FLOWERY BRANCH — In a game that featured 986 yards of total offense, and 73 points, it was defensive stops in the final minutes that proved to be Flowery Branch’s undoing.
The Falcons turned the ball over twice in the final eight minutes, and couldn’t slow down Creekview’s rushing attack, and the end result was a stunning 38-35 loss.
“The offensive line played their hearts out, the backs ran hard and I’m real proud of the execution,” Creekview coach Al Morrell said.
The Falcons moved the ball up and down the field at will in the first half, scoring on four of their five possessions and amassing 333 yards of total offense. They opened the game with an 11 play, 72-yard drive that ended when senior quarterback Connor Shaw, who was 5-5 on the drive, found Robby Boudreau on fourth down for a 15-yard scoring strike.
In a harbinger of things to come, Creekview rolled down the field in its opening possession, but the Falcons defense stood strong, for what proved to be the only time and held the Grizzlies to a field goal.
“What a disappointment on defense, you got to take the bad with the good, and we bragged on them last week, we just played horrible defensively tonight,” Shaw said, “There’s no reason for that but we’ve got to go back to work, this doesn’t make or break our season.”
After a 30-yard kickoff return by Darius Kimbrough, the Falcons got right back to work punching another touchdown through on a 6-yard run by Imani Cross.
Creekview cut the lead to 14-10 by going through the air to get into scoring range, and punched in a 1-yard score. Both teams matched each other score-for-score over the next two possessions. The Falcons got theirs on a second short run by Cross that capped an 80-yard drive, while Creekview’s Eric Smith got his first score of the night.
With a precarious four point lead heading into the final two minutes of the half Shaw put the Falcons on his back with 1:32 remaining.
He engineered an 81-yard drive on 10 plays that ended with an acrobatic toss to Rodney Young for a 6-yard score and a 28-17 lead heading into the break.
Creekview answered right back to open the third quarter marching down the field in four minutes, as Smith picked up his second score of the game.
This one had all the makings of a continued shootout as Flowery Branch scored again to open the third when Cross scored his third touchdown of the game on a nifty 13-yard run with 4:52 left.
But that would be the last time the Falcons found the end zone on Friday night.
Trouble started just two minutes later when Smith (21 carries, 199 yards) broke free on a third-and-short and ran 60 yards to cut the deficit to 35-31.
The fourth quarter opened with a huge fourth down and less than a yard to go for the Falcons at the Creekview 35.
Instead of coming under center, for a short sneak, Shaw stood back in the shotgun and handed off to Cross who was swarmed by the Grizzly defense and the game’s first turnover.
“We do what we do, we’ve been in third and inches the past three years and been able to do some good things with it, so we won’t scrap what we do,” Shaw said.
Creekview had all the momentum, and ran with it, literally. The Grizzlies stayed on the ground for a series of short runs before Michael Ay (17 carries, 112 yards) ran loose in the secondary for a 33-yard run down to the Falcon three. Two playes later Cody Allen dove across the goal line for the go-ahead score.
In the second half the Grizzlies attempted only one pass, and for the game they rolled up a staggering 402 yards on the ground on 61 carries.
The Falcons weren’t ready to concede and got a key fourth down stop with 1:35 left giving Shaw (27-32 passing for 351 yards) one last shot.
On third-and-19 from his own 19 Shaw found Young for a huge 50-yard pickup and it looked like the Falcons were going to pull out a dramatic win.
But on the next play Shaw was pressured, and hit as he threw, leaving the ball just a little short, and into the arms of a waiting Grizzly defensive back for a game clinching interception.
“That was a fine football team, I think they’re going to go far, and we’re fortunate to come out of here with a win,” Morrell said.