MCDONOUGH, Ga. — The Alcovy Tigers took the field against the Union Grove Wolverines Thursday, Aug. 8 in a scrimmage one week ahead of the season opener.
Thursday’s matchup gave Tigers' head coach Spencer Fortson a chance to see how a few key spots on his roster fare in live competition. In particular, Alcovy’s new snap caller.
“My main point was being able to see what Ayden [Goddard] could do at the helm offensively,” Fortson said. “We’ve seen some good things from him and our guys up front. We lean our hat on the guys up front on our offensive line and defensive line. We’ve seen some great things from the offensive line, some guys stepped up for us tonight to where we can see them helping us out on Friday night.”
When the game began, it was Union Grove that got it started offensively to put the Wolverines ahead 7-0.
On the ensuing drive, Goddard delivered.
A deep pass from the lefty quarterback to senior wideout Ashton Hawkins set the Tigers offense up inside the Wolverines’ 20-yard line.
Facing a fourth down shortly after, Fortson rolled the dice and trusted Goddard, who connected with Kaedon Booker in the corner of the endzone for a 11-yard touchdown pass.
A successful two-point conversion from Brandon Scott on the ground gave the Tigers the 8-7 advantage.
After a slow second quarter, both teams traded interceptions on the final two drives of the half.
Goddard threw a pick that was returned for a touchdown by the Wolverines, but a penalty on the return negated the score while turnover stood.
Just plays later, Alcovy answered with an interception of its own to keep Union Grove from taking the lead before halftime.
With a full half of starters on the field, Fortson wanted to point out the play of his defensive line following the game.
“We were getting back there, but we weren’t making the plays we needed to make,” Fortson said. “Just some bad technique, but like I tell the guys all the time, ‘As long as we run at the football full speed 110 percent, we can have a little of the bad technique as long as we give 110 percent effort.’ Those are some of the small things we need to go in and correct. Overall, I see the work that they put in, we are looking forward to them getting better.”
In the first drive following halftime, the Wolverines held the Tigers to a punt, which led to Union Grove taking the lead and never looking back.
On the drive following the punt, Wolverines’ Landen Harris took his carry over 50 yards for a touchdown to put his team ahead 14-8.
Later in the half when many of the starters were off the field for the day, Union Grove got its second interception of the game.
This time, it went for six to put the final touches on the Wolverines 21-8 win ahead of the season.
With the scrimmage done and behind them, Alcovy now turns its attention to the regular season opener with Arabia Mountain.
The Tigers will open their season at home at Sharp Stadium against the Rams on Thursday, Aug. 15. at 7:30 p.m.
