ATLANTA — He claims he said nothing, but no one may never know exactly what Shannon Jarvis said to his Hawks at halftime. Whatever it REALLY was, the only coach Mill Creek has ever had should patent it.
Mill Creek, after a terrible first half on both sides of the ball, dominated the second half against McEachern outscoring the Indians 16-0 over the final 24 minutes to pull out an improbable 23-19 win Saturday in the Corky Kell Classic at the new Georgia State Stadium.
Mill Creek (1-0) had just 62 total yards in the first half while its usually stone-walling defense was battered for 343 yards by the Indians, who took a 19-7 lead into halftime.
And it might have been worse. Mill Creek quarterback Brady Longenecker threw what looked to be a sure pick-6 as time expired to end the first half. But Longenecker managed to chase down the Indians’ returner to keep the game within striking distance.
That proved to be a huge play.
The Hawks stormed out of the second half taking the opening drive 80-yards, capped by a touchdown from Longenecker to Andrew Johns to cut the lead to 19-14 six minutes into the second half.
The Mill Creek defense stoned the Indians on their first drive of the third quarter and then the offense went to work again. The Hawks drove inside the McEachern 20 but the drive stalled and Matt Campbell booted a 32-yard field goal to close the gap to 19-17.
It stayed that way until Longenecker engineered a 94-yard drive that culminated with a 7-yard TD pass to Cole Wroble for Mill Creek’s first lead of the game, 23-17 with 5:39 left.
The Hawks defense then forced a McEachern punt and stopped the Indians on downs on one more possession to preserve the come-from-behind win.
In a major reversal for both teams, Mill Creek held the Indians to just 40 total yards in the second half while the Hawks offense piled up 118 yards in the second half.
“We couldn’t have started any worse,” Jarvis said. “And if Brady doesn’t make that play at the end of the half there’s probably no chance for us to mount a comeback. Just a great play.
“Honestly, we really didn’t change anything at halftime. We just told the kids to settle in and play. They did a great job in the second half.”
Longenecker finished 15-for-23 or 118 yards passing with two touchdowns and two interceptions. But he was near-lawless in the second half.
Rafel Morales paced the ground game with 13 carries for 66 yards with Uriah Leverette added 46 on 14 attempts.
Austin Williams hauled in four catches for 63 yards to lead the receiving corp for th Hawks.
