GAINESVILLE — North Hall, Flowery Branch, and Gainesville kicked off the local 2015 prep football season Friday night as part of the Northeast Georgia Fall Classic at The Brickyard.
Flowery Branch took an unofficial 26-7 victory over North Hall in a controlled scrimmage in the first contest while the Red Elephants took a 35-20 victory over Jefferson Forest, led by former North Hall coach Bob Christmas, in the second game, which featured normal game conditions.
It was the first-ever Northeast Georgia Fall Classic featuring the three local teams, which teamed up to provide fans with the opportunity to watch the squads scrimmage each other for the first time since reclassification broke up a more centralized region for Hall County teams.
It appeared to be a big success as fans were not scared away by a $7 ticket to watch scrimmages. It was close to a sellout and the gate was split between the schools.
“Honestly I thought we would have a good turnout,” North Hall coach David Bishop said. “Based on this I would say it’s been a success for the first one. We needed to do something big for the communities.”
Flowery Branch coach Chris Griffin said he was glad for the big turnout.
“It was a great crowd,” Griffin said. “This was in the works since last year so it’s good to see it turn out well. I think we could do it again, as long as it stays organized.
As for the games themselves, Bishop said the Trojans had some moments despite the lopsided outcome.
“We did some good things,” Bishop said. “We’ll look at the tape later.”
“I thought the offense looked good and we came out healthy so that was big for us,” Griffin said.
Gainesville’s Bruce Miller was more than pleased for it being the first outing of the season.
“I thought our defense was super all night and Messiah (Dorsey) and Chris (Byrd) and a lot of guys made some plays,” Miller said. “We definitely got challenged.”
The only hiccup was the first scrimmage ran long causing the Gainesville-Jefferson Forest game to start 36 minutes late.
As for the scrimmages/games themselves, below is a brief breakdown of the three local teams:
NORTH HALL -- The Trojans’ defense struggled much of the first half allowing a long drive by the Falcons to start before forcing a fumble at the North Hall 3. ... The unit gave up a long drive for a touchdown on the Falcons next possession, highlighted by a 54-yard run by Jasen Johnson. ... They stopped the Falcons on their next two possessions but then allowed a 68-yard touchdown pass on the Falcons next-to-last possession of the first half. ... They gave up a 76-yard screen pass for a touchdown on the second play of the third quarter. ... The North Hall special teams did block a punt in the fourth quarter.
The North Hall offense had trouble against the bigger Falcons failing to get past the Flowery Branch 42 in the first half. ... The offense generated just four first downs, quarterback Jackson Madonna was sacked twice, and they fumbled on their first possession of the game. They had just 64 total yards at halftime. ... The offense did respond to open the second half with a 8:35 drive with five first downs, capped by a 16-yard TD run from Cutter Sanford. But the Trojans also fumbled at the Falcons 2 after a short drive following the blocked punt.
FLOWERY BRANCH -- The offense looked sharp right from the beginning. Quarterback Nick Lance connected on his first five passes. He threw TD passes of 18, 68, and 76-yards yards while going 12-of-20 for 238 yards passing and three touchdowns to seven different receivers. ... Johnson had 59 yards rushing and the Falcons had 252 yards of offense in the first half. ... Cortez Davis had four catches for 49 yards and one carry for 15 yards for the Falcons in the first half. ... Davis outraced the entire North Hall defense on the second play of the third quarter for a 76-yard TD on a screen pass. ... Backup QB Kory Graham engineered a 98-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter, capping it with a 2-yard TD run.
The Falcons defense shut down the Trojans ground attack in the first half allowing just 64 total yards with two sacks and a fumble recovery. ... Anthony Woodall had two sacks for the Falcons. ... The reserves allowed nearly 200 yards on the ground in the second half but no points.
GAINESVILLE -- The defense had a slow start with the patented wing-T style offense employed by teams of Christmas. Jefferson Forest chewed up the Gainesville defense for a 76-yard scoring drive on its second possession. ... The defense responded on the Cavaliers third possession forcing a fumble at the Cavaliers 11 then held them to a three-and-out on their fourth possession. ... In the second quarter they gave up a 75-yard TD run on a basic dive play up the middle. They also gave up a 30-yard screen pass. After the screen pass the defense recorded consecutive sacks and a TFL to force a punt. ... Chris Byrd made an impact on defense causing and then recovering a fumble in the third quarter.
The offense had a rough start with two three-and-outs on its first two possessions. They did drive to the Cavaliers 36 on their third drive but a 53-yard field goal attempt was well short. ... Byrd scored on the next play from 11-yards following the Jefferson Forest fumble to give GHS a 7-6 lead to get things going. ... On their next possession Dorsey, who was 16-of-25 for 240 yards and two TDs, connected with Tae Turner for a 39-yard touchdown pass. Dorsey later scored a 2-yard rushing touchdown after connecting on two long passes to set up the short run. ... Dorsey showed his elusiveness and Byrd displayed his speed on a nifty 30-yard screen pass for another score in the third quarter. ... The only blemishes on the night was a fumbled snap by Dorsey resulting in a turnover and an interception by Hunter Sims, who was 7-of-8 for 73 yards.
