South Gwinnett's 26 Unanswered Points Leads To Come From Behind Win Over Pebblebrook
The first Friday night of high school football in Georgia is in the books and for the South Gwinnett Comets, the night ends with a hard fought come from behind 26-18 win over the Pebblebrook Falcons. The Comets found themselves trailing early in the first quarter as the Falcons got their offense going with a trick play off the first snap of the game. Catching South Gwinnett off guard, Pebblebrook’s Qamar Grant would connect with Rico Jones on a swing pass, then Jones would hit TJ Holmes for a 72 yard touchdown as the Falcons would take the early 6-0 lead.
The Jones and Holmes would connect for a second time in the opening quarter and the Comets found themselves trailing 12-0. Later in the first, the Falcons defense, which had been playing well to start the game, would add another touchdown after John Floyd would strip the ball away from the Comets and return it for the score, putting Pebblebrook up 18-0. Eventually, South Gwinnett’s defense would settle in and begin locking down the Falcons for the remainder of the game. Unfortunately for Pebblebrook, costly offensive penalties also played a role in their struggles on that side of the ball and the Comets would start to inch their way back in the game tacking on a pair of field goals in the second quarter to trail 18-6 at the half.
With their defense continuing to hold down their side of the ball in the third quarter, South Gwinnett began to gain some offensive momentum as they attacked the Falcons with their ground game and found success, putting together a positive drive and ending the quarter with a first and goal. The Comets would then open the fourth quarter with a quarterback keeper up the middle by Nate Miller and South Gwinnett trailed 18-13. The Comets defense, still not giving into the Falcons’ offense, would force Pebblebrook to punt on the ensuing possession and then the Comets would capitalize with another Miller rushing touchdown to take their first lead of the night, 19-18.
The Comets would solidify their win late in the fourth when Miller connect with AJ Pigford for an 85 yard touchdown and with the extra point, the Comets would take a 26-18 lead, which would be the final score. “It was a big win, the kids fought hard. We got down early, turned the ball over, made some mistakes and the kids just stayed focused, the coaches stayed focus and we kept our poise and came back and won a big time football game,” Lamar said of the Comets’ win. Lamar credited the South Gwinnett defense for their play Friday night as well as the offensive side of the ball and their ability to play “physical”.
We knew they have some explosive players and we had to stay in front of them,” Lamar said acknowledging that the Falcons got the best of them early in the opening quarter, however the Comets did not go into a panic mode and stuck “to the game plan”. Now with Pebblebrook in the rearview, South Gwinnet will prepare for county rival, Meadowcreek next Friday on the road.
