FLOWERY BRANCH — Ware County head coach Jason Strickland told his players after Friday night’s game here against Flowery Branch they kept finding a way to make a play when they needed one.
The result was a 44-27 victory in the first round of the GHSA Class AAAA playoffs.
“When things didn’t go the way we wanted them to, we went on to the next play,” Strickland said of his team’s effort. “We kept answering the bell and found a way.”
The win was the Gators’ 19th straight in the first round trailing Class 6A Buford’s current record streak of 27. It moved Ware County (9-2) into Friday night’s second round where it will visit undefeated Creekside (11-0), a 70-7 winner against Dalton.
Ware County received key efforts from around the lineup against Flowery Branch.
• Quarterback Isaiah White passed for a season-high 235 yards and two touchdowns.
• Senior Ja’Mario Rice was on the other end of half of White’s 10 completions for 139 yards and both touchdowns, and added a two-point conversion run.
• Senior running backs Jamir Boyd and Tayshaun Franklin combined for 152 yards and three scores.
• Jeffrey Gonzalez kicked three field goals.
• A bend-but-don’t-break Gators’ defense recorded a dozen negative plays, including a pair of sacks while playing without key senior lineman Walker Hudson, who missed with a leg injury.
• Defensive back LoJuan Blue returned an interception 68 yards to end a Falcons’ threat at the Gators’ goal line in the fourth quarter leading to the last of Franklin’s two touchdowns to seal the win.
Quarterback Brett Sturm kept the Region 8 runner-up Falcons (7-4) in the game until his late mistake. The senior completed 24-of-40 passes for 310 yards and a touchdown as well as running two scores.
Receiver Tre Demery caught 10 passes for 166 yards and the score.
“We felt like we made them earn everything,” Strickland said. “We knew we were going to give up plays. They have on everybody. Let’s make them play the next one.
“Coach (Dante) Sapp and the defensive staff had a great game play against that quarterback and an incredible wide receiver.”
Flowery Branch put its offense on display off the opening kickoff, going 80 yards in 10 plays for a short-lived lead. Sturm ended the march, which included him going 6-for-6 passing, on a one-yard keeper for a 7-0 lead after the conversion kick by Brooks Recinella with 8:25 left in the quarter.
Ware County answered with a nine-play, 80-yard drive capped by a 28-yard pass from White to Rice and an extra point from Gonzalez just 4:25 later tying the score at 7-apiece.
The Gators’ defense came up with its first big play on Flowery Branch’s ensuing series. On fourth-and-one from his own 29, Sturm was nailed for a twoyard loss.
The Gators, however, had to settle for a 41-yard field goal when White’s third-down pass to Rice in the end zone was knocked down taking a 10-7 lead.
Flowery Branch responded with a 44-yard field goal with 10:30 left in the first half to tie the game 10-10.
The Gators then began their run to victory with the help of two Davion Jones punt returns setting up the offense with short fields.
The junior’s first return covered 25 yards and gave Ware County a first down at the Falcons’ 30. Two plays later, White hit Rice on a slant pattern for the score. A low snap on the conversion kick led to a miss by Gonzalez leaving the score at 16-10 lead.
The Gators allowed Flowery Branch one first down before forcing another punt which Jones returned 23 yards for a first down at the Falcons’ 43 with 3:38 remaining in the half.
Eight plays and a penalty later, Gonzalez converted the exchange into a 22-yard field goal as time expired for a 19-10 halftime lead.
Photos By BO CARTER Ware County’s Davion Jones (12, left photo) finds green grass on the first of his two punt returns covering 25 yards setting up a touchdown giving the Gators the lead for good in the first half at 16-10. His 23-yard return moments later set up a Jeffrey Gonzalez (right photo) 22-yard field goal, one of his three on the night, for a 19-10 halftime lead. Gonzalez drilled a 41yard field in the first quarter and added a 30-yarder in the fourth period.
The Gators stretched the lead to 27-10 by moving 60 yards in five plays with the second half kickoff.
Franklin, who gained 61 yards despite one hand in a cast to protect a broken thump, scored his first touchdown on a three-yard run. Rice followed with two points on the conversion off a jet sweep with 9:42 left in the third quarter.
The Falcons answered in just two plays as Sturm scambled from the pocket on a pass play and raced 64 yards for the touchdown. Recinella’s conversion made it 27-17 just 42 seconds later.
On the following possession, a punt by Gonzalez that hit one of his protectors in the back losing 12 yards giving Flowery Branch first down at the Gators’ 14. Ware County’s defense, however, stiffened to give up only a 20-yard field goal by Recinella with 4:36 left in the quarter to make it 27-20.
Ware got the points back on a 30-yard field goal by Gonzalez with 11:53 left in the game to finish an eight-play, 67yard possession. The bulk of the yards came on a 42-yard pass that Rice pulled in among three defenders for a first down at the Falcons’ 42.
It took only three plays for the Falcons to answer on Sturm’s 56-yard scoring toss to Demery and Recinella’s kick to cut the lead to 30-27 with 11:12 left.
Ware County needed only three play to get the points back on a 19-yard run by Boyd and the conversion from Gonzalez with 9:18 left to lead 3727. A 55-yard pass and run from White to Rice covered the bulk of the possession’s 80 yards.
Blue, a junior, then came up with his key pick on the ensuing possession. The Falcons began on their 13 and drove to a first down at the Ware County seven.
On third-and-goal from the one, Blue intercepted Sturm at the goal line and returned it to the Flowery Branch 32.
“When you get down to that low red zone area things get condensed and those passing windows are much, much smaller,” Strickland said. “We were incredible in the red zone all night long.”
After a false start, Franklin covered the 37 yards in two runs, the last from 18 yards for the game-sealing score with 5:46 remaining.
