JEFFERSON — All eyes around Panthers Stadium Friday night were on the matchup between the North Hall offense and a Jackson County defense that wanted to show it was ready to be considered among the area’s elite units.
Instead, it was the North Hall defense that perhaps opened the most eyes. The Trojans held Jackson County to just 87 total yards, forced two turnovers, and was the catalyst in a stunning 35-0 shutout.
The effort had North Hall coach David Bishop jumping at the opportunity to heap praise on the group. A fourth down stop on the final play of the third quarter ignited a 21-point fourth quarter as they blew open a close game.
They held the Panthers (1-1) to just 2 of 11 on third down and just 1 of 2 on fourth down for the game. Jackson County, after piling up over 200 yards last week in a win over Banks County managed just 46 yards on 36 carries (1.27 yards per carry) on the ground.
“Most definitely they’re underrated,” Bishop said in response to whether many are overlooking the defense. “The offense gets a lot of attention, and well it should. But the defense has really played well from the scrimmage through tonight. (Jackson County) is a physical team and I thought we matched them.
“That fourth down stop really got the guys fired up. I think that was the turning point in the game.”
Senior quarterback David Seavey needed just six plays after that, scoring on an 18-yard scamper after connecting with Daniel Jackson on a 43-yard pass on 3rd-and-20 from the Trojans’ 39 to push their lead to 21-0.
North Hall (2-0) forced a Jackson County punt on the next possession and then Jackson ducked and dived through the interior of the Panthers defense and then pulled away over the final 60 yards for a 73-yard sprint to the end zone on the first play for a 28-0 lead with just 6:36 left.
After another quick stop of the Panthers offense Jackson capped a 77-yard drive with a 38-yard touchdown run with just 1:57 remaining for the final score.
“We knew right before the half that we were beginning to wear them down and in the fourth quarter we told the guys no passes, we’re just going to keep pounding (the ball),” Bishop said.
Jackson finished with 133 yards rushing to lead North Hall but it was the work of senior Drew Faulkner in the first half that may have been the biggest difference. Jackson and Seavy were held to just 3 yards on 6 carries in the opening 24 minutes but Faulkner picked up the slack with 108 yards and a pair of scores, mainly from quick-hitting inside traps, to help North Hall take a 14-0 lead into halftime.
Faulkner stunned the Panthers defense, which had not allowed a point through its scrimmage and opener against Banks County, with a lightning-fast 52-yard sprint straight up the middle to cap a quick 4-play opening drive. The two teams then traded punts, with Seavey also picking off a Tyler Wester pass, until Faulkner, who finished with 132 yards rushing, pushed it to 14-0 on an 8-yard scoring run with 3:41 left in the half.
“We told Drew during the week that he was going to have to be the guy because we expected them to key on David and Daniel,” Bishop said. “He was huge for us. We feel like we have a lot of weapons (on offense) so if teams focus on one or two guys we have others that can step up.”
North Hall finished with 355 yards rushing for the game. JT Fair also did some damage out of the backfield with 66 yards on just 7 carries for the Trojans.
Wester, who was the Player of the Week for the Athens area last week, was stymied throughout by the Trojans’ defense. He finished with just 22 yards rushing on 18 carries and was just 3 of 10 passing for 41 yards and two interceptions.
SCORING SUMMARY
North Hall........7.....7....0....21 -- 35
Jackson Co......0....0.....0......0 -- 0
First Quarter
N -- Faulkner 52 run (Sanchez kick) 7-0, 9:56
Second Quarter
N -- Faulkner 8 run (Sanchez kick) 14-0, 3:41
Fourth Quarter
N -- Seavey 18 run (Sanchez kick) 21-0, 9:10
N -- Jackson 73 run (Sanchez kick) 28-0, 6:36
N -- Jackson 35 run (Sanchez kick) 35-0, 1:57
