Tattnall Square pulls away from Mount de Sales

Controlling the pace of the game served Mount de Sales well for most of the first half Friday against unbeaten Tattnall Square, with the two teams locked in a tie as the game headed toward halftime. But miscues swung open the door for the Trojans, and they took advantage to post a pair of scores in the final minutes of the second quarter on their way to a 35-14 win over the Cavaliers on Friday as Tattnall ripped off 21 unanswered points.

The Trojans took a 28-14 lead at halftime, getting a pair of touchdowns less than 80 seconds apart, both of which were set up by good field position following short punts by the Cavaliers.

Miles Morris connected with Lance Franklin, whose acrobatic catch in the end zone put the Trojans out front for good. Tattnall’s Destin Mack scored the second of a his three touchdowns for a 28-14 lead with 1:26 left in the half. That lead was more than enough for Tattnall to take the win on Friday and run its record to 6-0 and 2-0 in GHSA Region 7A-1A play.

Mount de Sales falls to 3-3 and 0-2.

Five who mattered

Mack: He was solid all game long, finding creases in the Cavaliers’ defense to rush for 111 yards and three touchdowns.

Morris: He completed both of his passes, and the first was clutch as he connected with Franklin for what was the go-ahead touchdown.

Adrian Hardwick: Hardwick gave the Trojans’ defense fits for much of the first half, finding success running the ball outside. He finished with 72 yards, including a 10-yard run to tie the game in the second quarter.

Josiah Cotton: Cotton got Mount de Sales on the scoreboard early, taking a well-timed pitch 12 yards to tie the game at 7 in the first quarter, and he finished with 41 yards.

Jamal Marshall: His hard running prevented Mount de Sales from focusing on stopping just one player. Marshall’s night included 47 rushing yards and the game’s final touchdown in the third quarter from 2 yards out.

Observations

Making them earn it: Mount de Sales sent an early message that it would not give up touchdowns easily to Tattnall. After the Trojans quickly drove downfield into the red zone, Tattnall was pushed to fourth down before Mack got the game’s first score.

Taking advantage: Mount de Sales played mostly mistake-free football until the final few minutes of the first half, and the result was a tie game. But the Trojans were served up chances to snatch momentum by way to two short punts by Mount de Sales. And take advantage they did, getting touchdowns off of both.

They said it

Tattnall Square head coach Chance Jones on the Trojans strong play on both sides of the ball: “Our offense played well in the first half aside from one drive. Our defense, they bent a little, but they didn’t break and came out in the second half and really did the same thing and kept them out of the end zone.”

Mount de Sales head coach Keith Hatcher on the loss: “We knew they were really good offensively and that we had to control the ball to be able to keep them off the field. We were able to do that early, but we just made too many mistakes. We’re playing undisciplined football right now and just making too many mistakes and having too many penalties and mistakes, and it showed as the second and third quarter unfolded.”

What’s next?

Mount de Sales hosts Wilkinson County on Friday, while Tattnall travels to Twiggs County.

This story was originally published October 7, 2017 at 12:16 AM with the headline "Tattnall Square pulls away from Mount de Sales."