Falcons get no break against Fannin County

FLOWERY BRANCH - For Flowery Branch coach Lee Shaw, the last two weeks have seen him experience virtually every range of emotion.

The highest of highs after beating rival West Hall for their first-ever school win, and then last week - a frustrating display of mistakes that left him wondering all weekend what could have been following a 12-7 loss to Pickens.

"We didn't execute on offense the way we have all year and then when we did we would make a mistake or we weren't able to finish the drive," Shaw said. "It was a step back from where we were after the West Hall game. It was frustrating because I felt we were a better team and should have won that game."

Friday night the Falcons (1-3, 1-3 in Region 7-AAA) will try to get back on the winning path against Fannin County (2-2, 2-2) who played toe-to-toe with Johnson last week before succumbing down the stretch.

"Fannin played well and I'm sure they feel they can beat anybody, so we're going to have to play our best game to win," Shaw said. "They're big and can really run the ball."

Shaw said despite the frustrating ending, he still feels his team is making strides.

"We didn't play that well and were still in the game. Last year they beat us 42-0 so we know we're more competitive and honestly feel that if we play our game and don't make any mistakes, we can beat anybody," he said.

Matt Jones did not have the kind of game against Fannin he had against West Hall, but he still leads a potent wishbone attack that also features fullback Andy Espinosa.

But it's defensively where the Falcons have seen marked improvement. Last week, Brian Smith had 18 tackles - 14 solo - and Nick Schnepper had 15 tackles.

"Those guys were all over the field and just did a great job. They've been doing it all year and are really giving us a solid base to work from," Shaw said.

A win would put the Falcons back into the middle of the pack in the race for the final playoff spot. Shaw said the kids are believing that they are ready to turn the corner.

"I don't know if we're ready to talk about that but we feel there are some games, including this one, that we can win and if we can pull it off, anything is possible," Shaw said.