Gary Corsair • Clay County Progress Tate Roberts, No. 5, covers Georgia Force wide-out Wade Combee like a blanket. The pass fell incomplete.
By Gary Corsair
Senior Sports Writer
Shame on anyone who thinks Hayesville lost to Georgia Force Christian because the Yellow Jackets failed to score on a two-point conversion try late in the fourth quarter at Frank R. Long Memorial Stadium Friday.
Yes, Hayesville lost 7-6, but there was no failure on the part of the black-and-gold.
The game was decided when a larger, more experienced line stopped a determined, hard-charging Tre Graves just inches from the goal line.
There was no failure on the part of Hayesville Coach Chad McClure, who elected to play for a win instead a point-after-touchdown kick that would have sent the game into overtime.
“I thought going for the two-pointer was the thing to do,” remarked McClure. “Football is a game of inches. Forty-eight minutes and it came down to that.”
There’s certainly no faulting Graves for Hayesville’s fourth loss in four games.
Graves’ touchdown on an 8-yard blast with just 2:11 left to play gave Hayesville hope and its first touchdown since the opening quarter of the opening game — a drought of 14 consecutive quarters.
That wasn’t his finest moment. That hard-nosed dynamo did everything but line the field and stock the concession stand.
Graves rushed for 87 yards on just 13 carries, averaged 31.5 yards on kick and punt returns and intercepted two passes.
The way he did things. On his second interception, Graves literally tricked the Georgia Force quarterback to throwing outside. Graves leaned toward a receiver running an inside route, then broke to the sideline when the passer committed to throwing that way. In a blink, Graves broke to his left, stepped in front of the receiver and picked off the ball. Brilliant.
Graves’ first interception killed a first-quarter drive after Georgia Force moved 70 yards in six downs.
His fourth-quarter punt return was even more impressive. Graves fielded the kick at Hayesville’s 45 with 6:55 left to play, shook a would-be tackler, spun off another and exploded through two other white shirts for an additional 25 yards. Beautiful.
Bottom line, the Yellow Jackets wouldn’t have been in the game if Graves hadn’t been on the field.
Ditto for quarterback Tate Roberts, who led the offense with determination and courage.
“For him, it was probably his best game. He scrambled well and extended some possessions,” McClure stated.
Roberts completed 6-of-11 passes for 79 yards while dealing with a painful, throbbing a subungual hematoma — a collection of blood under an injured thumbnail on his passing hand. Ever smashed your thumb with a hammer? Then you can relate.
“He’s a tough kid,” McClure praised. “He’s a competitor and he really wants to do well.”
Roberts’ thumbnail came off at halftime, but he never considered missing a play on offense or defense. Instead, he engineered Hayesville’s only scoring drive.
On first-and-10 at Hayesville’s 37, with 2:32 on the fourth-quarter clock, Roberts rolled out and hit Kendall Boyer on a sideline curl for 10 yards. Next, Roberts connected with Mike Mauney on the most spectacular play of the night. Chased out of the pocket, Roberts scrambled to his left as Mauney motored down the visitor’s sideline, then flung the ball high and long as he was knocked to the turf. Roberts perfectly led a thoroughly covered Mauney, who made a fantastic diving catch at the 8-yardline. The 45-yard strike set up Graves for his touchdown jaunt on the next play.
Mauney also had a big night, carrying the rock four times for 20 yards and catching three passes for 65 yards.
Fullback Dawson Devane was also productive in a big way. Double D amassed 56 yards on 11 carries before suffering a hip pointer.
“Roberts and Devane are two of the toughest kids I’ve ever dealt with in high school football,” said team physician Dr. Travis Williams.
The Hayesville roster is filled with tough kids. Unfortunately, they aren’t all healthy.
“Colton Bruggers was out, Ben Bethel was out, Lance Coker has been out,” McClure said. “That’s three skilled players that can really help us. I hope to get them back.”
On the bright side, Kendall Boyer turned in a glowing performance as receiver and cornerback.
“He did a good job. It was his first game back after shoulder surgery,” McClure said.
Hayesville’s defense did a real good job against an undefeated team averaging 43.8 points, 206 yards passing, and 98.8 yards rushing.
“I was pleased with the effort. We knew they’d be tough. They threw for more than 400 yards against us last year,” McClure said. “Our defense didn’t have a lot of tackles, but we had people with four or five apiece, had some sacks and a lot of tackles for losses.”
Boyer and Kaden Ledford had five tackles apiece, Brendon Collins had two sacks and Will Brown and Patrick Denton had four tackles each. Brown and Kasen Chastain also had sacks.
The pass-happy Blue Knights accumulated 270 via the airwaves, but Hayesville limited Georgia Force to two yards rushing.
Georgia Force’s first three drives ended with a punt and two interceptions. The blue-and-white finally tripped the scoreboard late in the first quarter on a two-yard run followed by a point after kick.
Georgia Force tried to pad its 7-0 lead with a 47-yard field goal attempt with :21.4 left in the first half, but the kick was short by three yards.
Georgia Force tried again in the third quarter, but the 42-yard field goal attempt was wide.
Hayesville’s defense frustrated Georgia Force into the fourth quarter, but the Jackets couldn’t capitalize.
“I wish our offense could have more productive. It seems like we’re always putting ourselves behind the sticks. We have to do a better job on first and second down,” McClure said. “We’ve got to get our offense going and figure out how to put the ball in the end zone.”
Sporadic offensive production has nothing to do with effort. The Yellow Jackets are working hard and making progress.
“Our line is really, really young. No seniors. We’re getting that experience and its going to help us down the road. We’re a very young team, but I think we’re going to get better.”
Meanwhile, the Yellow Jackets need to limit mistakes. Hayesville averaged 5.3 yards per carry, but was flagged for 12 penalties.
“We gave up some stuff. We had some breakdowns. A lot of them came at times that really hurt us. They killed our extended drives or kept their drive alive,” McClure said. “Penalties hurt, especially on offense. We have some things we have to clean up.”
Hayesville’s presentation should be cleaner at Concord Christian (1-0) in Knoxville at 5 p.m. Friday.
The second half of the season promises to be more rewarding than the first.
“Nobody wants to be 0-4,” McClure said. “I told the team that all our goals are still right in front of us. We talked about how we were competitive against conference teams last year. We will still want to win a conference championship. It’s not out of the realm of possibility.”
Hayesville 0-0-0-6 = 6
G. Force 7-0-0-0 = 7
Total plays: G. Force 50, Hayesville 45
First downs: G. Force 14, Hayesville 12
Penalties: Hayesville 12, G. Force 9
Penalty yards: Hayesville 78, G. Force 65
Passing: G. Force 20-of-32, 270 yards, Hayesville 6-of-11, 79 yards
Rushing: Hayesville 32/168 yds, G. Force 16/-2 yards
Punting: G. Force 3/105/35.0, Hayesville 5/168/33.6