Published: November 07, 2007 01:20 pm            

Generals post comeback for winning season

DECATUR — Newton County Academy’s season finale was pretty much a summary of the season as a whole. When the Generals play well, they’re pretty good. When they don’t, look out.

The Generals closed out their season at 6-5 with a 45-42 victory over Prentiss Christian School Friday at Decatur. PCS finished 1-9.

At times, NCA made the game look easy. At others...

The Generals led 21-7 less than 10 minutes into the contest, only to find themselves trailing 42-27 going into the fourth quarter.

“We came out and ran the ball so well our first two drives, just bam, bam, bam down the field,” said NCA assistant coach Chase Nicholson. “We felt comfortable with that and were up 21-7.

“The next thing we know, it’s tied up 21-21. We were all shellshocked. We put that real good drive together right before halftime and scored and wound up going up 27-21 halftime.

“We come out in the second half and the next thing we know it’s 42-27 and we’re backed into a corner.”

Down 42-27 to start the final period, the Generals closed to within 42-33 when Rob Roberts connected with Tyler Feldman for a 4-yard touchdown on a fade pattern in the right corner of the end zone with 11:05 remaining. A two-point pass was incomplete, leaving NCA still needing two scores to reclaim the lead.

The first opportunity presented itself when the Saints chose to punt from the NCA 27 and the kick resulted in a 6-yard loss. Roberts found Anthony Williams open deep in PCS territory. Williams put a move on a Saint defensive back at the 20, then completed the 45-yard scoring play to bring the Generals to within 42-39 with five minutes still showing. A two-point pass was incomplete.

For the night, Roberts completed 19-of-26 passes for 324 yards and two touchdowns. He rushed for another.

“We went with that four-wide and throwing and really had not been that successful as far as sticking with it a whole game, but Rob got hot and was hitting his short passes and mixing it up between five or six different receivers,” Nicholson said. “He was hitting his spots and making good decisions. He never made a bad throw into traffic.

“The next thing you know, we go down and score quick with the pass to Feldman. We hold them on defense and get the ball back and go down and score again with Anthony’s catch.”

Expecting an onside kick, the Saints put nine men near midfield. The Generals opted to kick off deep and hit the jackpot when the two Saint deep men watched the ball roll to a stop at their 3. To compound matters, neither elected to field the ball with NCA recovering at the 3.

PCS defensive back Garrett Jackson was late arriving on the field as he had yet to reach the NCA backfield as the Generals snapped the ball. Given first-and-goal at the 1 after the offside penalty, Roberts kept for the touchdown to put NCA back up 45-42 with 4:54 to play. A two-point pass failed.

“We get it on the three and punch it in and we’re ahead,” Nicholson said of going back ahead. “It was all that fast.”

Now it was NCA’s turn to sweat bullets. The Saints took a short kickoff at their 42 and reached the NCA 18 where two incompletions gave the ball back to the Generals with 2:04 left.

The Generals ran the clock down to 47 seconds before they were forced to punt against a Saint rush that had been a problem all night. This time, Brody Thomas got off a 38-yarder than backed PCS up to its 42 with 35 seconds to go. Jackson threw four straight incompletions and Roberts took a knee twice on kneel downs to guarantee the thrilling comeback victory.

“It was a crazy game,” Nicholson said. “It was up and down. They were trailing. We were trailing. It was the most exciting game I’ve ever been around.

“To see the kids come back from 42-27 and win the game, especially for the seniors’ last game, was great.

“We told them before the game to make sure they remember their last game. I think they’ll remember this game.”

The Generals looked like they would blow PCS out in the first quarter as they scored three touchdowns in the first 10 minutes to take a 21-7 lead.

The first came on a 17-yard run by Hunter Smith with 7:21 to go in the opening period. T.J. White’s extra point was no good.

Smith made it 14-0 with 5:15 showing in the first quarter as he got loose on a 25-yard run, then ran in a two-point conversion.

Smith rushed 11 times for 97 yards and caught seven passes for 101 yards. He scored four of NCA’s touchdowns.

Tyler Burrrow got the Saints on the scoreboard on a 4-yard run with 2:31 left in the opening period. Lyle Berard kicked the first of his six extra points.

Smith then brought the kickoff back 93 yards and White added the PAT to up NCA’s lead to 21-7 with 2:16 still to play in the first quarter.

The second quarter belonged to the Saints as they tallied twice to pull even at 21-21. Burrow broke a tackle to score on a 20-yard run with 5:42 left in the half and Hunter McPhail caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Jackson to cap a 46-yard drive and even the contest with 1:01 to play the half.

Aided by a pair of 15-yard penalties on the Saints, NCA rallied to take a 27-21 lead into halftime. Smith scored on a 3-yard run with just six seconds on the clock. A toss from Roberts to Feldman put the Generals in business at the 3.

The Saints continued to wreak havoc with three touchdowns in the third quarter. They took their first lead of the night on a 54-yard run around left end by Burrow. Berard’s kick gave PCS a 28-27 lead with 8:58 to go in the third quarter.

Jackson hit McPhail on a 57-yard bomb to extend PCS’ lead to 35-27 with 5:38 on the clock.

The third Saint score of the quarter came with 3:34 showing as Burrow ran 55 yards to set up an 8-yard touchdown keeper by Jackson.

Trailing by 15 points with 12 minutes to play, the Generals then put together their comeback to claim their eighth winning season in 36 years of competition.

“We played some good games,” Nicholson said. “With the exception of Leake, we were in every ball game. We probably could have won some of those we didn't, but you can’t complain about a winning season. Any time you win more than you lose, it’s been a good year.

“Everybody wants to go to the playoffs, but the next best thing is to win more ball games than you lose.”

        

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