Grayson coach Mickey Conn celebrates the Rams' 34-16 win over Norcross in the second round of the Class AAAAA playoffs.Grayson rallies against Norcross 3-game losing streak to Blue Devils comes to an end
By ROBERT HADDOCKSThe Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionPublished on: 11/24/07
Grayson decided it had had enough. Three times the Rams had lost to Norcross, including a heartbreaker in last year's playoffs. But behind a punishing ground game and a fast, physical defense, the Rams imposed their will on Norcross and ran to a dominating 34-16 victory in the second round of the Class AAAAA playoffs.
The Rams ran 61 times for 231 yards and controlled the clock for more than 33 minutes. They also forced four turnovers and held No. 4 Norcross to 118 total yards of offense. The Rams, who advance to the third round for the first time in school history, will travel to Camden County on Friday.
"This is excellent. It's a huge win for our program," said running back Chandler Priest, who scored two touchdowns. "We were blowing them off the ball like crazy. The line was opening huge holes left and right. Anybody could've run through them. The offensive line just took control."
The three previous losses to Norcross, including a 24-3 game earlier this season "was pretty much our whole inspiration," Priest said.
"We came out flat that first time," Grayson coach Mickey Conn said. "We weren't flat tonight."
Grayson (10-2) controlled the line of scrimmage but found itself trailing 16-13 after D.J. Adams' 51-yard touchdown romp at the start of the third quarter. From that point, Conn went to his "heavy" set with two tight ends. Priest, Matt Brock, and Ean Pemberton, who had a game-high 103 yards, took turns gashing the Blue Devils on inside counters, and the Rams scored on consecutive drives to take a 27-16 lead late in the third.
Priest's second touchdown, from 1 yard out with 1:19 left in the game, salted away the victory.
The plan, Conn said, was to keep the ball away from Norcross' star receivers, Brice Butler and Devonta Bolton. Each caught two passes as Grayson hurried Nick Sorel, who threw two interceptions and lost a fumble. Grayson's Tristan Strong, Quantarius Smith and Kori Gaines had the pickoffs, one off backup quarterback Charles King.
Grayson shut down Norcross' prolific offense in the first half. Norcross managed only 50 total yards of offense in the first two quarters, 26 of them coming on a deflected pass that Bolton caught on the last offensive play of the half. Chris Tanner boomed a 48-yard field goal to trim the Rams' lead to 13-10.
Despite being held in check on offense, Norcross (10-2)
took an early 7-0 lead on a turnover. Alex Napper scooped a Grayson fumble and raced 57 yards for a touchdown.
Grayson 0 13 14 7 — 34
Norcross 7 3 6 0 — 16
N — Alex Napper 57 fumble return (Chris Tanner kick)
G — Taylor Bearden 31 pass from Tyler Horne (kick failed)
G — Chandler Priest 1 run (Michael O'Toole kick)
N — Tanner 48 FG
N — D.J. Adams 51 run (kick failed)
G — Tyler Horne 2 run (O'Toole kick)
G — Matt Brock 3 run (O' Toole kick)
G — Priest 1 run (O'Toole kick)
Here is our playoff bracket. Notice that Brookwood lost!!! Yeah!!
No comments:
Post a Comment