COVINGTON, Ga. -- Ultimately too many miscues were costly to the Alcovy Tigers in a 17-3 home loss to Region 3-AAAAAA foe, Grovetown on Friday night.
“We made too many mistakes,” said Alcovy’s head football coach Chris Edgar. “To beat a good team like that, we made too many mistakes. We turned the ball over four times on offense and it’s hard to win that way.”
One of Alcovy’s lone offensive highlights of the night came when kicker Jose Ramos made a 40-yard field goal with 2:32 left in the third quarter, putting the Tigers on the board for the first time as they trailed Grovetown at that point, 7-3.
This came right after Quindrelin Hammonds, the fill-in quarterback for Cameron Anderson, who left the game midway through the second quarter with an injured right shoulder, had an incomplete pass in the end zone that just missed being a touchdown.
“Hammonds will do anything that we ask him to do,” said Edgar. “He’ll run through a wall, because he’s that kind of kid.”
“We came in a little slow,” said Hammonds. “We got hit with some adversity. I think we had a hard time trying to bounce back.”
“It was kind of new and in the moment,” Hammonds said, on filling in for Anderson. “I did my best and that’s all I can do.”
In the third quarter, Alcovy’s Dee Fanning intercepted the ball at the 1:11 mark, just to have Warriors’ Myles Jackson intercept the ball right back. This interception would prove costly to Alcovy as they went into the fourth quarter.
Grovetown took its time on offense at the beginning of the last frame. At the 6:22 mark, D’Angelo Durham got a touchdown as he carried from the 4-yard line. Donnie McLean’s extra point put the Warriors 14-3 ahead.
Another costly interception from Alcovy came with 3:54 left in the game. Jackson took the ball from the 45-yard line to the 31. And although they weren’t able to get a touchdown, McLean was more than able to get the three more points on the board with a field goal that provided the final margin.
The last time the two teams faced off against each other last season, the Tigers walked away with a 34-0 loss. And while this year’s score is an improvement Edgar says, “a loss is a loss.”
The game heated up in the second quarter when Grovetown took the lead.
From the 10-yard line, after three plays, Gregg Rodgers carried down the middle to the 6, on a first down. Durham then carried to the 3-yard line. With 10:01 left in the second quarter, Shamar Cofield was unable to get the ball in from one yard out. Durham would finally plunge in for a one-yard touchdown that gave the Warriors a 7-0 lead.
Things could’ve been worse for the Tigers.
Late in the second quarter, Grovetown’s offense became hungry to take a bigger lead. With 2:23 left in the half, Lamar Price completed a pass to the end zone from the 31-yard line. But, before the Warriors could start celebrating, a penalty was called, sending the Warriors back in yardage.
Alcovy’s Nico Johnson had an amazing play in the second frame, when Hammonds launched a long pass from the 25-yard line to the 48 where Johnson caught it. However an illegal motion penalty was called which sent the Tigers back in yardage. It was another example of how untimely offensive errors sunk the Tigers scoring chances.
Next week the Tigers (3-3, 0-1) will travel to Evans (3-2), which is coming off of a bye week. Meanwhile, Grovetown (3-3, 1-0) will host Heritage (3-2), which is also coming off of a bye week. Both Region 3-AAAAAA games will start at 7:30 p.m.
