FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — It wasn't hard, and it didn't take long, for Jason Tester to pinpoint the issues in Flowery Branch's 32-7 loss to Class 3A No. 4 Stephens County Friday night.
"Stalled drives, missed opportunities, untimely penalties, dropped balls, defensively not fitting the right gap, just a lot of things that are fixable but you can't do against great teams," Tester said virtually moments after the final whistle blew. "(Stephens County) is a great team and took advantage of every mistake we made. This is exactly what we needed as far as understanding what you can and can't do against really good teams."
The Indians (3-0) picked off three Josh Oliver passes. After giving up a 72-yard Malik Dryden touchdown run early in the first quarter, they held the bruising running back to just 44 additional yards over his final 15 carries, covering 46 minutes of game time.
Trailing 20-7 with just under three minutes left in the half, the final sequence of the first half told the story. Branch (2-1) used a 23-yard run from Dryden and a 23-yard pass to Seth Larson to get down to the Indians' 2. But a personal foul penalty and a holding penalty on consecutive plays pushed the Falcons back to the 27. A Stephens County penalty gave Branch a final play with 5 seconds left, but the half ended with a dropped pass in the end zone. They had two other drops on deep balls that would have been touchdowns if converted in the first half.
"Just too many dropped passes where we could have helped our quarterback," Tester said. "We had our chances."
The pick-6 came after the Branch defense strip-sacked Stephens County quarterback Tripp Underwood, with Max Scott recovering it for Branch at the Indians' 39. But on a 4th-and-11, Oliver was picked off by Da'von Swinton, who returned it 75 yards for a touchdown and a 26-7 lead.
"The turning point was probably the interception return, but, you know, we missed a field goal, had a chance there at the end of the half and didn't score, and had some other chances to make things happen, and we just didn't execute the way we had been the first two weeks,' Tester said.
Meanwhile, Javin Gordon set the tone on the ground for the Indians. The junior running back scored on a 33-yard run four plays after Dryden's big run to tie the game at 7.
Stephens County began to take control from there. The defense held the Falcons on downs, and the offense responded with a 12-play drive that ended with a 37-yard field goal by Luke Waters for a 10-7 lead.
The Falcons did drive to the Indians 15 on their next possession, but a 31-yard field goal attempt by Brooks Recinella sailed wide left. Stephens County immediately answered again.
Gordon scored on a 5-yard run to cap a 10-play drive highlighted by a 53-yard pass from Underwood to Swinton. After a Branch punt, Waters added a 31-yard field goal for a 20-7 lead with 2:47 left in the half.
Stephens County coach Wes Tankersley felt his offense answering early was a turning point for his group.
"Scoring right after they got the lead and then going down and getting a field goal and then scoring again, I thought was huge for us," Tankersley said. "Then we started being able to get some hits on their running back on the defensive side and just tried to keep (Oliver) uncomfortable as much as possible. I was real proud of how we responded when we got behind."
The Indians scored the final 32 points. Underwood finished 7-of-12 for 144 yards, with all of that coming in the first half. Gordon had 179 yards on 27 carries and scored twice for Stephens County. Swinton had 75 yards on three catches and had two of the Indians' interceptions on defense.
Oliver finished 15-of-31 for 153 yards and 3 INTs. Jeremiah Ware had seven catches for 89 yards, and Larson had four catches for 50 yards for Branch.
It was a wild beginning as both teams traded turnovers in the first five plays of the game and then traded touchdowns in a 90 second-span.
The Indians' Santana Smith picked off an Oliver pass at their 48 on the Falcons' first possession. But the Falcons defense answered right back when they forced a fumble from tight end Aidan Butts after a 10-yard pass from Underwood and recovered at their 35.
Two plays later, Dryden rumbled 72 yards, throwing three Stephens County defenders aside with stiff arms as he outraced the defense for the score and a 7-0 Flowery Branch lead. The Indians answered that with Gordon's touchdown four plays later to tie the game at 7.
