CUMMING, Ga. — North Forsyth knew it had to establish a running game to have success against Archer on Thursday.
The Archer defense said not-so-fast.
The Tiger defense, led by their defensive line, held the Raiders to just 81 yards rushing en route to a 35-16 win in the Corky Tell + Dave Hunter Classic at West Forsyth's Wolverine Stadium.
The Raiders had just 41 yards rushing at halftime -- 88 total.
"Early on, we knew we had to stay committed to the run, and we thought we would be able to pop some things later," North Forsyth coach Robert Craft said. "We just couldn't run it enough early on to get the rhythm we needed, which left our defense out there too long."
North Forsyth's offense was lackluster most of the evening. The Raiders' only points in the first half came off a Caden Macias 27-yard field goal, and they didn't find the end zone until late in the third quarter.
"We started slow and made two critical mistakes on special teams and offense early," Craft said. "But in non-region games like this, you try and find out, and Archer is a good 7A football team, a very physical team with a lot of speed. That's what we needed to see."
Those two NoFo mistakes were cashed in for touchdowns by the Tigers. Kendall Lee was the first to make the Raiders' offense pay when he picked off North quarterback Elijah Seaney and scampered for a 15-yard score with 10:34 left in the first half.
Later in the second quarter, Archer pouched on a muff North punt, and a play later, Jonathan Stafford (13-137 yards receiving) hauled in a 15-yard Jordan Do (28 of 47 passing for 279 yards and three TDs) pass for the Tigers' third TD of the game and a 21-0 lead.
There was some good for the Raiders, though. The defense held Archer to 87 rushing yards, 6-of-15 on third down, and picked off Do twice.
"I was pleased with how well our defense played, especially in the first half," Craft said. "I thought we created some turnovers in the second half.
The Raiders scored their first touchdown with 4:31 left in the third quarter when Brady Holbrook hauled in a 17-yard pass from Seaney. Their second came with 11:52 left in the game on a 24-yard pass from Seaney to Cole Smith.
Archer added a score with 55 seconds left in the third quarter on a pass from Do to Isaac Michel and a Jason Fisher 19-yard rushing TD with 2:50 to go.
Jacob Shirley led the Raiders with 42 yards rushing on four carries. Cole Smith hauled in six catches for 58 yards and a TD. Brady Holbrook caught four passes for 50 yards and a score. Seaney was 18-of-35 for 140 yards, one interception and two TDs.
