GAINESVILLE — How was that for a response?
One week after dropping a heart-breaking, one-point decision in its season opener, the Flowery Branch football team took out its frustrations on Chestatee on Friday, scoring 35 first half points en route to a 41-13 victory in Gainesville.
Falcons quarterback Nick Lance sliced up the War Eagles defense, completing 12 of 15 passes for 249 yards and three touchdowns -- all the scoring tosses going to Jalin Strawn, who finished with 130 yards receiving.
Meanwhile, the Branch defense held Chestatee's explosive spread attack in check, allowing 173 total yards and no first half scores.
"It's huge. Any time we can win, regardless of the score, it's fun. Our kids deserve it. We put in a lot of work through the off season. We made some mistakes last week, but we challenged our guys and they accepted," Falcons coach Chris Griffin said. "We were one of those teams that didn't play week zero, Chestatee played week zero, (last week's opponent) North Hall played week zero, so they kind of had a little head start. We obviously made some mistakes last week, but we showed up this week. And I challenged them to improve from week one to week two, and I feel like our guys did that."
Indeed, the Falcons (1-1) came out like a team on a mission, as Lance and Strawn hooked up on touchdown passes of 35 and 30 yards in thef irst quarter for a 14-0 lead.
Following that the Falcons turned to the ground game, and Malik Drayton and Malik Damons responded -- Drayton ripping off a 30-yard touchdown run and Damons rambling 69 yards for a score. The Falcons capped the first half blitz with a 56-yard touchdown pass from Lance to Strawn.
Drayton finished with 63 yards rushing and two scores, as well as four receptions for 107 yards.
"He's electric. You put the ball in his hands, he can make a big play any time," Griffin said of the junior Drayton. "He's a great guy, hard worker, probably most competitive guy on our team, without a doubt."
The War Eagles (1-2), which had ended an 18-game losing skid last week got two second half touchdowns from Nick Lyles, who finished the game with 120 yards rushing. But it was not enough to haul the home side back into contention against a focused Branch.
Flowery Branch travels to Stephens County next week.
Chestatee, meanwhile, travels to face Fannin County.
