FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Flowery Branch had shot to win it on the final drive of the game but fell short in a 32-28 loss to Loganville at Falcon Field on Friday.
The win drops the Falcons to fourth place in the region with a road trip to Heritage next Thursday.
"I gotta give credit to Loganville," Flowery Branch coach Jason Tester said. "They played really well and really forced the issue with their running back and established the line of scrimmage. So we know anytime where that happens, you're setting yourself up to lose the ball game. Despite all that stuff, we still had a chance to win the ball game. It just didn't happen."
Loganville running back Joshua Barnes set the tone, rushing 35 times for 185 yards and three touchdowns. It was a stark contrast from what the Red Devils had done in the previous nine games. All season, Loganville rushed just over 800 yards.
But it was the final 2:06 of the first half that was the real turning point of the game.
After going ahead 14-3 on a Josh Oliver 27-yard pass to Elijah Kiep, the Red Devils mounted a big-play comeback to grab the lead.
Loganville had a solid kickoff return to their 43-yard line to start the drive. Then quarterback Brody Hannah stepped up and fired a 60-yard bomb to Charles Barkley-Smith down to the Branch four-yard line. A play later, Joshua Barnes stormed into the end zone for the four-yard score. He also scored on the two-point try to cut the Falcons' lead to three points, 14-11.
OK, the Falcons are good, right? All they need to do is take care of the ball for the next 1:31. That didn't happen—two plays into the drive, Cam Haynes fumbles and Loganville pounces on it. Now, the Red Devils are in business on the Branch 47-yard. Hannah connects with Barkley-Smith on a 14-yard pass, then the Falcons are flagged twice -- a 15-yard personal foul and a pass interference. Let's fast forward for the sake of words: Hannah finds Ahmed Souare for an 11-yard touchdown pass to give Loganville its first lead, 17-14. The extra point upped the lead, 18-14 at the half.
Hannah was 20-of-36 for 201 yards passing, one touchdown and three interceptions.
"I think we pressed a little bit," Flowery Branch coach Jason Tester said. "Cam's not used to taking handoffs, but we got him used to it this week, and he had a little slip and fumbled, and they turned it into points. "It's unfortunate, but that's the way it is. But the biggest disappointment in the first half was our lack of discipline. We take a great deal of pride in being able to have a next-play mentality, good, bad, or indifferent, and we lost our composure. There were too many personal fouls."
In the second half, Loganville started with back-to-back turnovers -- Ty Akins picked off Hannah for the second time, and Kiep picked up a fumble. The Falcons only cashed one of those in for pay dirt, the fumble. Griffin Harper was a big reason the Falcons got on the board when he took off for a 35-yard run down to the Red Devil's four-yard line. On the next play, Oliver found Seth Larson in the back of the end zone for the four-yard TD pass and the lead, 20-18. The extra point pushed it up 21-18.
Over the next three drives, the lead would change twice, including a Branch drive that stalled at the Loganville two-yard line.
Barnes scored again, for the Red Devils to take back the lead 25-21, and after the stalled drive, Cam Haynes picked off Hannah on the Red Devils ensuing drive. Oliver and the offense went to work quickly. Oliver hit Larson on a 28-yard pass, then finished the drive on a two-yard TD run to grab the lead again, 28-25.
But the Red Devils slowly answered back for the lead, again on the back of Barnes. Barnes recorded runs of 8, 11, 7, 10,15, 3, 1, 8, and the four-yard touchdown run to give the Red Devils the lead for good, 32-28.
"It's tough when your defensive line is getting swallowed up by their offensive line," Tester said. "We had some missed tackles as well, but they just wore us down. 45 (Barnes) did a great job. He's a good football player, so they did exactly what I would have done to us. We couldn't stop it, but there were some missed opportunities."
Flowery Branch had a shot at the end, but Oliver's final heave to the end zone was picked off.
Oliver was 17-of-35 for 221 yards and two touchdowns. Larson had six catches for 89 yards and a touchdown, and Jeremiah Ware hauled in four passes for 67 yards. Griffin Harper had six carries for 49 yards to lead the Falcons rushing.
