The Alcovy High School football team suffered a lopsided 34-0 loss on the road to Grovetown Friday night in the Tigers’ first region game of the season.

Though the Tigers were without key players Adrian Robinson and Andre Thomas, on offense, and Kyrese Knox, in the secondary, Alcovy coach Chris Edgar said the team’s issues went far beyond being shorthanded.

“They physically out manned us on both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively, and that was a problem most of the night,” Edgar said. “We were shorthanded a little bit, but that’s not really an excuse. They just really took it to us on both sides. Offensively, they would hit us with some inside run plays. When they got in the red zone, they would throw it up to their big receiver whose got some college offers, and we just couldn’t physically match up to them.”

The Warriors (3-3) put the pressure on early as Taylor Youngblood threw a 28-yard pass to wide receiver Aidan Grayson for a touchdown at the end of the first quarter to go up 6-0. The Tigers (4-2) got a chance to answer at the start of the second but turned the ball over on downs.

In the final minutes of the second quarter, Youngblood threw another pass to Grayson, this time for a 15-yard touchdown, and the Warriors went up 12-0 heading into halftime.

“Defensively, we’ve got to make plays,” Edgar said. “We’ve got to make tackles. Again, we had some people in position to make plays, and we just didn’t come up with it. We have to play discipline assignment football.”

The Warriors did not let up in the third, scoring with seven minutes left in the quarter off a 15-yard pass to Davon Arrington. Kori Bryant completed the two-point conversion to put Grovetown up 20-0.

The Warriors scored twice more in the fourth quarter for a 34-0 lead, and a fumble by Alcovy in the final two minutes sealed it. Throughout, the Tigers had several turnovers, including two fumbles and an interception.

“Offensively, we have to re-establish some of that aggressive running that we did early in the year, and the offensive line, has just got to get on their blocks and stay on their blocks,” Edgar said. “Running backs have to hit holes, and they have to block as well. As a staff, we have to do a better job of putting our kids in position offensively to have success.”

Next week, the Tigers will be facing 3-2 Evans High School at home at 7:30 p.m. and will look to turn things around.

“I told the guys, we still have four region games, and our goals of making the playoffs are still very much alive,” Edgar said. “We just have to come out better and prepare. We’re a better football team than we showed, and we have to have that will and desire that we’re not going to let a loss like that happen again.”