FAIRBURN, Ga. — Creekside proved an excessive amount of for the Eagles to deal with within the Elite Eight because the Seminoles defeated Eastside 26-0 Friday night time.
The 2 groups matchup within the third spherical after back-to-back wins to start the Class AAAA playoffs.
Pricey turnover units Eagles again early
When the sport started, what seemed to be a promising drive for the Eagles sputtered as soon as they acquired into Creekside territory.
A handoff went awry, resulting in a fumble within the backfield that was recovered by the Seminoles. Nonetheless, the turnover led to no factors.
The primary factors of the night time got here on the Seminoles’ first drive of the second quarter.
On a 3rd down, quarterback Cayden Benson linked with star receiver Dylan Vickerson for an extended 63-yard landing go.
Later within the half, Creekside made it a two rating sport.
Eastside quarterback Payton Shaw threw a go that was tipped and intercepted by Sean Williams deep into Eagles’ territory.
This led to an 18-yard landing from Benson to Vickerson. Following the blocked further level, Creekside went into halftime with a 13-0 lead.
Offensively, Eastside had lengthy drives that pushed deep into Seminoles territory. Nonetheless, the Eagles left empty-handed every time.
A pair of drives ended on missed area objectives from 30 and 34 yards out, respectively.
First drive of second half units tone for Seminole’s win
The Seminoles capped off the primary half with a landing, and the momentum carried over as Creekside mounted an extended scoring drive to start the second half.
Creekside dinked and dunked their means downfield earlier than scoring on a seven-yard rush from Benson to increase the lead over the Eagles to 19-0.
For head coach Jay Cawthon, he credited the loss to the Eagles not discovering their footing offensively together with the challenges of dealing with a twin menace participant akin to Benson.
“We knew that getting in, I believed our protection performed effectively,” Cawthon stated. “We gave up two huge passes within the first half, we had two turnovers. We haven’t turned the ball over all yr, we simply couldn’t get something going offensively.”
For the Eagles, they simply couldn’t seize success on the offensive finish.
On Eastside’s first offensive play of the third quarter, Shaw threw his second landing of the sport to Williams, who took it into Seminoles’ territory.
The Eagles didn’t get one other probability to determine a scoring drive for the rest of the competition as Creekside’s go rush continued to mount strain.
Within the last quarter, the Seminoles added a aim line landing to make it a 26-0 win for Creekside.
Eagles mirror on loss
The loss drops Eastside out of the Class AAAA playoffs because it ends the yr with a 11-2 document.
“I can’t be extra pleased with the management,” Cawthon stated. “We did some particular issues this yr. We simply ran right into a buzz noticed tonight night time and we didn’t assist them out.”
The ultimate Friday night time
The Elite Eight contest was the ultimate sport underneath the Friday night time lights for a number of Eagles.
Gamers akin to Jayden Barr, Christian Gass, Bailey Benson and Marion Eubanks performed their last downs in an Eastside uniform.
Following the sport, Cawthon spoke to the form of legacy this senior class will depart behind
“[They left] a legacy of enjoying our commonplace of soccer,” Cawthon stated. “We now have a tradition right here and so they signify that tradition to the fullest. That’s what we problem each single class — to hold on that legacy from the earlier senior courses.”
