GAINESVILLE – It wasn’t a rabbit North Hall pulled out of the hat Friday night at War Eagle Stadium, it was a passing game.
Trojan quarterback Trey Sanders completed four of nine passes for 148 yards and three touchdowns in North Hall’s 34-14 win over Chestatee.
It was the Trojans second-straight win against their arch-rivals in the annual Battle of Highway 60.
But it wasn’t as easy as the score might indicate.
The War Eagle defense stifled Bishop’s patent Wing-T offense in the first half, holding them to just seven points in the opening quarter, and after the 20-point second quarter, the War Eagles held North Hall to seven points in the second half.
“Hats off to coach (Shaun) Conley and his staff, they did a really good job of defending what we do on the ground,” Bishop said.
The Chestatee defense forced North Hall to go to the air, which eventually proved to a wise move for the Trojans and the backbreaker for the War Eagles.
“We had to pull some stuff out of the playbook that we put in just for these guys and it worked,” Bishop said. “Obviously, when you’re able to execute stuff that you only put in for a couple of days and able to hit people deep and we were able to hit some play-action passes deep that hurt them, that put us in a good position going into the half.”
In the second quarter, Sanders targeted Jacob Dickey on a 69-yard touchdown pass with 9:05 to go in the second quarter, giving the Trojans a 14-0 advantage.
“I’m confident in Trey's ability at quarterback,” Bishop said. “When you have kids that are able to get past the second level, that makes a big difference in the game and it did tonight.”
The 20-point second quarter flurry was fueled by a scoring drive that opened with a 62-yard dart from Sanders to JT Fair, and four plays later, Cody Smith danced in from 13 yards out for another Trojan score. The Trojans tacked on another score with five seconds to go in the first half off a Dickey run to go up 27-0 at the half.
Chestatee found paydirt for the first time with 15 seconds to go in the third quarter when junior quarterback Christian Charles hit Seth Pressley on a 55-yard pass.
Charles finished the night 17-for-39 passing with 201 yards, one interception and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 60 yards.
Pressley caught eight passes for 147 yards and two touchdowns.
“I’m proud of the kids,” Bishop said. “We have some injuries, and everybody needs to understand with injuries that you’ve got to be ready to play. We’ve got to continue to get our 2s some reps next week, so we’ve got to be able to grow in those positions.”
| North Hall | 7 | 20 | 0 | 7 | 34 |
| Chestatee | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 14 |
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
NH -- Kevin Rochester 2 run (Brown PAT Good 6:39)
Second Quarter
NH – Jacob Dickey 69 pass from Trey Sanders (Brown kick) 14-0, 9:05
NH – Cody Smith 13 run (Brown kick) 21-0, 4:35
NH – Dickey 13 run (kick no good) 27-0, :05
Third Quarter
CH – Seth Pressley 55 pass from Christian Charles (Pruitt kick) 27-7, :15
Fourth Quarter
CH – Pressley 22 pass from Charles (Pruitt kick) 27-17, 6:17
NH – Smith 3 pass from Sanders (Brown kick), 1:05
