The Heritage Patriots almost came up with a comeback to match the enormity of what was at stake in Friday's matchup of unbeaten teams, pitting Heritage against Flowery Branch.

Flowery Branch, the No. 3 team in the state, became the No. 1 team in Region 8-AAAA with a 21-13 win over Heritage, but it took all 48 minutes thanks to a tenacious comeback from the home team.

Heritage (6-1) trailed 14-0 in the second half, before it finally broke through with 5:28 left in the game. After struggling throughout the contest, the Patriots' offense finally got rolling, completing an 8-play, 69-yard touchdown drive. Dominic Craft put the Patriots on the scoreboard on a 32-yard run on a sweep to the left side.

Heritage then went for the onside kick and it was recovered by the kicker, Chris Raines, giving the Patriots the ball back on the Flowery Branch 46-yard line.
After two short runs, Heritage coach Chad Frazier called Craft's number again on the same sweep to the left.

Once again, Craft came through dashing 37 yards for the touchdown. After a failed extra point, the Patriots were just a touchdown and a two-point conversion away from overtime with 4:02 to go.

Heritage kicked off to the Falcons, this time, and came up with a stop.

On the ensuing offensive drive, Quami Stanley reeled off a 23-yard run to put the Patriots on the Falcons' 22. After a pass interference call and a 6-yard run by Stanley Heritage faced third-and-four from the 5-yad line.

With no time outs, the Patriots spiked the ball to stop the clock.

They then went back to the well running a left sweep to Craft. This time the senior, who finished with 79 yards on eight carries, couldn't get free and was stopped at the line of scrimmage.

"That play had gotten us two touchdowns," Frazier said. "I felt like they were probably thinking pass, maybe we'll catch one and to get it in the hands of the fastest kid on our team... It's not a traditional call, but it was the best play tonight."

It took Frazier a while to find the best play as Heritage put up 163 of its 254 yards of total offense in the fourth quarter.

The Patriots especially had trouble in the first half, when they managed just 65 yards, with 63 coming on 18 carries.

"We struggled on missed assignments and bad technique at times," Frazier said. "There was no lack of effort, we just didn't execute very well."

Flowery Branch executed well enough, with the help of a dramatic catch and a penalty to go up by two touchdowns in the first half.

Kanler Cooker threw a 48-yard pass to Casey Osborne to set up a 24-yard touchdown run by Jeremy Haley for the first score of the game late in the first quarter.

The Falcons then got what would be the winning score on a13-yard pass from Coker to CJ Curry, which came after a pass interference call.

"I was so impressed with our defense," Frazier said.
The Falcons added their third score on a 6-yard run by Haley early in the third quarter.

Heritage will travel to Habersham Central Friday with a chance to clinch a playoff spot for the second year in a row.