Mill Creek 13, Brookwood 10 OT

Mill Creek players celebrate a touchdown by RB Joshua Battle during overtime to win Friday's game against Brookwood. (John Amis/Special)

Mill Creek players celebrate a touchdown by RB Joshua Battle during overtime to win Friday's game against Brookwood. (John Amis/Special)

Sophomore Joshua Battle ran for two touchdowns, the second in overtime, to help Mill Creek survive a slugfest with Brookwood 13-10 in the opening round of the Class AAAAAAA playoffs at Mill Creek’s Markham Field.

Battle scored on a 10-yard run in the first half and ended the game with a 1-yard carry before being dogpiled by teammates in the end zone. He finished with 85 yards rushing to help the Hawks (9-2) advance to the second round of the playoffs.

Brookwood (7-4) had the ball first in overtime but had to settle for a 27-yard field goal from Dylan Schefske.

Mill Creek took the ball to the 1 on its second play in overtime when quarterback Baxley Harris found tight end Ross Cottrell, who spun and dove before being stopped at the 1. Battle scored on the next play.

It was an old-school football game, with wet conditions forcing both teams to ditch the passing game and stick to running the ball.

Mill Creek ran the ball behind Battle, Chancellor Lee-Parker and Parker Wroble, while Brookwood kept feeding the ball to Chris Carter and Eli Kohl.

“That was a great high school football game,” said Mill Creek coach Shannon Jarvis. “I knew it when we drew them. You’ve got two extremely proud programs and this is what makes high school football fun, when you’ve got kids playing for program and teammates, something bigger than themselves.”

The Mill Creek was dominant in the first half, denying Brookwood a single first down. Mill Creek’s Austin Ruiz-Velasco and R.J. Smith both came up with sacks to slow the Broncos.

The defense was able to come to the rescue after Mill Creek fumbled a punt and Brookwood’s Marquis Killebrew recovered. A personal foul on the play moved the Broncos to the Mill Creek 39, their deepest penetration of the half. But the Mill Creek defense stopped Brookwood and forced a punt, which was downed at the 5.

The Hawks then drove 95 yards for a touchdown, the big play being a 39-yard run by Battle. The sophomore went on to complete the drive with a 10-yard run.

“We moved the ball, but the longer they were in there – 7-0, 7-7 – I wanted us to be a little patient on offense because of field position,” Jarvis said.

Mill Creek appeared poised to take its first possession of the second half in for a score. The Hawks drove to the 11 where a bad exchange wound up on the ground and in the arms of Brookwood’s Ethan Quarshie.

“I felt good if we could get one more score on them, but credit to Brookwood, we couldn’t get that one more score,” Jarvis said.

This time it was Brookwood’s turn to strike. The Broncos used a 54-yard run by Kohl and scored when Chris Carter flicked a pass to tight end Jake Winskie, who rumbled 38 yards for the touchdown that he punctuated with a celebratory dance and spike of the ball.

The score was 7-7 at the end of regulation.

Mill Creek, the No. 2 seed from Region 6, will play at Milton, the Region 5 champion, in the second round. The No. 8-ranked Eagles defeated South Gwinnett 28-19 on Friday.