ATLANTA — After it came back from a three-score deficit late, Social Circle fell just short of an improbable comeback with a 31-34 loss to KIPP Atlanta on Thursday.
It was midway through the third quarter in midtown at Eddie S. Henderson Stadium, and the Redskins trailed 10-27 as the offense was searching for ways to move the ball after a stagnant two and a half quarters.
KIPP opened the second half with a touchdown and scored again later in the third, but a five-drive swing put the Redskins right back in it.
Social Circle leaned on Remi Farmer and the pass game as the Warriors defensive front made it almost impossible for the Redskins to have success on the ground.
With the Redskins in KIPP territory, wide receiver AJ Bailey made a move and beat his man by multiple steps before he caught a pass from Farmer and eluded one more man before he went in for a 39-yard touchdown.
The Warriors got the ball back and put it right into the hands of running back Christopher Wilson, who had a career day.
Wilson took the ball on the first play of the drive and flipped the field. The senior back took it deep into Redskins territory — but he fumbled.
Social Circle jumped on the ball and put a lid right on the momentum KIPP generated from the run.
What happened next was a long drive that resulted in a touchdown on an 11-yard pass from Farmer to Elliot Hamilton.
The score trimmed the lead down to 24-27, but perhaps the biggest part of the Redskins comeback was what happened next.
Social Circle kicked the ball off as normal, and it was a high kick that fell around the KIPP 30-yard line on the hash.
The Warriors returner expected the ball to bounce out of bounds. Instead, the ball bounced up and died and the returner was over 10-yard from the ball.
This allowed Social Circle to sprint in and recover the kickoff with great field position.
One change that took place on that drive was the absence of Farmer, who went out due to an undisclosed injury.
In his place was backup Drake Reynolds, who led the team down before running back Kayden Fears punched it in on the goal line to give Social Circle its first lead of the day at 31-27.
“He[Farmer] was hurt there at the end of the second half,” said head coach Rob Patton. “Not sure what’s going on yet, but I was proud of Drake for stepping up and going in there doing a great job. He led us down there for a score to take the lead.”
Fears' score marked 21 unanswered points for the Redskins, but KIPP found a way to steal the show almost immediately.
Once again, it was Wilson.
Wilson broke off for a long run that set KIPP up in strong field position.
A few plays later, sophomore quarterback Lawrence Moreland broke off for an 11-yard touchdown run to put the Warriors back ahead at 34-31.
Social Circle went on to have two more chances to tie or take the lead.
The first ended on a fourth and long when a miscommunication between Reynolds and center Zay Colclough resulted in a fumble behind the line of scrimmage that ended in a turnover on downs.
However, the defense made a key stop to force a punt that gave the Redskins’ offense one more chance to make it happen.
On the first play of the drive, Reynolds looked for Hamilton on a deep ball, but KIPP was there as Travion Callaway picked it off to seal the deal for the Warriors.
Following the game, Patton spoke about the effort of his team to fight back, but he did not shy away from the miscues on Thursday.
“I don’t think we were mentally prepared for the game, we came out extremely flat in the first half. Hats off to KIPP, they played a great game,” Patton said. “But, we had a thousand opportunities to right the ship and win the thing we just didn’t do our part. We got to improve our tackling. All of their big plays, we had missed tackles. I was proud of the way we fought back in the second half to make it a ball game.”
Early action
Before the Redskins went on a run of scoring, the game seemed to be in the hands of KIPP for most of the first half and into the second.
The main reason — Wilson and the run game.
Wilson broke off on multiple big runs on his way to 266 rushing yards and one touchdown — good enough for 14.8 yards a carry.
The senior back is a big body and made it hard for the Redskins to take him down on the first, second or even third attempts.
On the first drive of the game, Social Circle managed to move the ball to midfield, but Farmer’s first pass of the game went into the wrong hands for a pick six.
Ladell Moreland picked the pass off and found daylight for a 60-yard interception return to put KIPP ahead early.
The Redskins punted on the ensuing drive, but it was a good one as it planted the Warriors on their own three-yard line.
Next play — fumble.
The snap was botched and the Redskins recovered on the KIPP one-yard line. A few plays later, Fears took the ball in for a one-yard touchdown.
Social Circle’s defense responded well with a turnover on downs and even an interception from Hamilton, but KIPP eventually broke it open late in the half.
On a fourth and long in the red zone, Lawrence connected with Malachi Heard who was wide open for a 12-yard touchdown.
Bryce Murphy knocked down a 27-yard field goal to bring the lead down to 10-14, but KIPP added on two more scores in the second half before the Redskins’ comeback.
Stats and What’s to Come
Farmer finished his day with a 15/27 line for 231 yards and two touchdowns.
Hamilton finished with nine catches for 138 yards as well as a touchdown and one interception. Bailey ended his day with five catches for 74 yards and one touchdown.
It was a tough day on the ground for the Redskins. The team rushed for 95 yards with Fears and Christian Paggett, but they averaged only 2.6 yards per attempt.
Thursday was the first loss of the year for Social Circle, and Patton hopes the team can rebound in a strong way when they take on Whitefield Academy(1-1) at home on Friday, Sept. 5 at Redskins Stadium.
“We just got to come back with the right attitude on Monday,” Patton said. “Get to the practice field and look to get better. We can sit there and mope around about it but it wontt change anything. We got to get back to work. Last year we had that close one that we kind of threw away early in the year and our kids responded the right way, so hopefully we will again this year.”
