By Leeroy Francis Jr. |Sports editorAugusta's Aquinas Fighting Irish defeated the Stratford Academy Eagles 30-14 on Nov. 9 to advance to the second round of the 2018 GHSA high school football playoffs. The Irish avenged a 17-14 loss to the Eagles the previous week in the regular-season finale.Led by quarterback J.P. Lambert and running back A.J. Williams, the Irish (9-2) fought back from an early 14-0 deficit to take the lead late in the second quarter and shut out the Eagles in the second half to advance to the second round of the A-Private region playoffs.Aquinas will face Darlington High School in Rome on Nov. 16.In the first quarter, Stratford, after an Aquinas fumble, scored first, on a trick play in which wideout Waldon Davis passed to Ben Jamison for a touchdown. The PAT made it 7-0 in favor of Stratford (5-6).Stratford extended its lead to 14-0 after a 33-yard run up the middle of the field by running back John Morgan Manley with 10:06 left in the second quarter.But the Fighting Irish fought back to cut into the lead with a 66-yard touchdown run by Lambert. That brought the Irish back into the game at 14-7 with 9:49 left in the second quarter.After a good defensive stand, the Irish received the ball at the 45-yard line following an Eagle punt and moved to Stratford's 25 yard-line. There placekicker Patrick Lovering hit a 41-yard field goal to cut the Eagles' lead to 14-10 with 2:28 left in the half.Aquinas played good team defense again to get the ball one more time after a punt by Stratford's Jonathan Siegal with 53.5 seconds left in the half. The Fighting Irish took advantage with 17 seconds left on the clock as Lambert hit senior wideout Cameron Brinson for a 56-yard TD to give the Irish their first lead of the game at 17-14. It turned that would be enough.Aquinas dominated the action in the second half. The Irish scored 13 unanswered points behind a touchdown run from Lambert of eight yards, and Lovering field goals of 36 and 38 yards.The defensive effort was led by Tyler Evans and Jaden Blount, and Aquinas clung to a 20-14 going into the final quarter.The Fighting Irish and Lambert continued to run over the Eagles in the fourth quarter. Aquinas capped off a four-play drive in 1 minute, 38 seconds with a Lambert's eight-yard run, his second rushing TD of the game, to put the game out of reach.Lambert passed for 188 and ran for 97 for Aquinas, while Williams finished with 107 yards rushing.In the second round of the A playoffs, Darlington will be playing at home coming off of its first-round bye.In other first-round playoff action on Nov. 9, Thomasville defeated Hephzibah 42-7; Bradwell beat Grovetown 28-21; Effingham County edged Lakeside 16-10; Glynn Academy routed Evans 42-7; Thomson stopped Upson Lee 34-28; Mary Persons walloped ARC 59-0, and Greenbrier lost to Richmond Hill 19-14.