Trojans grind out an NGAC title
In terms of number of plays and yardage, Gordon Lee’s final drive of the 2021 North Georgia Athletic Conference football championship game wasn’t all that special on the surface.
But taken in context, it might go down as one of the most impressive and most clutch drives in the program’s history and in the history of the conference’s championship game.
Clinging to a 14-12 lead over Ringgold with 1:14 remaining in the third quarter, Gordon Lee took possession at its own 4-yard line following a Tiger punt...and never gave the ball back.
What followed was a methodical, clock-chewing, title-clinching possession that took 9:14 off the clock before finally ending on a kneel-down by quarterback Dustin Day at the Ringgold 44-yard line.
The 15-play, 61-yard drive included five first downs. The first one came on the opening play as Day moved the pile 12 yards on a sneak to get his team out of the shadow of its own end zone. Two third-down conversions and one huge fourth-down conversion followed as the Trojans’ running game wore down the clock to triple zeros.
It was the second meeting between the two teams this season with Ringgold winning the first contest, 16-6, at Ringgold in early September.
The rematch pitted the two top scoring offenses and the top two scoring defenses in the NGAC during the 2021 season, and the combatants played a fairly even first half with both offenses rushing 11 times for 80 yards. Gordon Lee picked up eight more in the air of 2 of 4 passing.
However, both teams uncharacteristically had trouble protecting the ball in the opening half. Ringgold lost three fumbles and threw an interception in the first two quarters, while Gordon Lee lost two of three fumbles.
The Tigers opened the scoring with 5:46 left in the first stanza. Haddon Fries ran for 13 yards to begin Ringgold’s second possession and then pinballed his way for a 33-yard TD run on the very next snap, bouncing off four would-be Gordon Lee tacklers on his way to the end zone. The Trojans defense would stuff a 2-point conversion try.
The next score of the game didn’t come until early in the second quarter. After Landon Norton broke up a long Ringgold pass on fourth down, Layne Vaughn took a quick handoff, broke away from a tackle at the line of scrimmage, and outraced the Ringgold defense for
a 58-yard touchdown run. However, the Tiger defense also stopped a conversion attempt, leaving the score at 6-6 with 6:58 left before intermission.
Three plays later, Gordon Lee’s Cole Derryberry picked off a Ringgold pass to give the Trojans the ball back at the Tigers’ 44. Three runs and a 15-yard face mask penalty moved the ball down to the 8-yard line before Brisyn Oliver got a great block from Vaughn to spring him for the score.
This time, however, the conversion attempt succeeded. Day was initially met at the 1-yard line before the Trojans moved the pile the final three feet to the end
zone, giving themselves a 14-6 advantage with 3:25 remaining and the hosts would take that lead into the locker room.
Ringgold responded on its first drive of the second half. Judah Smith rambled 30 yards on an end-around to set up Fries for a nice 18-yard TD run. But once again, the Gordon Lee defense stacked up the Tigers on the conversion attempt to maintain the narrow 2-point cushion.
Gordon Lee’s next possession ended on downs at its own 41 as a fake punt resulted in an incomplete pass. But the Tigers were flagged for holding on the next play from scrimmage and the Trojans stepped up
to a force a 37-yard punt by Fries that rolled inside the Gordon Lee 5-yard line with just over a minute left in the third period.
It would turn out to be Ringgold’s last offensive possession of the night as the Trojans grinded out the rest of third quarter and all of the fourth.
Vaughn was a workhorse, carrying seven times for 25 crucial yards and two first downs on the final drive, despite the Tigers desperately trying to strip the ball on every carry. Day picked up the other three first downs, including a tough two-yard effort on a fourth-and-one sneak from the Ringgold 35 with just over a minute to go.
The Trojans (8-1) would be whistled for a pair of 5-yard penalties in the final seconds, but with Ringgold out of timeouts, the Tigers were unable to stop the clock.
Vaughn finished with 10 carries and racked up 83 of Gordon Lee’s 144 yards on the ground. Oliver added 29 yards on nine carries and Day had 21 yards on five attempts. Garrett Ross caught both of Day’s passes.
Fries had 83 yards on 10 tough carries for Ringgold (7-1). Smith had three rushes for 28 yards and Logan Moore ran once for 22 yards. The Tigers finished with just six yards passing.