The finale of the Fayette-Coweta Kickoff Classic was a contrast in styles – Newman with its spread attack trying to utilize its speed and explosiveness and Starr’s Mill with the intricacies of its spread option attack. On Saturday it was old-school football that won the day.
Starr’s Mill scored three times in the second half and went to register a 28-14 win over Newnan, giving the Fayette County schools victories in two of the three games hosted by Starr’s Mill.
“We do what we do to give our kids a chance to pound it and all of a sudden the guy goes … It’s like Novocaine,” Starr’s Mill coach Chad Phillips said. “That’s what we do, because everybody has better people than we do. So we run it. Three-and-a-half yards is a great play for us.”
The Panthers threw only three passes the entire game. They rushed for 376 yards, with Brandon Mathis gained 165 on 14 carries.
Starr’s Mill broke a 7-7 deadlock by scoring on its first possession. A key play came when the Panthers decided to go for it on fourth-and-1 at their own 23 and drew Newnan offsides to earn a first down. Four plays later Jacob Free scored on a 53-yard run.
“That got us going,” Phillips said. “That was like the first domino. I’m really proud of the way the boys answered the challenge.”
After forcing Newnan to punt, the Panthers didn’t score, but ran nearly six minutes off the clock before turning it over on downs. The Cougars had a 73-yard touchdown run negated because of an ineligible receiver penalty and Starr’s Mill got a takeaway on Josh Thompson’s interception.
Starr’s Mill punched this one in, with Anderson Cardoza scoring on a 15-yard run.
The Panthers got another interception on Newnan’s second play, with Bo Walker claiming the pick at the 13. On the next play, Brandon Mathis turned a dive play into an 87-yard touchdown run and Starr’s Mill had its 28-7 lead.
Newnan scored on a 41-yard pass from James Paige to Justin Reed with 1:14, but Starr’s Mill ran out the clock
Paige completed 8 of 14 passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 40 yards.
East Coweta 41, Whitewater 24
East Coweta showed Saturday what a veteran quarterback can do, even with an unproven offensive line.
Playing behind five new starters up front, Daniel Shoch completed 12 of 19 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns to lead East Coweta to a 41-24 win over Whitewater at Starr’s Mill High School in the opening game of the Fayette-Coweta Kickoff Classic.
The Indians also got 138 yards rushing and two touchdowns from Martravion Bowles, including a 99-yarder that put the game away in the third quarter.
“Having Daniel back is tremendous because he’s got some experience, he understands our offense, he understands our players,” East Coweta coach John Small said. “He’s probably 100 times better than he was last year. Did he play his best today? Probably not, but it’s the first game and there are lot of things we can work on and I’d rather work on them after a win than a loss.”
Whitewater made East Coweta’s job much easier with two interceptions and two lost fumbles in the first half.
Whitewater fumbled early and Caleb Mize recovered. East Coweta cashed it in with a 31-yard touchdown pass from Shoch to Amaryion Moss.
The Indians used a 43-yard punt return by Seth Gritton to set up the next score, a 2-yard run from Bowles. An interception by Makai Sullivan stopped the next Whitewater drive and, after an exchange of punts, East Coweta’s Lucca Labattaglio booted a 26-yard field goal for a 17-0 lead.
“I thought we came out and played very, very fast off the jump,” Small said. “Getting the return and some points down there was big. We caused some turnovers, which we need to do. I think good football teams capitalize on turnovers and we were able to do that.”
Whitewater responded with its only sustained drive of the first half, but stalled after reaching the 10 and settled for a 17-yard field goal.
East Coweta answered with a 68-yard pass from Shoch to Colt Cortez, who caught the pass in stride along the far sideline and raced to the end zone. Shoch hooked up with Dionte Jones for a touchdown, a quick out that Jones turned into a 40-yard touchdown.
East Coweta led 38-3 when it began to shuttle in a steady stream of backups. Whitewater took advantage and scored three times to make it enough of a game that East Coweta opted to reinsert its offensive starters at the end of the game.
Whitewater scored on a 37-yard pass from Austin Williams to Corey Richardson, a 1-yard run by Williams and a 23-yard run from Xavier Clay-Turner to get within 38-24 with two minutes left.
“Obviously disappointed with the way we played in the third and fourth quarters, but trying to play a lot of kids,” Small said. “We’ve got some things we can work on and try to build depth.”East Coweta put an end to the drama when Labattaglio mae a 47-yard field goal with 1:04 remaining.
Sandy Creek 24, Northgate 3
Quarterback Geimere Latimer threw for 226 yards and ran for 79 to lead Sandy Creek to a methodical 24-3 win over Northgate.
Latimer completed 15 of 26 passes, with six of those going to John Hopson for 101 yards. Latimer scored on a 1-yard run. Dorian Graham carried 16 times for 74 yards and scored on runs of 13 and 4 yards.
Northgate’s only points came on Nick Tromel’s 33-yard field goal with 8:32 left in the third quarter, which cut the Vikings’ deficit to 10-3.
After forcing Sandy Creek to turn the ball over on downs, Northgate moved to the 15 and threatened to tie the game. But a fumbled occurred on the exchange on second down and Sandy Creek’s Pryor Shelton recovered. The Patriots took advantage of the reprieve and drove 82 yards in eight plays, with Graham scoring on a 4-yard run and a 17-3 lead.
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