Most football teams despise the inconvenience and the unfamiliarity that comes with playing games on the road, especially in the playoffs. Not the Walton Raiders, who have powered their way through the first three rounds of the Class 7A playoffs without a hint of a homefield advantage.
The Raiders latest victim was Brookwood. No. 9 Walton made the crosstown trip and came away with a 52-35 win over the No. 7 Broncos at Brookwood Community Stadium in Snellville and earned a place in the semifinals, where they face Milton – on the road again – next Friday for a shot at the title game.
“Road warriors, baby,” Walton coach Daniel Brunner said. “We’re better on the road, I think, right now. I like it this way. We’re minimizing distractions. We’ve kind of got a process and a plan that’s really worked well for us and we want to continue to do that – hopefully the next two weeks, but next week is the only week we’re really worried about right now.”
Walton won 41-17 at No. 6 Colquitt County in the first round, then beat Region 8 champion Archer 34-7 a week ago. The script for the quarterfinal win was a familiar one for Walton (9-3) – a strong defensive effort and exceptional quarterbacking from junior Jeremy Hecklinski.
“Our defense is playing tremendous right now,” Brunner said. “We’ve had some ups and downs this year, we’ve had some guys in and out, but right now we’re kind of getting healthy as we possible can. Right now we’re taking away what teams are trying to do to us and that’s what you have to do -- try to get them to beat you in another way and fortunately for us they weren’t able to do that tonight.”
Walton’s biggest play came in the first quarter. Angelo Brown Jr. picked up a fumble and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown. That gave the Raiders a 21-7 lead and Brookwood never got closer that one score the rest of the night.
With starting quarterback Zak Rozsman – who was shaken up last week against Archer -- only able to play the first series, the Raiders leaned again on Hecklinski and he continued to deliver. Hecklinski completed 14 of 24 passes for 287 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 22 yards and one touchdown. He threw one interception.
“No doubt he stepped up big tonight,” Brunner said. “We thought Zak was going to have a chance to go but he just wasn’t quite himself, so Jeremy stepped up big and I’m proud of his effort and the offense as a whole.”
Hecklinski kept the chains moving, too. He converted seven times on third or fourth down, including a fourth-and-13 and a third-and-10.
“You’ve got to win third down this time of the year to have success and our guys are doing a great job on offense,” Brunner said. “On the flip side the defense was doing a great job in those down and distances, too. That’s what’s helping us be successful right now.”
Hecklinski threw touchdowns to four different receivers – a 37-yard to Marcus Allen, a 29-yarder to Rawson MacNeil, a 74-yarder to Sutton Smith and a 28-yarder to Austin Williams. Smith also ran 12 times for 73 yards.
Brookwood (10-3) stayed alive thanks to the great individual effort of Alexander Diggs. The senior rushed 12 times for 68 yards and one touchdown, caught five passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns and returned a kickoff for a 78-yard touchdown.
Brookwood quarterback Dylan Lonergan competed 20 of 35 passes for 249 yards and two touchdowns and ran 10 times for 68 yards and one touchdown.
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