The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
YATES HELPS TECH BOUNCE BACK
Yellow Jackets recover from last week’s opening stumble by trouncing Kennesaw.
Mistakes and missed opportunities did Georgia Tech in against Northern Illinois a week ago. Against an overmatched FCS opponent thinned by injury, the Yellow Jackets took care of business Saturday, overwhelming Kennesaw State 45-17 at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
Behind quarterback Jordan Yates, making his first career start in place of Jeff Sims, Tech was in control from the start. A disciplined defensive effort and dynamic playmaking on offense enabled the Jackets to avoid the fate they suffered a week ago.
“Personally, this was a bounceback week,” said linebacker Charlie Thomas, a difference maker with two interceptions. “We had a tough loss last week, and we were just like, we’ve got to put that game past us and just go harder and stay focused on the next game.”
Yates looked comfortable from the start, leading Tech on an eightplay, 81-yard touchdown drive on the Jackets’ first possession of the game for a 7-0 lead. He punctuated the series by looping a pass over an oncoming defender to running back Jordan Mason, who made a one-handed catch and ran the ball in for a 6-yard touchdown catch. Flat on his back, Yates raised his arms in triumph.
Yates finished the game 17-for23 passing for 254 yards and four touchdowns, becoming the first Tech quarterback to throw four touchdown passes in his first career start. Sims watched from the sidelines, his left arm heavily wrapped. Sims, who was knocked out of the Northern Illinois game, was available only on an emergency basis. His availability for Saturday’s game against No. 6 Clemson is uncertain.
“It was real fun,” Yates said. “(My teammates) made my job really easy (Saturday) across the
board.”
It was a critical win for Tech and coach Geoff Collins, whose leadership of the team in his third season came under severe question from the fan base following the loss to Northern Illinois.
“It was difficult, but I was very proud — the coaching staff that we have, the leadership that we’ve developed and we’ve built in this program, the resilience, the focus — all of those things were on display this week,” Collins said.
Until a fourth-quarter lapse, Tech (1-1) played a cleaner and more efficient game than it did in the opener, when missed chances cost the Jackets at least 17 points in the 22-21 loss. After missing twofield goal tries last week, kicker Brent Cimaglia made his only field-goal attempt of the game, from 31 yards in the second quarter. Yates repeatedly hit downfield throws, an area where Sims struggled last week. The Jackets scored four touchdowns and a
field goal on their five red-zone trips, a trouble spot last season. The defense, down three starters (safety Tariq Carpenter, who played one play before departing, cornerback Zamari Walton and defensive tackle Ja’Quon Griffin), limited Kennesaw State (1-1) to 272 yards of offense, 114 of them in the fourth quarter when the Owls got loose for 14 points.
Tech quickly loosened the tension by taking a 17-0 lead in the game’s first 20 minutes. Defensive end Jordan Domineck delivered a tone-setting moment on KSU’s second drive of the game with the Jackets ahead 7-0.
On a first-and-10 play from the Tech 22, with the Owls having driven from its 25 and threatening to tie the score at 7-7, Domineck deflected Owls quarterback Xavier Shepherd’s option pitch, picked up the ball and ran 70 yards for the touchdown, stiff arming Shepherd into the turf about halfway to the end zone.
Atlanta United centerback George Campbell’s mom celebrated her birthday Friday.
Campbell got her a card, a nice dinner, oh, and the game-winning goal in Friday’s 3-0 victory over Orlando at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. It was the first goal for the 20-year-old Homegrown signing.
”Told her that I’d score for her, so it’s really amazing,” he said. “I did my best, and it came right to me. It was meant to happen, I guess.”
T he goal came on a header in the 25th minute, with Campbell splitting two Orlando defenders to hammer the ball down into the lower left corner.
The play started with a corner kick.
Atlanta United’s assistant coaches noticed in their scouting that Orlando could be slow to react to short corners. Recognizing that, Ezequiel Barco and Marcelino
Moreno ran to the corner. Barco passed to Moreno. Atlanta United’s taller players, a group that includes Campbell, were still making their way down the field for the set piece.
As Campbell made his run toward the penalty box, he said he and Moreno made
eye contact at least twice. Moreno took a touch. Camp- bell’s pace quickened, his long legs easily covering yards of artificial turf. Moreno chipped the ball into the box, and Campbell, with- out having to break stride, was the first to react to the ball.
“Cre d it to Campbell, though, for just sprinting forward and reading the play fantastically,” manager Gonzalo Pineda said. “The gap between the defenders, he just attacked the ball in a very good way, which is typical from Campbell because he is very aggressive, and I liked the aggression from all of our players.”
Campbell started because Miles Robinson was unavail- able after starring for the U.S. men’s national team in its three World Cup qualifying games, a series that ended Wednesday. It was Campbell’s third start and eighth appearance this season. He said that Robinson told him to get himself a goal.
As Atlanta United’s first manager, Gerardo Martino, would say, a defenders’ first job is to defend.
Playing as part of a three-person centerback grouping, Campbell finished second on the team in tack- les (three), led the team in fouls conceded (three) and completed 88.6 percent of his passes, including three of four long balls. He won three of his six duels and had four clearances.
Under Pineda, the team has scrapped the man-marking system preferred by previous manager Gabriel Heinze and gone almost exclusively to a zonal marking system. They spent part of the past two weeks working on that. Campbell said it was a big adjustment, but he thinks the team handled it well. He said they felt comfortable during Friday’s game, and the players communicated well.
In posting its sixth shutout, Atlanta United held Orlando to only two shots on goal and six chances created.
“I can see a centerback with tremendous potential,” Pineda said. “He’s a centerback that is physically gifted. His aggression when he presses between the lines was fantastic today, so I was pleased with his performance before he scored the goal.”