Mike Polke caught a touchdown pass, intercepted a pass and returned a kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown to lead Toombs County to a 38-18 win over Northeast Macon in  the Class A Division I championship game.

It was the first state championship for Toombs County (13-1).  Northeast (12-3) was trying to become the first Macon school to win a state title since 1975.

“This means everything,” Polke said. “We’ve been working for this since January, since last year since we lost to Rockmart (in the state quarterfinals.)”

The kickoff return was especially significant since it came on the heels of a Northeast touchdown, After fielding the ball making a couple of cuts, the Northeast return could not catch Polke,

“I was kind of surprised they kicked it to him,” said Toombs County coach Buddy Martin. “Once I saw him breaking loose, I knew he was gone. I’m so happy for that kid. He’s a phenomenal young man, going to be a special player at the next level.”

Toombs was led offensively by quarterback T.J. Stanley, a Georgia State signee who completed 14 of 23 passes for 217 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 16 times for 83 yards.

Polke caught five passes for 103 yards and one touchdown and Lagonza Hayward, a Florida signee, caught four passes for 59 yards and one touchdown.

The Toombs defense was paced by Roy Hayden (10 tackles) and Zireese Scott (nine tackles).

Northeast (12-3) was led by Nick Woodford, who rushed 19 times for 109 yards and caught three passes for 41 yards and one touchdown. Quarterback Reginald Glover completed of 20 passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 13 times for 72 yards and one score.

The Raiders were led on defense by Tailen Sampson, who had 17 tackles, two tackles for loss and forced two fumbles.