The Carver-Atlanta Panthers blew past Holy Innocents’ Friday, 50-0, in a Region 5-2A contest, moving to 5-2, 3-0 in league play. The win also earned the Panthers a spot in the 2A rankings at No. 9. Further, it marked their third consecutive shutout.
Should the Panthers win out their remaining schedule against Therrell, Lovett and Hapeville Charter, it would mark their first region championship since 2017. It would also mark a rebound from last year’s 2-8 record, their worst season in over a decade.
On Thursday, the Panthers play Therrell (2-6, 1-3), which last season went 9-2 and won its first playoff game since 2002.
“We know what’s coming down the stretch,” said Panthers coach Darren Myles, in his 20th season at Carver, “but we’re not looking further than one week ahead. Therrell is coming off one of the best season in their history, and no team is going to lie down for us. I know it’s cliché, but we want to go 1-0 each week.”
Against Holy Innocents’ the Panthers opened the game with a 48-yard reception from senior quarterback Montavious Banks to junior Terrious Favors, and scored shortly thereafter on junior Lataious Stepp’s touchdown run. With nine minutes left in the half, junior defensive end Michael Johnson Jr. recovered a fumbled exchange in the backfield between the Holy Innocents’ center and quarterback in stride and returned it 69 yards for the touchdown, making it 21-0.
“He picked it up as as if was for him, and he’s also a wrecking ball of a running back for us on offense anyway,” Myles said. “He had another two-way starter, (junior tight end and defensive end) Arlando Crafton, running with him stride for stride to steer off a would be tackler. It was a big momentum swing, because our previous possession ended after we didn’t get the first down on fourth-and-1. We made the play on third down, and I was still in the tent chewing out my offensive guys, so I turned around when everyone started cheering and saw the end of it.”
The Panthers led 28-0 at halftime and there was a running clock in the fourth quarter. Another two-way starter, senior Jaquavious Bryant, led the team with three rushing touchdowns to go with 40 yards on six carries, and Banks was 10 of 13 passing for 211 yards and a touchdown, plus 42 yards on seven carries. Senior Nyzian Scott had a team-high 94 yards on 10 carries.
On defense, the Panthers haven’t allowed a point since Sept. 6, when Mundy’s Mill scored a fourth-quarter touchdown to make it 37-7 in what turned out to be the start of a four-game win streak. They were led Friday by senior Jaiden Dowdell’s seven tackles. Johnson Jr. and Stepp each had three tackles for loss, and junior Tyree Williams had six tackles, two for loss. Favors and junior Joshua Raven each had interceptions.
Myles is expecting a game from Therrell this week.
“They have athletes, they’re fast, they’re well-coached,” he said. “They have talented players and good coaches, and sometimes your record isn’t indicative of that.”
Rockmart’s comeback keeps region streak alive
The Rockmart Yellow Jackets beat North Cobb Christian 24-21, but not before trailing 21-3 at halftime. Had the Jackets not rallied in the 7-2A contest, they would have seen their streak of 55 consecutive region wins come to an end.
The win pushes Rockmart to 5-2, 5-0 in league play and puts them in the driver’s seat for an eight consecutive region title. Jackets coach Biff Parson, whose first year in 2016 was when the streak began, admitted it was in the back of their minds Friday.
“I would say so,” he said. “It’s more that you hear about it with all the outside noise, the rat poison Nick Saban talks about. We came into the season with however many region wins in a row, and our first region game this season with Ringgold went to overtime (a 23-20 win on Sept. 6).”
Friday, North Cobb Christian (6-1, 4-1), ranked No. 8 in 3A-A private, scored a touchdown on the game’s opening drive, and the Jackets failed to respond when an 11-play drive ended in a missed field goal. The Jackets lone points would come on a field goal, however, from Riley Gober from 25 yards out, and eight minutes left in the half, to make it 7-3. Prior to the score, the drive started thanks to junior Nate Davis’ interception. North Cobb Christian would respond with two more touchdowns to take a commanding lead into the locker room.
The streak wasn’t brought up at halftime by Parson, and there were no major schematic adjustments made. Rather, an attitude realignment was discussed.
“We hadn’t controlled the line of scrimmage,” he said. “He had to make sure we could run the ball and take shots when we needed to. Defensively, it was alignment and assignment. There were busted coverages and missed blitzes, so we had to start honing in. We kind of challenged them. What’s your legacy going to be? I wasn’t trying to pressure them in the sense of the streak or a region title, I didn’t talk like that. I wanted to find out the character of our team. Do we have some backbone, a team of fighters, or do we have quitters?
“We have fighters.”
Davis had a huge game for the Jackets. In addition to the interception, he stripped a North Cobb Christian receiver and recovered the fumble with five minutes left and the Jackets trailing 21-17. With two minutes left, he scored his third rushing touchdown for the game’s final points. On North Cobb Christian’s final possession, it was Davis’ tackle on fourth-and-4 that forced a turnover on downs.
Davis finished with 154 yards on 27 carries and a team-high eight tackles.
“He was all over the field,” Parson said. “He was our guy Friday night.”
Up next for the Jackets is LFO (3-4, 2-3), which beat Sonoraville 42-34 last week for its second straight win. LFO already has more wins than it finished with in each of the last four seasons.
“They’re definitely not the LFO we’ve known,” Parson said. “We were in their region two years ago and we won handily, but now they’ve got some players, and a good staff. They’re in the mix, and they could make some things happen. They’re going to be a big challenge for us, and for our seniors, it’s their last regular season home game. Credit to our crowd, they create a great atmosphere, and that they showed up for North Cobb Christian, which was undefeated and ranked in (3A-A) private.
“For the next three weeks, our next game is our region championship.”
