NHS get one more shot at Tucker

mbrown@sunmulti.com

It should be a great rematch, that according to Northside head coach Kevin Kinsler as he was leaving McConnell-Talbert Stadium Friday.

How is that for an understatement?

With the exception of the annual city championship battle with Warner Robins High, Northside High’s football Eagles had to anticipate one game in 2012 more than any other, and it’s a game they were not guaranteed on the schedule.

But with the outcomes of the first two rounds of the GHSA AAAAA playoffs, that game is a reality this coming Friday at McConnell-Talbert. It is Northside’s chance for revenge against the Tucker High program that literally snatched away a spot in the 2011 state championship game during a memorable semifinal also held in Warner Robins.

Tucker won that game 17-16 on a lost fumble returned from one goal line to the other with barely any time left for the Eagles to mount a comeback. It was Northside’s only loss all last season.

Two days short of one whole year later, the two teams will meet again, only this time it will not be a battle of unbeatens, and it is only the quarterfinal round of the state tournament. Northside is the team that will take a perfect record into the contest following this past Friday’s 45-17 destruction of Thomas County-Central in Warner Robins.

As the defending champions of Class AAAA, Tucker moved up to AAAAA with the Eagles this year, but only finished in third place in Region 6-AAAAA. At 10-2 overall, the Tigers’ losses were to region champion M.L. King 24-17 and to Stephenson, the region runner-up, 13-6. In 10 wins so far – including last Friday’s 40-21 second-round victory against North Paulding – Tucker is averaging 39 points per game while giving up an average of 11.

The winner between Northside and Tucker takes on either Ware County or Stephenson in the semifinals Dec. 7.

The Eagles are still looking for someone to slow down their offensive firepower that puts up 44 points a game. Against the Thomas County-Central Yellow Jackets, the Northside defense showed up to contribute what may have been the scoring play to put this contest to rest.

It could also be argued that this game was put away in the first quarter when the home team jumped out to a 17-0 lead while the Yellow Jackets had not found a way to advance the football over the midfield stripe.

But thanks to two big plays, Thomas County-Central pulled within a touchdown at 17-10 in the second quarter. Though Northside got seven points back to lead 24-10 at intermission, the visiting Jackets had opening possession of the second half by winning the coin toss.

What the Jackets and junior quarterback Adam Choice needed to do was show they could sustain a drive against the Trey Payne-led Eagle defense. The coaching staff from south Georgia stuck to the split-back veer game plan after a kick return to their 32-yard-line.

In five running plays, the Jackets were at first down on Northside’s 41. Eagle end A.J. Banks stopped the option run on the 40, and then the middle linebacker Payne met Choice on two keepers that resulted in fourth down on the 33.

Going for it, Thomas County-Central may have picked up the first down … if not for the fact that the football popped loose around the 30-yard-line. Payne picked it up and began a run that maybe resembled Tucker’s heartbreaking play one year ago. Only this time it was six points for Northside.

Kinsler said afterwards it wasn’t so much a backbreaking play for the Jackets but a boost for his defense that he said wasn’t doing a great job that series against the veer.

In fact, Thomas County-Central took almost five minutes off the third-quarter clock on the drive, Payne’s touchdown coming at 7:34. Northside’s offensive unit wouldn’t see the field until the 1:59 mark as the visitors went again on a march that only served to pad their total of first downs.

Due to a penalty on the kick return, the Jackets had to start on their own 6. Choice went to the air and completed consecutive throws for a first down on the 28. The quarterback also ran for a first on the 41, but defensive end Austin Roberts sacked the junior on third down. The Eagles took a punt to their own 29.

Northside’s offense was also centered around running the football. Curtis Martin, on the option pitch from quarterback Glenn Smith, gained 33 yards up to the TCC 38. To start the fourth period, the Eagles went for it on 4^th-and-1, and Keshun Hill used his fourth rush of the drive to move the chains by inches.

The football went back a few yards, to the 30, where Smith checked at the line for a play-action on third down. The football stayed in the air a little too long for Kinsler’s liking, but Justin Burnam hauled it in for the touchdown at 10:17.

John Tignor took his first PAT kick of the night and made good for 38-10.

Smith was 4-for-7 passing for 70 yards, but Kinsler said catching the football is something the Eagles need to do better in order to advance.

Hill had 36 receiving yards, 111 rushing yards and two touchdowns, both coming in the first period. He also returned the game’s opening kickoff from sideline to sideline, 40 yards in all, to midfield.

Smith, using Hill as a decoy on a key 3^rd-and-7 call, pulled the football away from his tailback and earned a first down by an inch. Martin later gained 16 yards on the option to the Jacket 19. Isaac Rivera, as the drive stalled on the 14, kicked a 31-yard field goal at 8:41.

As Rivera’s kickoffs went into the end zone, Thomas County-Central was forced to start its drives of the quarter on its 20. The Jackets gained one first down on the 31, but then tackle Anfirnee Chatfield got to Choice for lost yards. Choice also ran into Roberts at the line of scrimmage for third-and-long, so the drive ended with a punt to the Eagle 44.

After Smith rushed for a first down on the TCC 46, Hill reversed his field and sprinted to the end zone at 4:57. Rivera kicked this PAT for the 10-0 advantage, and recorded his second touchback on the kickoff.

The defense held for three-and-out, forcing a punt to the 50-yard-line. Smith took the first carry for 26 yards off right tackle, and Hill fought his way up the middle for first down on the 13.

Out of a timeout, the Eagles caught two breaks, one by getting back their own fumble and the other on pass interference in the end zone. From the 3, Hill rushed in his second touchdown at the :52 mark (17-0).

It took the final timed play of the quarter for the Jackets to find any kind of seam. With it, running back Tim Brown took the football inside the Eagle red zone. The play also had a facemask call, so the Jackets got to run an untimed play at the 8.

The second quarter began with second down on the 6. Tackle Cassius Miller stopped the next two plays for only one yard gained, so the visitors settled for a field goal of 25 yards by Gavin Wilson.

On the next Eagle series, the home team was flagged for holding three times, the third time coming on a pass caught by Hill. However, Hill fumbled while making his post-reception moves, and Thomas County-Central recovered on the TCC 45.

On second down at the Eagle 44, Choice broke off his first big run all the way to the 1. Shaquille Coleman scored the touchdown at 7:03, and the Jackets were within seven at 17-10.

Northside put all those mistakes behind it on the next drive, which began at its 35. Smith and Hill ran the ball over the 50, and Hill had first down on the TCC 35. On 3^rd-and-4, Smith took a keeper for 19 yards, and on third down the quarterback went left for a five-yard touchdown (24-10).

The Jackets had possession for the remaining 2:29, but Banks and Miller prevented them from penetrating any further than the NS 48.

Smith rushed for 110 yards and Martin netted 81. Jamaal Joyner, in his only carry, scored a three-yard touchdown at 3:20 of the fourth period. Choice also scored one time, but with 28 seconds remaining. 

Find more photos from the game in our Photo Gallery.

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