As the penalties and turnovers added up for Southwest DeKalb, Carver was happy to take advantage.
Southwest DeKalb’s 17 penalties for 140 yards and four turnovers were too many errors to overcome, while Carver’s Quentin Gates had 130 yards on 25 carries to lead his team to the win, 18-7.
The victory earns Carver a playoff spot out of Region 6-AAAAA, while Southwest DeKalb’s season ends with the loss.
It wasn’t just the mistakes for SWD (6-4, 4-2), but their effect that did them in. Holding penalties repeatedly offset nice plays by the offense, and personal fouls bailed Carver (8-2, 4-1) out on its offensive end.
And the four turnovers – three of them on interceptions – led to the first 12 of Carver’s points, enough to get the win.
Much of what success Carver had on offense came on the legs of Gates, who had 91 of his game-high 130 yards in the second half, seeming to get stronger against the SWD defensive front as the game wore on.
And 54 of those yards came on Carver’s final scoring drive, which made it a two-score game with 7:32 left, a deficit SWD didn’t have the firepower to overcome. SWD nearly made a goal-line stand, forcing Carver into a fourth-and-goal from the 1 after having first-and-goal from the 2. But when quarterback Octavious Battle snuck in, Carver had an 18-7 lead that would stand.
Southwest DeKalb actually jumped out in front in the game quickly, intercepting a tipped ball on Carver’s second play from scrimmage, then getting a 15-yard Mario Alston touchdown run on their first play to take a 7-0 lead just 43 seconds into the game.
The offense struggled when not given such great field position, amassing just 70 yards during the game’s first 24 minutes.
Meanwhile, Carver was putting up plenty of yards and eating up time for awhile, but points were hard to come by.
That is, until an interception of their own set up the Panthers at the SWD 35-yard line, and it didn’t take long to get on the board. Four plays later, Gates took it in from 8 yards out to bring Carver within a point after the missed PAT.
It took another interception to set up Carver for the go-ahead score.
That came on SWD’s next possession, setting Carver up just 8 yards from the end zone after the return. Timsonte Dukes took it in on the first play, and a failed 2-point conversion left the score 12-7, where it stayed until midway through the fourth quarter.
