Grayson quarterback Travis Burgess continues to grow up in the spotlight and Friday shook off a slow start to guide the Rams to a strong second half and a second-round playoff win.
The lanky 6-foot-5 junior threw for 203 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 51 yards and another score to help Class 6A No. 6 Grayson erase a 10-point deficit and beat visiting Norcross 34-24 and advance to the quarterfinals for the seventh straight year.
“I say he keeps getting better every week,” Grayson coach Santavious Bryant said. “We’re looking for him to lead us and continue to raise his play again. This is a big moment for him. That’s his first one, being in a true playoff game and coming from behind like that and having to lead a team.”
Grayson (11-1) will host next week’s third-round game against No. 5-ranked Collins Hill. Grayson has won 11 straight since losing to Collins Hill in the season opener.
Burgess completed 14 of 28 passes, including the go-ahead 15-yard touchdown to Ashton Turner with 8:08 remaining. He calmy threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Trey Watkins on fourth-and-3 with 35 seconds left that nailed down the victory.
“Just confidence and being able to diversify the offense a little bit,” Burgess said. “Not only just passing the ball, but being able to use my legs more to spread the offense out and give the defense more to think about.”
Norcross coach Keith Maloof said, “You can’t let a kid like that extend play like he did. I don’t know how many times, but he extended a bunch.”
The Grayson defense came up big in the second half and came up with four sacks in the second half. Perhaps the biggest moment came with five minutes left in the game when the Rams produced two negative plays, one by James Lee and one by Dre Fuller to force Norcross into a longer field goal situation to tie the team. Jack Rouille missed a 38-yarder that would have tied the game with 4:14 left.
“James Lee was getting his first start tonight and his first start being in the playoffs, he came up making a huge play like that,” Bryant said. “The field position during the playoffs is always going to be big, so pushing them back and them getting a missed field goal, that was tremendous.”
Norcross (8-4) was led by quarterback Dillon Mohammed and running back/receiver Jahsaun Clarke. Mohammed completed 14 of 18 passes for 171 yards and one touchdown and ran 14 times for 105 yards and one touchdown. Clarke caught nine passes for 96 yards and rushed nine times for 62 yards and one touchdown. The Blue Devils were without lading rusher Kobe Robinson, who was injured last week.
Norcross played a deliberate style in the first half, keeping the ball away from the playmaking Rams as much as possible, and held a 17-7 lead.
The Blue Devils scored on the first possession, a 46-yard field goal from Rouille and went up 10-0 when Clarke took a direct snap and ran for a 12-yard touchdown.
Grayson scored on the last play of the first quarter to cut the lead to 10-7. Burgess lobbed a 33-yard touchdown to a wide-open Alex Sanchez. Burgess had earlier salvaged the drive by escaping from a couple of sack-minded linemn to emerge with a 33-yard scramble.
Norcross scored again with 6:12 left in the half. Mohammed threw to Alex Garnett for a 30-yard touchdown.
“At halftime it wasn’t about coming back and getting it all in one play,” Burgess said. “It was taking it play-by-play, drive-by-drive and just getting the score, stop them from scoring and counting on our guys to stick together and dominate though all four quarters.”
Grayson tied the game 17-17 by scoring on the first two possessions of the third quarter. Ricardo Martinez kicked a 22-yard field goal and Burgess scored on a 16-yard keeper.
The Rams used another Martinez kick, a 39-yarder, to take a 20-17 lead with 10:02 left in the game. But Norcross needed only two plays to retake the lead – a 26-yard pass to Isaac Raphael and a 54-yard keeper by Mohammed with 9:34 remaining.
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