North Cobb Christian “lucky to win” against Darlington, says Eagles coach
Turnovers can create massive momentum swings in a game; that was the case at Darlington on Friday night, as visiting North Cobb Christian survived a second-half push by the host Tigers and earned a hard-fought 14-7 non-region win at Chris Hunter Stadium.
The No. 8-ranked Eagles pounced on three Tiger fumbles and made two first-half touchdown drives stand up to improve to 2-0 on the season.
“Our defense played outstanding tonight, and we needed that because Darlington adjusted well over the course of the game, much better than we did,” North Cobb
Christian head coach Matt Jones said. “They actually beat us in a lot of phases of the game tonight, and we’re lucky to come out of here with a win.”
Outside of Darlington’s locker room, Tigers head coach Wayne Groves shook his head as he pondered what might have been if two or three second-half plays had turned out differently.
“We had our opportunities, that’s for sure,” Groves said. “I’m so proud of how hard our guys played and fought and clawed until the very end of the game… We certainly made a lot of improvement from last week (a 46-27 loss to Mount Vernon), but a few mistakes can make a difference in a game like this.”
The Eagles struck first on their second drive of the game. They took advantage of a short field, going 48 yards in six plays, and took the lead when Denim Stevens dove into the end zone from one yard out. Daniel Rivera’s PAT made it 7-0 with 4:28 left in the first quarter.
Darlington fumbled early in the second quarter, giving the Eagles the ball near midfield. North Cobb Christian marched 52 yards in seven plays, taking a 14-0 lead when Stevens sprinted to the end zone from 13 yards out and Rivera converted the extra point.
Darlington (0-2) finally found a rhythm on offense late in the
half. The Tigers put together an 83-yard drive that took almost six minutes, culminating in a 6-yard TD run from Noah Duggan and a PAT from Ade Desalu to make it 14-7 at the break.
That was the last score of the game. The Eagles drove to the Darlington 33 in the third quarter before turning it over on downs, and the Tigers then had a solid drive early in the fourth quarter that reached Eagles red zone before a bobbled snap led to a lost fumble.
However, the next 60 seconds provided two huge momentum swings.
On third-and-14 from inside the 10, Eagles quarterback Teddy Jarrard attempted a screen pass that was picked off by Darlington lineman Will Scholl at the seven-yard line.
The very next play Darlington’s Duggan fumbled while stretching for the goal line. The ball was recovered in the end zone by North Cobb Christian linebacker Collin Barfield for a touchback.
Cooper Bazarsky led the North Cobb Christian offense with 136 yards rushing, while Stevens
had 38 yards and both touchdown runs. Jarrard was 9-of-15 passing for just 58 yards and two interceptions.
Duggan rushed for 65 yards and a touchdown for Darlington, while quarterback Sammy Kunczewski was 6-of-12 for 113 yards. Jayce Donaldson had 74 yards receiving and 48 yards rushing for the Tigers.
North Cobb Christian will host Coahulla Creek while Darlington will travel to Ridgeland on Friday.