Tiftarea falls in a wild contest against Sherwood, 39-26

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Tiftarea’s Jack Raines fights through a Sherwood block Friday night. Jennifer Lumsden/sgasports.net

September 1, 2012

Tiftarea falls in a wild contest against Sherwood, 39-26

Anonymous CNHI The Tifton Gazette Sat Sep 01, 2012, 10:46 PM EDT

TIFTON — Big plays and key turnovers were the deciding factor Friday night in Chula as the Tiftarea Academy Panthers fell to the Sherwood Christian Eagles, 39-26.

The Panther offense was able to control the clock and keep Sherwood's offense on the sideline for over 30 minutes of the game, but Sherwood's six scoring drives only needed a total of 3:12 of game time.

Five Tiftarea turnovers also helped Sherwood hand the Panthers their second loss of the season.

Tiftarea started the game strong, forcing Sherwood to punt after going three and out on their first two drives of the game.

However, Sherwood would later take advantage of an interception off of a pass by Tiftarea quarterback Rob Flick.

As a result of the turnover, Sherwood would score on a 50-yard quarterback run by Dalton Todd.

Tiftarea would later answer the Sherwood score,

That answer was a Flick to Taylor Folsom on a 23-yard touchdown pass, one play after a 59-yard run by Ross Sutton.

Sherwood swung the momentum back in their favor when T.J. Clay returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown to make it 13-7 after the failed extra point attempt. After the Panthers went three and out on their next drive, another big play made it 19-7 when Clay broke a 42-yard run on third and 15.

Tiftarea struck back, though, with an 11-play, 86-yard drive highlighted by a 20-yard pass from Flick to Sam Varnadoe and a Ethan Mims' 19-yard run. Flick capped off the 5:27 drive hitting Folsom from nine yards out for their second touchdown connection of the night.

After the defense forced Sherwood into another three and out, a Tiftarea fumble set the Eagles up in Panther territory. The defense held again when Clay missed a 42-yard field goal, but another fumble gave Sherwood the ball on Tiftarea's 26-yard line.

Once again, the defense stood strong as Jake Ball intercepted Todd's third down pass at the 5-yard line to keep the halftime score 19-13.

The Panther offense couldn't get going in the third quarter. After Tiftarea went three and out on the initial drive of the second half, Sherwood took advantage.

In their longest scoring drive of the night, 1:31, the Eagles ran the ball in from 14 yards out one play after Todd kept the drive alive with a 45-yard completion on thirdrd and 7. On Tiftarea's next drive, Sherwood picked off Flick trying to hit Folsom for another big gain and returned it 65 yards to the Panther 2-yard line.

Todd scored on the next play to make it 32-13.

Later in the game, Todd put the Eagles on top 39-13 with a 66-yard run.

The Panthers still had some fight left in them, though. After a 47-yard kickoff return by Bailey Cunningham, Flick and Mims connected on a 51-yard completion that set up a six-yard touchdown run by Mims.

On their next drive, a Flick-Cunningham 18-yard gain and runs by Matthew Turner of 11 and 17 yards didn't amount to any points when Flick was sacked on fourth and 5.

After Sherwood went three and out, Tiftarea used a 21-yard run from Turner and a 23-yard run from Flick on fourth and 1 to set up Varnadoe's 15-yard touchdown catch from Flick with 1:08 remaining.

The offensive leaders for the Panthers were Flick, who finished the game 22-for-40 for 256 yards passing; Turner added 14 carries for 90 yards rushing; while Varnadoe had six catches for 55 yards.

With the loss, the Panthers fall to 0-2 on the season. They are off next week, but will be back in action Sept. 14 at home against Southwest Georgia Academy.

Tiftarea’s 1992 state title team will be honored on that night.

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Tiftarea falls in a wild contest against Sherwood, 39-26

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