TOCCOA, Ga. — Stephens County coach Wes Tankersley smiled when asked about his super senior Cam Lacey.
“I sure am glad he’s on our side,” he said moments after watching his Indians hold off Flowery Branch 27-11 on Friday at The Reservation.
The Falcons (2-1) had contained Lacey for just 22 total yards in the first half. It took just one play for the shifty, speedy do-it-all player to change everything.
Initially it looked like Lacey was going to make the biggest mistake of the game. Then he changed it.
Lacey dropped the second half kickoff, scooped up the bobbling ball at the 1, serpentined his way through the Branch return team, and eventually outraced a huge chasing group of Falcons down the right sideline for an electrifying 99-yard touchdown to take any wind out of the Falcons sails coming out of the half.
“That was a big momentum changer for sure,” Flowery Branch coach Jason Tester said. “We felt really good going into the half despite not playing that well. That was a tough way to open the half.”
“Cam’s really good. He can make a play at any moment,” Tankersley said. “But we had a lot of kids really step up tonight in some key roles.”
Javin Gordon pounded out 142 yards on 19 carries, and scored twice. It was part of a 240-yard effort by the Indians, who were able to take control of the game in the fourth quarter.
The Indians defense held the Falcons, who came in averaging over 200 yards rushing a game, to just 82 yards on 22 carries on the ground. Myles Ivey had just 39 yards and Malik Dryden just 27 as the kickoff return helped force the Branch offense to the air.
Branch quarterback Brody Jordan was 10-of-20 for 109 yards but also had one interception and no touchdowns.
“We came out with some relaxed passion in the second half and you can’t do that,” Tester said. “Stephens is a really good team and has a very good defense. We’re going to learn from this, we’re going to grow and we’re going to come back and be better.”
The defenses opened the game with a pair of stops but the Falcons got the first traction on offense driving to the Indians’ 10 before the drive stalled. Marco Velasquez eventually kicked a 27-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead.
The Indians took control from there the rest of the first half holding the Branch offense to just 1 first down over the final 15-plus minutes.
Meanwhile, Stephens County finally got its struggling offense going. After a long kickoff return to the Branch 42, Ben Stowe did all of the work for the Indians’ first score.
The senior quarterback had three runs down to the Falcons 26, a 24-yard pass to Corey Richie, and then Stowe capped the quick drive with a 1-yard scoring run for a 7-3 lead.
The Falcons later appeared to kick the Indians into a hole with a 47-yard quick kick on 3rd-and-29 at their own 37. The Falcons defense could not hold on.
Stephens County went 86-yards in 8 plays, with the Indians’ run game getting a 15-yard run from Brock Tankersley into Falcons territory and then Gordon capped the long drive with a bruising 29-yard touchdown run, breaking six tackles along the way, to give Stephens County a 14-3 lead it would take into the half.
Lacey’s kickoff return initially appeared to blow things open.
But the Falcons answered on their first drive of the half, marching 58 yards with Jordan bolting 27-yards up the middle for a touchdown to pull them within 21-11 after a 2-point pass to Ethan Fetterman.
But the Indians came right back going 84 yards in 10 plays with Gordon scoring again on a 2-yard run following a 10-yard run by Lacey for a 27-11 lead.
From there, the Stephens County defense did the rest. The Falcons manged just three first downs over the final 16 minutes, got stopped once on downs, and threw an interception.
SCORING SUMMARY
Branch........3......0.......8.....0 -- 11
Stephens.....7.....7.....13.....0 -- 27
First Quarter
F -- Velasquez 27 FG 3-0, 3:24
S -- Stowe 1 run (Colton Bartmas kick) 7-3, 1:11
Second Quarter
S -- Javin Gordon 29 run (Bartmas kick) 14-3, 5:00
Third Quarter
S -- Lacey 99 kickoff return (Bartmas kick) 21-3, 11:45
F -- Brody Jordan 27 run (pass to Fetterman) 21-11, 8:29
S -- Javin Gordon 29 run (kick failed) 27-11, 3:51
