JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — Cherokee Bluff’s first foray into the Corky Kell Classic wasn’t what they hoped it would be.
However, despite a 38-23 loss to Kell at The Colosseum at Johns Creek High School on Wednesday, it also wasn’t anywhere as decisive as the score might indicate.
A young Bears group blocked a punt on the Longhorns first drive of the game. They put up as many offensive yards (292) as the bigger Longhorns (294) for the game, and trailed by one score with the ball midway through the first half.
But they also had two big turnovers, one resulting in a 52-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown, and another that halted a promising drive to go with several ill-timed penalties.
Coach Tommy Jones said there was plenty of good to go with the not-so-good.
“First, our kids fought to the end. I loved the effort,” Jones said. “But we’re still a very young team and we made ‘young team’ mistakes. You can’t put the ball on the ground against a team like Kell. Most games boil down to four or five plays and Kell made the four or five big plays you need to win.”
After blocking the opening punt, the Bears quickly marched to midfield. But the first big momentum swing came on the long fumble return. Bluff rallied on the next drive to get a 27-yard field goal from Michael Arbour to cut the lead to 7-3.
Kell extended the lead on back-to-back drives before Bluff later cut into a 20-3 deficit with a 1-yard TD run from Asher Wilson early in the second quarter.
That wasn’t enough, as the Longhorns eventually got three TD passes from junior Bryce Clavon to run out to a 26-10 halftime lead. They pushed the lead to 32-10 early in the third quarter on Clavon’s third TD pass of the night.
Bluff closed strong, though, as Wilson scored on another 1-yard plunge and capped the scoring with a 62-yard bomb to Jhace Justice in the waning seconds of the game.
It was a solid debut for Wilson, who was 13-of-22 for 149 yards, 1 TD, and no interceptions in his first varsity start. Justice had 4 catches for 92 yards and a score, and Connor Griffin led the rushing attack with 40 yards on 7 carries. But the Bears, accustomed to piling up 200 yards or more on the ground in recent years, were held to 143 yards on 41 carries.
“We’re going to try and build on the good things we did tonight and get to work on fixing the mistakes we made,” Jones said.
Bluff next will travel to Adairsville on Aug. 26, the first of two consecutive road games before opening their home schedule on Sept. 9 in a Region 8-4A battle with Chestatee.
