Mill Creek kicks its way into second round, 41-39

ALPHARETTA -- Bryson King saved his biggest kick for last on Friday.

The Mill Creek placekicker booted the Hawks into the second round of the Class AAAAAA playoffs on a 25-yard field goal with just seven seconds remaining as Mill Creek fended off Alpharetta 41-39 in Alpharetta.

Mill Creek (8-3) advances to the second round of the playoffs, where it will play host to Brookwood next Friday in Hoschton.

King had two field goals in the win but also saw one blocked and returned for a touchdown in a wild battle that also saw Mill Creek running back Jacorey Lewis dominate.

Lewis put up school records for carries (39) and yards (360) in the win and scored all five of the Hawks' touchdowns.

Mill Creek quarterback Daniel David also completed 8 of 19 passes for 136 yards, as the Hawks rolled up 562 total yards. Yet the visitors could not put Alpharetta away, despite building a 17-0 first half lead.

The Raiders pulled within 17-10 at halftime and then knotted the score 24-24 in the second half on the blocked field goal attempt. Alpharetta then took a 39-37 lead on a touchdown and two-point conversion with just two minutes to play.

Then it was the Hawks' turn to come back. David completed a first down pass to Michael Cheeks on fourth and 10 to rescue the late drive before King converted the winning kick.

The field goal set up a rematch with Brookwood, which upset top-seeded Lassiter on Friday. The Hawks fell to Brookwood 31-21 on Sept. 7.