CUMMING, Ga. — Six turnovers on the night plagued North Forsyth as North Atlanta took advantage of a turnover on downs to punch in a touchdown with 63 seconds to go and earn a 31-27 win over the Raiders Thursday night at the Corky Kell Classic.
The Raiders had two interceptions, two fumbles and two turnovers on downs, while North Atlanta converted a 4th and 8 late in the fourth quarter to set up a Randolph Smith touchdown catch that gave the Warriors their first and only lead of the night.
"I thought our defense created a bunch of turnovers in the first half, but, unfortunately, we weren't able to capitalize on them," Raiders' coach Robert Craft said. "Coming into the game, we talked about tackling and ball security, and I thought we didn't do a very good job on either one."
North Atlanta finished with exactly 400 yards of total offense, 229 of which came in the second half. The Raiders had 330 yards, but just 41 of them came in the fourth quarter after leading by two possessions with 15 minutes to play.
After recovering a fumble on North Atlanta’s second play from scrimmage, Air Force commit Collin Miller punched in a three-yard rush to put the Raiders up, 7-0.
North Atlanta responded with quarterback Trey Lennon accounting for every yard on the ensuing drive, rushing in from eight yards out. The Raider special teams unit came alive with a Logan Curry blocked PAT to keep the slight edge on the scoreboard at 7-6.
"He did a great job, made some big throws," Craft said about Lennon. "We knew we had to contain him. He took some big hits and kept getting back up. On the last one, we just didn't match up like we needed to. Unfortunately, we didn't execute at a critical moment."
North Forsyth answered with a vintage Raider drive, using 12 plays to go 65 yards over four minutes, with Miller finding his second touchdown of the night and push the lead out to 14-6.
After the teams traded turnovers and short drives, North Atlanta struck back with 21 seconds to play in the first half, scoring at the end of an eight-play, 92-yard drive where the two-point conversion failed.
The third quarter started with North Forsyth playing possession, going 73 yards over 11 plays, capped by a Cooper Eglian 17-yard reception from West Roberts to take a 20-12 lead. After the Warriors marched down the field and answered with a touchdown to cut the lead back to two, Miller found paydirt for a third time on a nine-yard rush to take a 27-18 lead.
The Warriors battled back, driving 78 yards on just three plays to score on the opening play of the fourth, but another failed two-point conversion kept North Forsyth in the lead, 27-24.
Miller would finish with three touchdowns on 12 carries to go with his eight tackles and a fumble recovery.
North Forsyth will have eight days before they take the field again, traveling to in-county rival Forsyth Central next Friday night.
"We've got to continue to address a couple of areas that you often see early in the season -- you've got to tackle well, practice that way and hold each other accountable," Craft said about next week's preparation. "We've got to take care of the football. When you give a good football team extra possessions, it typically not going to end well. I'm proud of our guys, though. I thought they played hard. We've just got to make those critical plays at the end."
