Sonoraville makes statement with rushing, defense
– The Sonoraville Phoenix came into Friday’s game wanting to limit Adairsville’s offensive possessions and make the most of their own with long, successful drives. Mission accomplished.
The Phoenix used a churning, efficient rushing attack to control the big Region 6-AAA South contest, and when Adairsville’s offense did have the ball, as short a length of time as it was, the Sonoraville defense made life difficult for the Tigers. Those two factors led to a dominant, impressive, statement-type 35-0 victory to keep Sonoraville unbeaten in subregion play and push their winning streak overall to five.
“Any time you can have an offensive attack that holds the ball that long and puts together great drives, it makes things a lot better for the whole team,” said Sonoraville coach Jim Kremer. “It makes your defense better because it allows them to rest and be fresh when they get on the field. Tonight was a total team effort. I’m proud of our guys. We came into (Adairsville’s) place and played with intensity and played very well. We had some guys step up in different roles and do a great job.”
Sonoraville (6-2, 3-0 subregion) was led by their rushing attack, which accounted for every yard they gained on Friday night. As a team, the Phoenix racked up 319 rushing yards split between six ball carriers with starting running back Tristan Key leading the way with 157 yards on 19 carries and two touchdowns.
Quarterback Patrick Moore had an impressive night as well with 96 yards on 15 carries and two touchdowns, and even Matthew Vincent got in the act in the second half with 54 yards and a touchdown.
Leading 21-0 at the half, Sonoraville continued the same strategy in the second half as they did in the first, running the ball and playing solid defense. After Adairsville began the third quarter with a long drive, the Phoenix defense turned away their best scoring chance of the night with a fourthdown stop at their own 6. They preserved the shutout from there.
In total, the Sonoraville defense gave up 162 total yards, many of those coming on Adairsville’s final drive of the first half and first drive of the second half. Christian Steele was the leading gainer for Adairsville (2-5, 0-2) with 64 yards on 13 carries.
“Coach ( Jeremy) Green does a great job with our defense, and we’ve been consistent on that side of the ball all year,” said Kremer. “And Coach (Denver) Pate and our offense has been growing a lot, and we protected the ball tonight. The bottom line is that we won on the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball tonight. When you do that, you’ve got a chance to beat anybody.”
Key scored his second touchdown of the night late in the third quarter on a three-yard run, and Vincent capped off a scoring drive early in the fourth quarter for Sonoraville’s final touchdown with a five-yard run.
The Phoenix got a break to start the game as they took advantage of a muffed punt by the Tigers and Sonoraville’s Camron Keith recovered the ball at the Adairsville 28. A few plays later Moore made the turnover hurt with a 19-yard touchdown run to put his team on the board.
After a short Adairsville drive, the Phoenix offense once again pushed the ball down the field on a long drive that was punctuated with a one-yard touchdown run by Key.
Sonoraville’s final first-half score came a few minutes later on a 15-yard touchdown run by Moore that came just one play after a Keith punt return for a score was called back on a penalty.
Will Pritchett came up with Sonoraville’s second turnover of the night midway through the third quarter with an interception at midfield.
Sonoraville is back home next Friday for another huge subregion showdown against rival Calhoun, which is likely going to decide the No. 1 seed from 6-AAA South.
“It’s going to be a monster game,” said Kremer. “Calhoun has been the man for a long time, and they area very, very good team. To be the man, you’ve got to beat the man. We’re going to have to come in next week and have a great week of practice and play our best game to win that one. It’s going to be a great atmosphere. We’ll go out there and tee it up and see what happens.”