Defenses dominate, but Lee County has enough offense to stop Northside for the 6A title (with box)

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

            Northside and Lee County had state championship defense in uniform for their GHSA Class 6A title bout.

            But the Trojans brought enough offense and finally wore down the Eagles for a 14-0 win over their Region 1 rivals and defend their state title.

            The loss ended an impressive run for Northside, which finished the regular season 5-5 but was battle-tested with a schedule that included six ranked opponents.

            The Eagles then knocked off three ranked teams in the playoffs, all on the road.

            Lee County scored with 32 seconds left in the first, getting a 2-yard run from Shaun Kimbrough after the Trojans converted a fourth and 1.

            The Eagles were down only a score at halftime despite a feeble 25 yards total offense on 18 rushes and no pass attempts.

            Daniels ran 11 times for a net of eight, thanks to 17 yards in losses.

            The Trojans had six more snaps and 119 more yards, but only 35 rushing yards on 16 carries. Quarterback Kyle Tool had a net of a yard, thanks to 16 yards in losses.

            Daniels’ first completion came a few minutes into the third quarter, a first-down to 7. But he fumbled three plays later, giving the Trojans the ball on Northside’s 29 with 9:14 left in the third.

            Northside’s defense, though, gave no ground and forced a three and out from the 29. A 46-yard field goal try was wide right, a win for the Eagle defense, Northside losing only nine yards of field position and getting it at the 20.

            The defense kept stopping Lee County, but the offense couldn’t get going.

            The Trojans all but put it away with a leaping Kimbrough 2-yard score five seconds into the fourth quarter for a two-touchdown lead.

            Daniels was tentative in the pocket and took too many sacks rather than get rid of the ball quickly, even throwing it away.

The Eagles’ possession after the second touchdown lost nine yards on three plays and they punted from the end zone with nine minutes left.

            Northside finally crossed midfield with just over five minutes left in the game, Daniels getting the passing game going a bit.

            The Eagles reached the 10, and Lee County amped up the pressure again and sacked an increasingly banged-up Daniels to force a timeout with 3:18 left.

            The scoring threat slowed to a fourth-and goal from the 20. Daniels scrambled and threw to Eric Smith, who caught it and was pulled down a half-yard short of the end zone to end the possession and retain the shutout.

            The late offensive spark evened the stats out a little bit.

            There was a difference of one first down, and Lee County got 2.3 yards a rush to 1.6 for Northside, which had 39 fewer yards of offense on seven more plays. The Eagles had only one more punt, but they were 4 of 15 on third down to 3 for 11 for the Trojans.

            Daniel Neal had 53 yards on four receptions, but the Eagles’ ground game was cooled with Eric Smith and Daniels getting 22 yards each, Daniels losing 53 yards.

            Kimbrough had 56 yards on 16 carries.

            And the quarterbacks teamed to go 15 for 33 for 239 yards.

It was the first time Northside has been shut out since a 12-0 loss to Statesboro on Nov. 12, 2004, a span of 191 games.