Sims leads Gainesville past Flowery Branch

By Michael Carvell

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The battle between two of the nation’s top quarterbacks lived up to its advanced billing on Friday night.

Gainesville’s Blake Sims had 309 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns in the 49-17 win over Flowery Branch.

Gainesville finished the regular season with a 10-0 record, captured the Region 7-AAA championship and maintained possession of the state’s No. 1 ranking in Class AAA. Smith, who is committed to Alabama, threw two touchdown passes, caught one on a trick play, and also rushed for 155 yards.

Flowery Branch’s Connor Shaw, who is headed to South Carolina, was 32 of 42 for 322 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

“This is the best Gainesville team I’ve seen since I started coaching here eight years ago,” Flowery Branch’s Lee Shaw said.

“They are loaded with talent. There’s just not many positions that they are not good at. Any time your defense is as good as theirs, then you’ve got a chance.”

Junior linebacker A.J. Johnson, who has committed to Tennessee, led Gainesville with 16 tackles and three sacks. On the game’s final play, Johnson sacked Shaw for a 23-yard loss. The Red Elephants finished with five tackles for losses against Shaw.

“We could not block A.J. Johnson ... he is the real deal,” Shaw said. “He caused havoc with our offense all night.”

Gainesville pulled out one of its trick plays for the game’s opening score. On fourth down and long, Sims pitched to Tyson Smith on a sweep, but Smith tossed it to Tai-Ler Jones, who threw it back to Sims for a 17-yard touchdown pass.

“I just felt like it would work ... or had a good chance at working,” Gainesville coach Bruce Miller said. “We had driven the ball all the way down the field. We needed something to happen, because we felt like [Flowery Branch] would’ve gotten some momentum if we didn’t score. Our guys executed it perfectly.”

The trick play ignited a flurry of scoring for Gainesville.

The Red Elephants took a commanding 35-0 lead into halftime, with some of the Flowery Branch fans headed home early.

Even though Gainesville had been defeating teams by an average of 41 points, the Red Elephants thought the score would be closer against Flowery Branch, which was last year’s state runner-up.

Sims was 8-for-11 for 137 yards and two touchdowns, and Jones -- who has committed to Notre Dame -- caught eight passes for 135 yards and two touchdowns. Smith had 14 carries for 140 yards and three touchdowns.

“I can’t say enough good things about our kids,” Miller said. “They overcame a lot of adversity this year and made us proud with the region championship. Now we’ve got to focus on the playoffs.”