Drew Cobb and Gordon Lee race past LaFayette and move to 2-0.
With his team hanging on to a razor-thin one-point lead and the fourth quarter just 15 seconds old, Gordon Lee head coach Greg Ellis knew he needed something big from his team.
And that’s exactly what he got.
The Trojans used a methodical 7:50 drive to score an all-important touchdown in the closing minutes, and then got a big fourth-down stop on defense to finally put away pesky LaFayette, 35-20, in Chickamauga.
Gordon Lee ran the ball 46 times for 292 yards on Friday night, but saved some of its best for last as they piled up 112 yards in the final period behind a workmanlike effort from its offensive line and the backfield duo of senior Drew Cobb and junior Braden Jarvis.
Cobb, who went for 272 yards and five touchdowns in a win over Dade County on Aug. 18, had another big night with 163 yards and four touchdowns on 27 carries, despite fighting through some leg cramps in the fourth quarter. Jarvis, who ran only twice for a pedestrian seven yards in the first half, stepped up with 102 yards on 10 second-half carries, including 56 yards on the Trojans’ signature march to open the fourth quarter.
“It’s a luxury for us to have two good running backs,” Ellis said. “Jarvis is just as good as Cobb. He might not have the feet that Drew does to make people miss, but boy, Jarvis just runs so hard. I have no problem giving the ball to either of them. I’m very proud of them tonight.
“Our linemen were starting to get wore out (late in the game), but so was LaFayette’s (defense). It was just our will that got us through tonight.”
LaFayette would get in the end zone first as Bryson Smith capped the Ramblers’ second possession — a 59-yard drive — with a 3-yard TD run, set up by an 18-yard scamper by Dakota Cathey. Max Studdard added the extra point.
But Gordon Lee would use a 13-play, 61-yard drive that took over seven minutes off the clock. Cobb would line up at quarterback in the wildcat formation and found a hole to his left as he ran it in from 10 yards out. Jarrett
Lassetter booted the first of his four extra points on the evening to tie the game.
Three plays later, Jarvis recovered a fumbled pitch at the LaFayette 10 and Cobb used another wildcat run to score from seven yards out and boost the lead to 14-7 with 8:10 left in the half.
Cobb ended the Ramblers’ next possession with an interception, but the offense would come up short on a fourth-down try at the LaFayette 7. The Ramblers would pick up a first down to move the ball away from its own goal line before Cathey gave his team a spark just before halftime.
Facing secondand-13 from his own 17, Cathey was hit and nearly brought down in the backfield, but the junior speedster pulled a Houdini to slip through the tackle. He found a seam in the middle of the line and got loose for what turned into an 83-yard touchdown run that pulled LaFayette level at intermission.
Ellis said he told his team in the locker room “it was time to grow up.”
“I said we can do one of two things,” he explained. “We could sit there and whine about getting beat up on or go do something about it.”
After an exchange of punts to begin the third quarter, Cobb broke off a 26-yard run to kick off a scoring drive. The Trojans took advantage of a 15-yard personal foul penalty on the Ramblers to move the ball inside the 15.
Two plays later, Cobb made it three scores on three snaps out of the wildcat as he scored from 11 yards out to put his team back in front 21-14.
But LaFayette refused to go quietly. They overcame a pair of 10-yard holding penalties to march 65 yards in 11 plays, aided by a 15-yard pass interference call on the Trojans. Cathey did the honors, going 16 yards off right end on the first play of the fourth quarter. However, the extra point hooked left to keep Gordon Lee in front by a point.
That’s when the Trojans showed off their own version of groundand-pound. Jarvis had seven carries on the ensuing 14-play, 71yard drive, while Cobb got the call six times. The final play came on fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line, but Ellis eschewed a short field goal try and put the ball in the hands of Cobb, who punched it in to give Gordon Lee a 28-20 lead with 3:55 remaining.
LaFayette, needing a touchdown and a 2point conversion to tie, began the next drive at its own 30, but three plays netted just six yards and Jarvis came up to stuff Cathey at the line of scrimmage on fourth down to turn it over with 2:41 to play.
Three plays later, Makinnon Young took the handoff from Cobb on a reverse and raced 17 yards for a final insurance score.
The Ramblers would take the ball to the Gordon Lee 15 in the final minute, only to see Gordon Lee’s Jake Leiviska intercept a Logan Teasley pass in the end zone with 27 seconds to go.
“I’m so proud of these kids," Ellis said. “It was a total team effort tonight, probably one of the better wins I’ve had because of all the adversity we went through early and then getting the kids calmed down and focused. I’m really proud of them for that.
“LaFayette’s has come a long way and they’re a good football team. They’re just so big and physical, so for our guys to be able to move their guys around, I think our guys did a pretty good job.”
Jarvis finished with 109 yards on 12 carries, while quarterback Austin Thompson completed 6 of 8 passes to four different receivers for 42 yards.
Caleb Vines came up with eight tackles for the Gordon Lee defense, while Jarvis had seven, including one for a loss.
Cathey had 12 carries for a career-high 158 yards and the two scores, while Smith bulled his way for 41 yards on 13 rushes. He also added a fumble recovery on defense. Teasley connected on 2 of 8 passes, but was hurt by a couple of drops. He had 30 yards in the air and was intercepted twice.
Jonah Hobbs and Grayson Blaschke had nine tackles each to pace the LaFayette defense, while Tyler Beard added seven.
“The effort was there tonight, but we put ourselves behind the chains a lot with some penalties and turnovers,” LaFayette head coach Chad Fisher stated. “Still, it was a one-point game in the fourth quarter and that’s all you can ask for.
"We just have to learn to step up and make a play in the fourth. The defense might have been a little tired, but that’s football. Someone has to step up and make a play on either side of the ball and that’s the bottom line.
“Gordon Lee has a good football team and I think we do too. I don’t think that last (touchdown) was indicative of the game by any means, but it is what it is. We’ll rebound and we’ll be fine. We’re going to go home and get ready for Homecoming next week.”
LaFayette (1-2) will welcome Gordon Central on Friday, while Gordon Lee will try to make it to 3-0 when they travel to LFO.