GAINESVILLE — It was 11 years in the making. And Chestatee senior quarterback Storm Yarbrough, with game ball in hand, had no trouble expressing his thoughts.
“This is just the greatest feeling in the world,” he said after he helped engineer a dominating 42-12 thumping of arch-rival North Hall Friday night at War Eagles Stadium.
“This is something we’ve wanted for a while and it just feels great to be able to do this and end the streak. Everyone played great. We’re more than just one or two guys.”
It was the first victory for Chestatee (1-0) over the Trojans (0-1) since a 17-10 win in 2005 at The Brickyard.
The War Eagles top stars, Yarbrough and senior running back Nick Lyles, set the tone early. Lyles finished with 132 yards and three rushing touchdowns to go with a 32-yard touchdown catch. Yarbrough was 9-of-14 for 198 yards and two touchdown passes. He added 96 yards rushing and one score.
But others like senior Jacob Goodall (8 carries, 25 yards, 4 receptions 103 yards), freshman Christian Charles (2 rec. 61 yards, 1 TD) and senior linebacker Reggie James (2 sacks, 1 forced fumble, 6 tackles) showed they are more than just “one or two guys.”
Chestatee coach Shaun Conley also said the victory was more than just a streak-buster.
“That was a big win for us to get the season started right,” he said. “It’s great for the kids but we wanted a fast start to the season. Now we can put this one behind us and move on.”
About the only thing that didn’t go right for the War Eagles was they lost the opening coin flip. After that, they dominated for most of the 48 minutes.
Chestatee needed just five plays on its opening drive, which began with a 25-yard run by Lyles and finished with a 32-yard screen pass from Yarbrough to Lyles just 53 seconds into the game for a 7-0 lead. Lyles accounted for 62 yards on the 80-yard drive.
“Our offense is designed for our defense to hold the other team one or two possessions,” North Hall coach David Bishop said. “They jumped on us quick there and that always makes it tougher. A game with this kind of emotion can get out of hand quick sometimes and unfortunately it did.”
The War Eagles defense, led by James, forced a North Hall punt on the Trojans opening drive and then the offense went to work again. A little more methodical this time, Chestatee used nine plays, with Lyles capping the drive on a 4-yard run with 4:30 left in the first quarter. The big play was a 36-yard pass from Yarbrough to Goodall into North Hall territory.
James was a menace for the North Hall offensive line early recording three tackles-for-loss on the Trojans’ first 10 offensive plays and was in the backfield almost as much as the North Hall runners.
Conley said the play of the defense, which has been a work-in-progress, was what jumped out to him.
“People talk about our offense...but man I couldn’t be more proud of our defense,” he said. “They really came out fired up and set the tone I thought.”
The only blemish for the Chestatee offense was when the Trojans defense snagged an interception on a flea-flicker pass from Charles but a pair of forced North Hall punts sandwiched that play and the War Eagles needed just two plays and 21 seconds to go 84 yards, as Yarbrough connected with Charles for a 52-yard touchdown strike for a stunning 21-0 lead just 30 seconds into the second quarter.
A North Hall fumble on the Trojans’ next possession set up another two-play Chestatee drive with Lyles diving over the North Hall defense for a 1-yard score and a 28-0 lead.
North Hall finally got on the board late in the half mounting a 10-play drive, capped by a 9-yard touchdown run from Noah Holman to cut the lead to 28-6.
The North Hall offense mounted a solid opening drive in the third quarter but it bogged down inside the War Eagles’ 20 and they were stopped on downs. Yarbrough capped the ensuing drive with an 11-yard scramble for a touchdown and a 35-6 lead.
The Chestatee defense again stopped North Hall on downs at the North Hall 39 and Lyles accounted for the entire ensuing drive, highlighted by a shifty 33-yard run and capped with a 3-yard touchdown plunge to push it to 42-6 with 9:23 left.
The Trojans got their final score in the waning moments when Peyton Mavity scored on a 30-yard run with 18 seconds left.
Despite the lopsided victory, Conley said there are still plenty of things for his War Eagles to improve on.
“Always,” he said. “We did some good things but we made plenty of mistakes also. Lots to work on once we look at the film.”
Bishop said despite the lopsided loss, little has changed for his Trojans.
“Right now we’re no further from the playoffs than we were when the game started,” Bishop said. “Our goal is to get better and I think we will. We did some good things out there but we also have a lot to work on. We’ll be fine by the time region rolls around.”
Mavity finished with 111 yards to pace North Hall on the ground. The Trojans piled up 240 yards rushing but needed 51 attempts (4.70 yards per rush) to do so.
Chestatee next will play host to East Hall, which put up 55 points in a loss to Habersham Central on Friday, next week.
North Hall will play host to Flowery Branch next week. It will be the season-opener for the Falcons.
