Falcons unable to hold off Cardinals

PILOT MOUNTAIN — East Surry punched its ticket to the Candy 16 with a 37-20 win over Forbush on Friday.

The Cardinals and Falcons went back-and-forth throughout the first half, with the groups combining to attain six occasions on the primary seven possessions. Forbush made it a one-score recreation with a landing to start out the second half, however then East Surry held the Falcons offense scoreless for the rest of the sport. Forbush’s closing 4 possessions featured a punt, an interception and two turnovers on downs.

It was a conflict of offensive kinds as East Surry, who ranks within the prime 10 of the state amongst all classifications with almost 250 yards passing per recreation, confronted off with Forbush’s primarily speeding offense. Forbush is considered one of solely 10 groups within the state to have rushed at the least 470 occasions getting into the second spherical, and the Falcons averaged slightly below 300 yards speeding per recreation via 11 video games.

East Surry (11-0) racked up 478 whole yards to Forbush’s 364. The Playing cards had 358 yards passing and 120 yards speeding, whereas the Falcons rushed for 305 yards and handed for 59.

Following every week during which he was held under 175 yards passing, Cardinal quarterback Folger Boaz exploded for a season-high 358 yards in opposition to Forbush. The junior accomplished 20-of-29 passes, half of which went to Layton Allen. Allen led all receivers with a career-high 10 receptions for 165 yards and a landing.

Boaz’s different passing TD got here throughout the recreation’s opening drive. The Cardinals went 72 yards in 9 performs and capped the drive with a 21-yard cross from Boaz to Trey Armstrong. Stephen Brantley’s PAT made it 7-0.

The Falcons (8-4) appeared to construct of final week’s 523-yard speeding efficiency that helped Forbush safe its first playoff win since 2004. Derek Matthews and Luke Bennett alternated carries on Forbush’s first drive till Matthews broke free for a 47-yard landing run. East Surry maintained the lead after a missed PAT.

The groups traded touchdowns once more as the sport moved into the second quarter. Neither workforce transformed the additional level, so East led 13-12.

Forbush appeared to have East’s passing recreation beneath management on the next drive, and the Falcons even sacked Boaz for the primary time. Joe Hennings and Ayden Gardner introduced the QB down for a 3-yard loss to arrange third-and-18, however East transformed on a 43-yard cross from Boaz to Luke Brown. East Surry failed to seek out the tip zone after Brown’s reception, however Brantley did convert a 29-yard subject purpose.

Forbush had an opportunity to take the lead with a landing however as an alternative needed to punt for the primary time. Matthews was dragged down for a loss by East’s Gavin Atkins after simply crossing into Cardinal territory, then QB Andrew Hutchens was sacked by Kyle Zinn for an 11-yard loss. The Cardinals capitalized on that cease with a Boaz landing cross to Brown with simply 18 seconds left within the half.

Forbush obtained the second-half kickoff and stayed true to its technique. Matthews and Bennett took turns speeding and ultimately discovered the tip zone after a 10-play, 4:58 drive. Matthews tried a cross for the 2-point conversion, nevertheless it was swatted by East’s Luke Bowman to go away the rating at 23-18.

The Falcons had one other likelihood to take the lead after forcing a three-and-out. Brantley positioned a 59-yard punt on the Falcons’ 5-yard line, however the duo of Matthews and Bennett introduced Forbush close to midfield. Nonetheless, a deal with for a loss by Armstrong and a swatted cross by Brett Clayton led to Forbush punting again to East.

5 performs later, Boaz punched in a 5-yard landing run to extend the result in 30-18.

Matthews opened the fourth quarter together with his longest rush of the night time. The senior plowed via defenders to achieve 70 yards and get contained in the purple zone. He continued carrying till Forbush was on the Cardinal 5-yard line, then Nathan Hampton introduced the Falcons to the 1-yard line.

Matthews bought the ball on fourth-and-goal on the one, however was held up by the Cardinal protection. Forbush could not have gotten the landing, nevertheless it was in a position to drive a security to chop the result in 30-20 with 7:32 left to play.

The Falcons used a 31-yard cross from Hutchens to Matthews to transform a fourth down on their subsequent drive. Hutchens appeared to cross once more two performs later, however was picked off by Zinn. East Surry took benefit of the turnover when Boaz hit up Allen for a 74-yard landing with 3:20 to play.

Decided to go down swinging, Hutchens dropped again to cross on each play of the following drive after solely trying 4 passes all recreation. The quarterback was sacked twice: as soon as by Clayton, who led the Cardinals with 20 whole tackles, after which by Hatcher Hamm, who had 17 whole tackles and a deal with for a loss to go together with the sack.

Hamm’s sack of Hutchens compelled a turnover on downs with lower than a minute on the clock. After a brief run from Eli Beck, East Surry went into victory formation to formally remove Forbush from the 2A State Playoffs.

Matthews led Forbush with 27 carries for 183 yards and two touchdowns. Bennett added 16 carries for 147 yards and a landing, and Hampton had one carry for 4 yards. The Falcons misplaced a complete of 29 yards on the three Cardinal sacks.

The Cardinals 120 yards speeding was made up of: Boaz’s 68 yards and two touchdowns on 9 carries, Armstrong’s 14 carries for 39 yards, Zinn’s two carries for 9 yards and Beck’s one carry for 2 yards.

Allen led the Cardinal receivers with 10 catches for 165 yards and a TD, adopted by Brown with three receptions for 85 yards and a landing, Armstrong with 4 receptions for 68 yards and a landing, Brantley with two catches for 47 yards and Colby Johnson with one catch for a lack of 7 yards.

No. 2 East Surry advances to the third spherical of the playoffs and can host No. 7 Monroe (8-1) on Nov. 19. Monroe defeated No. 26 Lincolnton 57-13 within the first spherical, then topped No. 10 Robinson 60-29 within the second spherical.

Monroe has gained eight-straight video games after dropping its season-opener to 4A Marvin Ridge.

Scoring

Forbush – 6, 6, 6, 2 = 20

East Surry – 13, 10, 7, 7 = 37

1Q

8:43 ESHS 7-0 – Folger Boaz cross to Trey Armstrong 21-yard TD reception, Stephen Brantley PAT

6:33 FHS 7-6 – Derek Matthews 47-yard speeding TD, PAT no good

3:03 ESHS 13-6 – Folger Boaz 6-yard speeding TD, PAT no good

2Q

11:55 FHS 13-12 – Derek Matthews 1-yard speeding TD, 2-point conversion no good

7:11 ESHS 16-12 – Stephen Brantley 29-yard subject purpose

0:18 ESHS 23-12 – Folger Boaz cross to Luke Brown 33-yard TD reception, Stephen Brantley PAT

3Q

7:02 FHS 23-18 – Luke Bennett 7-yard speeding TD, 2-point conversion no good

0:53 ESHS 30-18 – Folger Boaz 5-yard speeding TD, Stephen Brantley PAT

4Q

7:32 FHS 30-20 – Security compelled by Baylee Ramey

3:20 ESHS 37-20 – Folger Boaz cross to Layton Allen 74-yard TD reception, Stephen Brantley PAT