ATLANTA — Boise State commit Terrious Favors totaled 413 yards and four touchdowns leading unbeaten top-seed Carver-Atlanta to a 48-28 second round victory here Friday night at Lakewood Stadium over visiting Pierce County.
The senior-laden Panthers (12-0), who will lose 28 seniors, finished with 596 yards of total offense against a PCHS team (9-3) that entered allowing 218.1 yards per game. The Panthers generated 408 yards on the ground and 188 through the air.
“It was just embarrassing,” said head coach Ryan Herring. “That was all on the defense. We just didn’t have good leverage. We knew what they were going to do. We could never get a defensive stop.
“We tackled very poorly. They didn’t trick us with anything ... we knew what was coming. We just didn’t get it done on the field defensively.
“Offensively, we finally wore them down and were able to pound the ball and mix in a couple throws. We had a chance to get to within 42-35 late in the third period and had a bad snap on third-and-one. We kind of shot ourselves in the foot.”
Favors, who has been rumored of changing his commit to sign with the University of Georgia, rushed for 249 yards on 16 carries surpassing the 1,000-yard mark. He scored on runs of 74 and 14 yards.
The speedy “do-it-all” athlete caught three passes for 164 yards also surpassing the 1,000-yard mark in receiving. He added two scores covering 75 yards and 81 yards. Both catches came on third-and-long plays. He also had a 62-yard punt return following Pierce County’s opening offensive possession.
Senior running back Lataious Stepp accumulated 158 yards on 21 carries scoring three touchdowns and adding a two-point conversion.
“We made those two look better than what they are,” said Herrin. “We would lose the edge, we didn’t get backside help in our slants and we didn’t tackle. We didn’t match physicality and didn’t leverage blocks.
“We (coaches) knew where they were going to do every play and just didn’t make the plays. They (Panthers) took advantage of our self-inflicted wounds.” Carver-Atlanta will host ninth-seed Sumter County (11-1) in the quarterfinals. The Panthers knocked off eighth-seed North Murray 28-11.
Fifth-seed Appling County (8-4), the only other Region 3 member to advance, fell 35-27 to visiting 12th-seed Hapeville Charter after leading 2712 in the third quarter.
The loss, the first in the second round for the Bears since 2019, ended PCHS’s streak of seven consecutive seasons of 11plus wins. Pierce County is 94-13 since the 2018 season and 81-12 under Herring.
Favors, who returned three punts over 60 yards in the first win over Butler, set up Carver-Atlanta’s first score of the night from 18 yards away. Stepp plowed two yards on the fourth play of the offensive series and added the two-point conversion for an 8-0 lead with 8:13 left in the first period.
Following a second three-and-out by PCHS, the Panthers moved 78 yards in 11 plays with Stepp scoring on a 15-yard run. The run for the twopoint conversion was stopped leaving the score at 14-0 two minutes before the opening quarter expired.
The Bears answered on their third possession of the night. PCHS moved 57 yards in seven plays with senior quarterback Drake Dowling (16 carries, 93 yards) darting five yards off left guard 10:16 before intermission. Garrett Stevenson connected on the first of his four PATs slicing the deficit to 14-7.
“They (Panthers) literally whipped us our first couple of offensive series,” said Herring. “We (coaches) made some adjustments and started moving the ball after that and had a pretty good night offensively.”
The big play for Pierce County was a 28-yard pass from Dowling (2-of-4, 54 yards) to Rowan McCrea running a seam route.
Carver-Atlanta needed just one play to answer after the kickoff. Favors, lined up a quarterback, sped 74 yards untouched with the snap scoring 18 seconds after the Bears’ touchdown. Charles Lynch squeezed the PAT over the crossbar for a 217 advantage with 9:58 on the second quarter clock.
PCHS’s Chance Williams fielded the ensuing bloop kick returning it 69 yards for a touchdown — the first in Bears’ playoff history — for the third touchdown in 26 seconds. Stevenson’s PAT closed the deficit to 21-14.
Pierce County was unable to take advantage of Nigel Brown’s interception on the Panthers’ next series kicking the ball back after a three-and-out.
Carver-Atlanta capped a 70-yard scoring possession with quarterback Corey Fletcher (7-of-14, two interceptions) connecting with Favors on a quick screen for 75 yards on third-and-15. Lynch converted the PAT for a 28-14 lead.
PCHS followed with a 55-yard scoring drive in nine plays converting twice on fourth down. Dowling’s 31-yard run on the initial snap kick-starting the drive.
He would convert the first fourth down with a five-yard run on fourthand- three to the Carver-Atlanta 12. Jae’Veon Williams (24 carries, 116 yards) converted the second with a nine-yard touchdown run on fourthand- seven 35 seconds before intermission. Stevenson’s PAT pulled the Bears to within 28-21 at intermission.
The Panthers pushed the margin out to 42-21 scoring two touchdowns in the first seven minutes of the third quarter.
Carver-Atlanta went 69 yards in nine plays with Stepp bulling his way in from a yard out at the 8:39 mark of the period. Joshua Raven gathered a high snap and beat several PCHS defenders to the front pylon for the twopoint conversion upping the margin to 36-21.
An errant pass by Jae’Veon Williams on a third-and-seven at the Panthers’ 29 ended the next Pierce County possession. Dowling’s 26yard completion to Marquez Leggett (two catches, 46 yards) on the first snap advanced the ball to the Carver-Atlanta 32.
The Panthers needed just three plays to stretch the margin to 42-21. Facing third-and-26, Favors turned a quick screen pass from Fletcher into an 81yard score with 5:05 remaining in the third stanza. The PAT was blocked by Chance Williams.
PCHS cut the lead to 42-28 less than three minutes later. Leggett turned a short pass from Jae’Veon Williams into a 20-yard gain on fourthand- two will Williams taking the ensuing snap 34 yards for the touchdown with 2:10 left in the third quarter. Stevenson’s PAT closed the deficit to 42-28.
The touchdown by Williams, who extended his 100-yard game rushing streak to 10 games, gave him 12 consecutive multi-touchdown games.
Kendric Benton’s interception in the back of the end zone on the final play of the third period ended Carver-Atlanta’s next possession.
The Panthers last possession of the night covered 85 yards on 14 time-consuming plays eating up 6:22 of the final period. Favors finished the drive with a 14-yard run three plays after having a 37-yard touchdown nullified when he turned an waved to the crowd oneyard short of the goal line. The PAT failed with 1:23 remaining in the game.
The Bears head into the off-season needing to find four replacements on the defensive side of the ball and five on the offensive side with 14 total graduating.
“We’re going to take a little time off and let the guys heal,” said Herring. “Their bodies are tired, so getting some time off is the best thing for some. The biggest thing heading into next season is getting back to playing Pierce County football.
“That means hard work. You can’t do anything about a kid’s stature, but you can get guys tougher. We’ve just got to improve our football IQ between now and next August.”
