Tigers 10, Cougars 0
Difference maker: Cole Chancey’s three fumble returns in the first half helped keep what little momentum in the game firmly on Commerce’s side.
Stat that matters: 6 fumbles. Commerce and Calhoun County fumbled the ball three times each in the first half.
Turning point: A swarm of Tigers stomped out a Calhoun County rush attempt on 3rd and 8 a few minutes into the third quarter. The Cougars punted and lost any hope of coming back in the game.
Who’s next: Commerce plays Irwin County in Ocilla.
COMMERCE — It wasn’t a win for the highlight reel, but Commerce coach Michael Brown will take it.
The Tigers lost four fumbles in a grinding, gritty and ugly 10-0 second round win that puts Commerce in the Class A-public semifinal for the first time since 2006.
Commerce (10-2) picked up its lone touchdown from junior quarterback Caleb Brooks’ 1-yard keeper in the opening quarter before kicker Andres Salgado ended the first half with a 40-yard field goal.
But the excitement ended there as the Tigers and Cougars (8-4) combined to fumble eight times, including six in the first two quarters.
“I knew coming off last week, where we played on an emotional high, we knew that our biggest danger was going to be ourselves,” Brown said after the game. “We had a lot of fumbles, a lot of misreads and missed opportunities playing the option, but we found a way to win.”
Commerce advances to take on Irwin County next Friday in Ocilla.
Neither team got off to a hot start.
Senior Cole Chancey was on hand to recover all three Cougar fumbles and give Commerce on the upper hand. Chancey (7 carries for 25 yards) returned the first opportunity 64 yards from Commerce’s 25 back into Calhoun County territory.
But the effort was wasted when junior outside linebacker Jalin Randle popped Commerce’s Grant Mayberry (4 carries for six yards) on the first play from scrimmage to force the Tigers’ first turnover.
A false start penalty pushed Calhoun County and quarterback DaJohn Williams (3 for 6, 27 yards) back to their own 1 before a bad punt put Commerce on the Cougars’ 11 yard line to start the second quarter.
Brooks (15 carries for 62 yards) took it himself for an 8-yard gain before finishing off the drive two plays later from the 1 to give Commerce the lead.
“Honestly, I don’t know what the problem was,” Brooks said. “The offense didn’t seem to click when it needed to. Cole got the strips that we needed. We’ve been slacking a little bit, but we’re happy to get this team back where it used to be.”
Senior Marquez Willis rushed for 19 of Calhoun County’s 58 first half yards on a draw play with five minutes to go in the opening half, but a sack on quarterback Dajohn Williams forced the Cougars to punt.
Commerce took over on its own 39 and picked up two important first downs to get junior kicker Andres Salgado within field goal range. His 40-yard kick split the uprights as the half ended.
The two teams ended the half with 146 combined yards.
Brown said he told his team not to panic after halftime.
“The plays we were calling on offense were fine, we just needed to execute them,” he said. “We knew coming into the game that Calhoun defensively was good and would be a test.”
Commerce’s front line stopped Calhoun County’s best attack of the night early in the second half.
Defending from their own 33, a swarm of Tigers overpowered running back Sherrod Williams (7 carries for 30 yards) to force the Cougars’ second punt of the game.
Calhoun County lost its most potent threat of the night when Williams was hit out of bounds and had to be carried to the far sideline near the end of the third. One drive later, Commerce seniors Brevin Knox and Bryan Chandler connected for a sack on DaJohn’s replacement, Sherrod, to end the quarter on a high.
Brooks fumbled on a run up the middle as Commerce tried to run out the clock in the fourth quarter, but his miscue went unpunished when Sherrod Williams lost the ball himself on the Cougar’s final drive.
“It was just one of those games where, whenever we got into a rhythm, we fumbled,” Brown said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ve got to get them refocused, humble and hungry. We’ll talk about being mentally prepared and harp on that because we were not that tonight.”
Coming off a game with so many mistakes, Brooks said there’s no choice but to look next week’s matchup against Irwin County. The Indians defeated Dooly County 40-22 on Friday night.
“Turnovers really killed us tonight,” he said. “It’s not good when you move the ball all the way down the field and then fumble, so we’ve got to cut that out.
“It’s not going to be easy [to play Irwin County], but we’ve got to execute like we can and I think we can get at them.”