ELBERTON — Commerce could not overcome three huge turnovers Friday night, falling 27-14 to Elbert County at The Granite Bowl.
All three turnovers led to Blue Devils scores.
An early Tigers fumble inside their own 25 helped Elbert County take a 7-0 lead and then, after a Commerce punt, the Blue Devils pushed it 13-0 late in the first quarter on a 42-yard screen pass for a score.
The Commerce defense helped out Jackson Morris intercepted an Elbert pass and returned it 62-yards to the Elbert 1. Dreylan Martin got the Tigers on the board on the next play to pull the Tigers within 13-6 with 8:03 left in the half.
But the Blue Devils answered back with another touchdown to push the lead to 20-7 by halftime.
It stayed that way until a Commerce fumble in the fourth quarter fueled a quick scoring drive for a 27-7 early in the fourth quarter.
Commerce’s Malachi Shockey scored on a 1-yard run with 1:14 left for the final points.
The Tigers rushed for 189 yards on the night. Shockey finished with 91 yards on 14 carries and Martin had 81 yards on 21 carries.
The Tigers fell to 1-2 for the first time since 2011.
