After playing less than their best game a week ago in beating South Gwinnett, Class 7A No. 9 Grayson had a nice bounce back. The Rams shut down the Brookwood offense and methodically moved the ball en route to a 42-14 win over the Broncos on Friday night.
Grayson used a series of short runs and controlled passes to avenge last year’s 35-14 loss to the Broncos. The Rams had only two passes longer than 20 yards and only six double-digit runs. But the Grayson defense limited Brookwood to minus-12 yards rushing thanks to three sacks.
“Our philosophy is defensively to stop the run and try not to give up a deep ball,” said Grayson coach Adam Carter. “We challenged the kids and said we had to stop the run because last year they were able to hit some big runs on us. We thought we had a plan that would help us and our kids went out and did the rest.”
Grayson (7-1, 3-0 Region 4) was led by Joe Taylor II, who carried 23 times for 92 yards and scored four touchdowns. Amon Alston ran 11 times for 124 yards and a 73-yard touchdown. Quarterback Jeff Davis II completed 16 of 27 passes for 185 yards and one touchdown, with two interceptions. John Cineas caught eight passes for128 yards.
“Joe is a kid that power squats over 500, power cleans 325 and benches 325,” Carter said. “And he is a 200-pound load. I’ve told every college coach in the country about Joe Taylor. I’ll jump up on that table right now for that young man. He brings it every day. I’ll tell you, people are missing the boat on him. That is a ball player.”
After a scoreless first quarter, the Rams scored twice in the second period on a 10-yard run by Taylor and a 19-yard pass from Davis to Cineas. But Brookwood answered by returning the second half kickoff for a touchdown, with Joseph Leslie going 90 yards.
“I just told them that the second-half kickoff might be the most important play of the game,” Carter said.
Grayson responded with an 80-yard 13-play drive that consumed six minutes. Taylor ran it in from the 5 to restore the 14-point lead.
Brookwood answered when Dylan Lonergan found the speedy Leslie, who made a move and raced for a 55-yard touchdown. After an exchange of punts, Grayson scored again on Taylor’s 3-yard run.
“It was very important,” said Taylor, who had the first four-touchdown game of his career. “We know if we keep our energy up, it’s going to shut them down and that’s what we were able to capitalize off even the little mistakes they made and that’s what put us ahead. "
The Rams sealed it on the next series. After taking over at the 14 when the snap to the punter was poor, the Rams upped the lead to 35-14 on Taylor’s 2-yard run. They later added a 73-run touchdown run from Alston.
Brookwood (4-4, 2-1) was led offensively by Lonergan. He completed 19 of 35 passes for 222 yards and one touchdown, with one interception. The defense got interceptions from Cali Gober and Brian Diggs.
