Chattahoochee Upset by Centennial 20-18

The Chattahoochee Cougars, ranked ninth in the state, winners of seven out of eight games, and poised to clinch the sub-region title, lost a heartbreaker to the Centennial Knights on Friday night, 20-18.

It was the way Chattahoochee lost that had the Cougar Nation second-guessing Head Coach Terry Crowder. With not one, but two of the region’s best field goal kickers on the roster, Crowder elected to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the Centennial one-yard line with 2:12 to go in the game, and trailing by two points.

When tailback Elton Ford was thrown for a loss, so were the Cougar faithful. Crowder took the heat, and accepted blame for the loss.

“I made a terrible decision,” Crowder told his team as they knelt around him after the game. “You point that finger right here at me. I let the emotion get to me.”

His voice cracked with emotion as he tried to explain his decision. "We had moved the ball straight down. I was scared about giving them [Centennial] the ball back with too much time. I just hate it because a decision on my part cost us the football game."

Chattahoochee went into the half trailing 17-6, thanks to the arm of Centennial quarterback James Floyd and the legs of fullback Marcus Nabors. Floyd took the Knights on a first-quarter drive covering 68 yards in seven plays. The big strike was a bomb to wide receiver Delonte Doles, covering 44 yards to the Chattahoochee 26-yard-line. Nabors ripped off a run to the eight, and Floyd scampered in from the six to make it 7-0 with 7:13 to go in the first quarter.

After a second quarter 40-yard field goal by Chattahoochee’s Conner Coons to make it 7-3, Centennial running back Jerry Smith scored from three yards out to increase the Knights’ lead to 14-3.

The Cougars came alive in the third quarter, driving 64 yards in 12 plays, all of them on the ground and designed to run behind the blocking of massive 6-foot-four inch, 275-pound tackle Justin Smith. Quarterback Brendan Cross had runs of 12 and 10 yards behind Smith’s stonewalling of the Knights’ defensive left side. But the real workhorse was running back Elton Ford, who carried the ball on nine of the twelve plays. He scored from two yards out to close it to 17-12. The Cougars went for the two-point conversion,
which was the right call at the time, but the failed attempt came back to haunt them at the end.

An interception by Chattahoochee’s Justin Lee in the third quarter gave the Cougars the ball on the Centennial 44 yard line. It took only three plays for the Hooch to finally take the lead with 2:17 left in the period.
Ford covered the last 13 yards with one of his niftiest runs of the season. Taking the handoff from Cross, Ford hurdled a tackler at the line of scrimmage, planted his feet, and did a 360 degree swivel to avoid two other pursuers. He then raced into the end zone with another defender clutching at his jersey. Once again, the Cougars went for two points, and once again failed when Cross was intercepted on the try.

With the Cougars leading 18-17 in the fourth quarter, Centennial went to their post-Halloween bag of tricks to send the Senior Night Chattahoochee faithful home stunned.

Working from his own 36 yard line, Floyd fired a pass to Matt Johnson behind the line. Johnson wound up and launched a rocket to Tyler Forrester at the Cougars’ thirty one. Nabors and company pounded it down to the 14, where Nabors took it in for the score, only to have the touchdown nullified by a motion penalty.

The Knights settled for a 40-yard field goal by sophomore Brendan Moore to make it 20-18 and set up the dramatic finish.

A 61-yard desperation field goal in the final seven seconds by Chattahoochee’s Coons was right on line, but about eight yards short.

No miracles for the Hooch this night, who fall to 7-2 on the year and 3-1 in the region. Now the Cougars must hope that Centennial upsets Roswell on Friday, while at the same time, taking care of business at Milton. That scenario would assure Chattahoochee of a playoff birth. A loss on Friday means the end of the season for the Cougars.

Chattahoochee’s stud running back Gary Grace was sidelined for the Centennial game with bruised shins, but should be ready for Milton.