FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Flowery Branch left no doubt at Falcon Field on homecoming Friday night.
The Falcons piled up 34 points by halftime en route to a 48-0 blowout win over Winder-Barrow on head coach Jason Tester's 50th birthday.
Tester, celebrating a birthday milestone, also rejoiced in his team's big win and rose to third place in the Region 8-5A standings. Yes, take another bite of that cookie cake, coach.
"We've got enough cookie cake to feed the team," he said jokingly.
The win was definitely a nice birthday present to Tester as his Falcons dominated on both sides of the ball, including four sacks in the first half, held the Bulldoggs to just 128 total yards of offense, and rolled up 445 yards on offense.
Defensively, the Falcons held the Bulldoggs, who came into the game averaging 252.3 rushing yards per game, to just 77 yards on the ground.
"After giving up 38 points to Clarke Central last week, we focused on getting back to the basics this week and just alignment assignment and really turning our guys lose," Tester said. "Our defensive staff deserves a lot of credit, as well as our kids. They fixed those things from last week."
The Falcons also established a rushing attack without injured No. 1 running back Malik Dryden.
Jordan Elder, who made an incredible 42-yard run for paydirt in the first half, finished the night with 96 yards rushing to lead the team. The Falcons were able to record 178 yards on the ground.
"The running game really stepped up this week, which was big for us," Tester said. We didn't know what we would get with how big they were defensively. They do a lot of things that make it tough on a team to run, and our guys did a great job tonight."
After the Falcons scored the first touchdown late in the opening quarter -- a 1-yard Josh Oliver run -- it opened the floodgates. They exploded for four touchdowns in the second quarter to take control. All four scores were 20 yards or more, including a 40-yard strike to Seth Larson, a 20-yard pass to Jeremiah Ware, a 42-yard rushing score by Jordan Elder, and a 58-yard Oliver bomb to Seth Larson.
"Our offense did a great job driving down in scoring in the first, then the defense getting a stop," Tester said. "Our sideline was excited all night, and we looked across the field and saw defeat, so we just kept saying keep the pedal down and let's go. Josh, Jeremiah and Seth were big in our passing game tonight."
Oliver finished the night 17-of-25 for 222 yards and four touchdowns. He also rushed for another touchdown. Ware hauled in three catches for 94 yards, and Seth Larson had six catches for 77 yards and three TDs. Elijah Kiep finished with four catches for 42 yards.
The Falcons landed a massive right hook on the Bulldogs after going up 13-0 when Brooks Recinella booted a perfect onside kick to an unsuspecting Bulldoggs' return team. The Falcons recovered the kick, and a couple of plays later, Ware hauled in the 20-yard TD pass from Oliver for a 20-0 lead.
"We were able to steal a possession with the onside kick," Tester said. We saw something on film that we really liked; we almost kicked it too hard, but it worked out, and we were able to jump up on them."
The Falcons added two more scores in the second half, an 11-yard pass to Larson and a 31-yard toss from Camo Campbell to NeSean Dorsey. Freshman Tyler Robinson also had two interceptions on the night.
The road doesn't get any easier for the Falcons as they'll travel to No. 4 Jefferson next week.
"It'll be a huge challenge for sure," he said. "We talk to our kids about being focused on the preparation, and let's put ourselves in a position to be successful. All of our goals are still achievable. Jefferson, though, is a different beast."
