Carver-Atlanta Holds Off GAC Spartans For 22-20 Win
On Friday, the Carver-Atlanta Panthers hosted the Greater Atlanta Christian Spartans in a pivotal region match up for both teams as the regular season end nears. For the Panthers, securing the win would allow them to remain in second place in the region standings, meanwhile for the Spartans, a win for them would allow them to remain alive for the fourth place position in the region standings.
The Panthers would seem to have the early momentum after the would stop the Spartans opening drive when Rodrick Hunter picked off the Joshua Sharpe pass. On the ensuing possession, Carver would capitalize and score courtesy of a quarterback keeper by Bryce Bowen. The Panthers would convert on the two point conversion and take an 8-0 lead.
In the second quarter, the Spartans would finally put together an offensive drive that would result in a Sharpe touchdown pass to Luke Hicks, with the extra point making it an 8-7 game in favor of the Panthers. And on the ensuing possession for Carver, Greater Atlanta’s defense would come up big, forcing a Panthers turnover. The Spartans would take advantage of the short field as Sharpe connected with Will Hardy for a touchdown and the extra point would give the Spartans a 14-8 lead.
In the third quarter, the Panthers would get a huge spark from their defense thanks to an interception by Joshua Stone, which he would return for a touchdown, as Carver would tie the game 14-14. Later, after the Panthers defense would force the Spartans to punt, Carver would score again on a Jarveous Brown rushing touchdown and with the two point conversion, the Panthers would take a 22-14 lead.
Late in the third, as the Spartans looked to have to settle for a field goal, GAC head coach, Tim Hardy would make a gutsy call and the Spartans would fake the field goal, resulting in a Hardy completed pass to Hicks setting up a first and goal. On the following play, Sharpe would find Hardy once again in the end zone for a touchdown, but the Spartans would fail on the two point conversion and would eventually fall to Carver 22-20.
Following the win, Carver head coach, Darren Myles gave credit to the Spartans for a hard fought battle in which he said that he and his staff had to remind their players throughout the week that, despite GAC’s record, they would need to be prepared for a fight. “First of all, you don’t play records and I think our kids kind of looked at records and it’s our job as coaches to get them out of that. GAC did a great job, they played the first 24 minutes extremely well and we did not, we played a better second half,” Myles said of Friday’s win over GAC.
Myles would go on to say that he had to remind his players that “champions find a way to win and that’s what we did tonight,” expressing that the most important stat for them in Friday’s win was walking away with the win. “It wasn’t a blow out or anything of that nature and we didn’t expect it to be. We knew they would be well prepared and well coached so I’m just proud of my boys and coaches for doing a great job of staying poised and composed and pulling out the victory,” Myles added.
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