Heritage drops 6-0 heartbreaker to Hapeville
The Boynton fans that made the drive to metroAtlanta on Saturday night were witness to one of the most inspired defensive efforts, perhaps in the history of the Heritage High football program.
However, their opponents were also up to the task.
The Generals bent and bent all night long, but only broke once against the Hapeville Charter Hornets. Unfortunately for the Navy-and-red, once was all the Hornets would need as the Region 6-AAAA runners-up used a long final drive to salt away a 6-0 victory in an absolute slobberknocker of a defensive battle in the opening round
of the Class AAAA playoffs.
Despite the Hornets rushing for 296 yards on the night, an early second-quarter
touchdown by senior Antavious Bradley would account for the only points for either team. Bradley, however, would put the Hornets on his shoulders most of the night as the workhorse amassed 221 yards on 39 carries to help Hapeville gut out the win.
“The defense played their tails off,” Heritage head coach E.K. Slaughter said. “I though we had a good plan and we made some good in-game adjustments, but (Hapeville) has athletes everywhere and they’re big up front. We just didn’t make enough plays to win.”
Playing at Banneker High School due to the lack of an on-campus field at Hapeville, the Heritage defense passed its first test of the night on Hapeville’s second possession.
The Hornets marched from their own 25 to the Generals’ 24 in seven plays. Bradley, though, would be stopped for no gain on second down and Heritage forced backto-back incomplete passes from quarterback Rashad Render to end the initial scoring threat.
Looking for a big play to add to its momentum, Heritage called for a double pass, but Hapeville’s Daylin Pless went up high to pick off the throw from the receiver near midfield and the Hornets cashed in nine plays later as the undersized, but hard-running Bradley broke through a pair of tackles on a 7-yard scoring run up the middle with 10:11 left before halftime.
Heritage’s ensuing drive ended with a turnover on downs at the Hornets’ 40. But one play later, defensive back Bryce Travillian simply ripped the ball right from the hands of Hornets’ receiver Eric Brown as both players were going to ground. However, the Hornets returned the favor moments later by intercepting a pass at their own 15-yard line to turn away the Generals again.
Hapeville drove all the way to the Heritage 14 with less
than a minute to go before halftime, looking to add to the lead. But Collin Swearingin hit receiver C.J. Penn for a 2-yard loss on third down before he brought down tailback Marcus Tutt on fourth down with another great openfield tackle, preserving the 6-0 score at intermission.
Still unable to generate any type offense in the third quarter, the Generals’ defense continued to bow its neck. They stuffed Render on a fourth-down run at the Heritage 11 to end the Hornets’ first drive of the second half and Zach Brown made a huge hit on Bradley at the Heritage 37 on the Hornets’ next possession to snuff out a fake punt attempt.
Hapeville would come up with another interception with 1:49 left in the third and took over at its own 44. But on the first snap of the fourth quarter, Donte Harris fired up the Generals’ sideline by snagging a pass from Render at the Hapeville 45. However, three plays resulted in negative two yards and Heritage sent in Bradley Cass to punt.
The senior’s rugby-style kick would travel 45 yards before being downed by the Heritage special teams at the Hornets’ 2-yard line and the Generals’ defense trotted back onto the field with 10:02 to play, looking for one more stop to set up the
offense with excellent field position.
But Bradley, Tutt and the Hapeville offensive line simply refused to let it happen.
Bradley carried four straight times to move the ball out to the 26 and, after a pair of runs by Tutt, Bradley rushed three more times against a tiring Generals’ defense, giving Hapeville a first down at the Heritage 38. Three plays later, Pless picked up three yards for Hornets’ sixth first down of the drive and three more short bursts by Bradley gave Hapeville another fresh set of downs at the 17-yard line with just over 1:30 to go.
Tutt broke through on the next play, only to have the TD run called back for holding. Heritage stopped Tutt for a 3-yard loss on the very next play, but were unable to punch the ball free and were forced to use its final timeout. Unable to stop the clock any more, Render knelt down on two straight snaps to end the game.
Tutt and Penn each added 32 yards rushing for the Hornets (6-3), while Render had just 33 yards through the air.
However, the Hapeville defense limited the Generals (5-5) to just 24 yards of total offense as the Hornets’ defensive line won the battle in the trenches all night long. Paxton Mccrary managed just 21 yards on 12 carries, while Logan Lowe had two catches for 28 of Nick Hanson’s 33 yards through the air.
Hapeville will move on to face Region 8 champion Jefferson, a 65-0 winner over Mt. Zion-jonesboro in the first round, while Heritage ends its year with memories of what will always be remembered as the strangest football season on record.
“It’s definitely been a wild year, but we’ve got some good kids and some good coaches,” Slaughter added. “When you’ve got that, all the distractions we’ve had won’t derail you. We’ve had some bumps, but we’ve got a resilient group and I thought we weathered all of it pretty well.
“I’m really thankful for this senior class. There’s some really good kids in it and some great leaders. They will be missed.”
Region 7 finished 2- 2 against Region 6 in the first round. Central-carroll dropped a 49-0 decision to Region 6 champion Marist, but No. 2-seeded Northwest Whitfield overcame a 24-13 deficit to beat Stephenson, 28-24. Region 7 Cedartown picked up a 1-0 forfeit win over Arabia Mountain, who was forced to cancel the game due to COVID-19 issues.