptions for 129 yards and 1 touchdown. Trevon Ferrell caught 3 passes for 86 yards and 2 touchdowns.

The Saints had nine tackles for a loss including two sacks by Camren Jackson.