HOSCHTON — Mill Creek football coach Shannon Jarvis said it wasn't so much about adjustments on Friday night -- just playing hard for four quarters.
The Hawks certainly showed just how hard they can play in the second half, turning a 10-point battle into a 44-17 win over North Gwinnett in Hoschton.
"Really what you saw more than adjustments was our kids' execution. I was very proud that we played four quarters tonight -- first time all year. Four solid quarters and (North Gwinnett is) a very good team, so I was pleased with our kids' execution tonight," Jarvis said after watching his team hold the Bulldogs to 82 yards after the half, outscoring North Gwinnett 24-7 in the process.
"We gave up a long touchdown right before the half, but then our offense responded and got that touchdown right before the half. So I told them this: when it's two programs that are very proud, it's gonna be body shots throughout. You had it in that first half, and we knew when we got that last score right before the half then got the ball to start the second half with a huge return, we grabbed that momentum then and never looked back."
Mill Creek scored three touchdowns over a six-minute span in the third quarter to grab total control, as Cole Wroble and Joe Thomas put up rushing scores. Cameron Turley also hit Ace Williams for a 6-yard touchdown strike to make it 41-10. It had been 20-10 at the half.
"You know it really wasn't a lot of adjustments, we just have such a good team. This is so much fun, to be able to coach in games like this against coach (Bob) Sphire and his team -- so much execution and scheme out here," Jarvis said. "So it's really about having those adjustments in your bag before you start the game because you kind of know what they're gonna do, then you better have something off of them."
The Hawks (6-0, 2-0 Region 6-AAAAAAA) finished with 425 yards of offense -- 231 of that on the ground, as Anthony Presto led the way with 104 yards on just eight carries. Thomas added 61 yards and Edmond Graham 41 yards, while Wroble scored twice. Graham also caught a touchdown pass from Turley, who finished 12 of 21 through the air for 194 yards and 3 scores.
"We played well tonight. Playing well tonight here in game six isn't gonna win a region championship for us, it won't win our state championship; we've got to continue as coaches to go find those details to make sure we get them corrected," Jarvis said. "A few of the goals we had for tonight we corrected. We wanted to be able to play through penalties in the series, and the offense was able to do that. We have small goals every Friday that fans don't know; it's really not stats, but this group is showing and taking a lot of pride and getting better every week. And it's not just about the wins, it's about the execution, and getting better and playing to our standard each week."
The Bulldogs (3-3, 1-1) managed 154 yards passing, as quarterback Cade Fortin completed 13 of 24 passes, including an 80-yard touchdown completion to Ricky Reed that made it 13-10 with 1:07 left in the first half. But Mill Creek responded with a 29-yard touchdown pass from Turley to Graham with just 14 seconds left in the half -- and then rolled in the third quarter.
Mill Creek will take on Discovery next week.
North Gwinnett will take a bye and then look to bounce back against Duluth on Oct. 14.
