Atlanta gets win over PG
ATLANTA, Texas—Atlanta and Pleasant Grove had a barn burner at Rabbit Stadium Friday night going until Tyrell Phillips put out the fire.
Atlanta’s senior tailback ran for 313 yards and seven touchdowns, three in the fourth quarter, and the Rabbits (3-3, 1-0) pulled away from Pleasant Grove (4-2, 0-1) for a 55-31 win in the district opener for both squads.
The two teams were locked in a 33-31 death match at the end of three quarters, then Phillips ripped off TD runs of 3, 61, and 31 yards to put the game out of reach.
In the meantime, Atlanta’s defensive interior of Tray Darty, Keyuntae Kinney, Cassius McKee and Markavion Bryant
parked itself in the Hawk backfield in the fourth quarter, allowing just one first down while recording five tackles for loss in the final 10 minutes.
The final score belied the closeness of a battle that for the most part looked like it might come down to the final play.
The first half had more twists and turns than the raging Red River during a flood year.
In the beginning, Atlanta jumped out to a quick lead and looked like it might get up and runaway from a struggling PG team.
Then, thanks to a pair of errant Rabbit punt snaps and a series of brilliant special teams plays on their own behalf, the Hawks battled back, sending nervous fans from both sides to the concession stands to ponder what the second half might bring as Atlanta clung to a 27-24 lead.
Pleasant Grove fumbled away the opening kickoff, giving Atlanta the ball at the Hawk 25. It took the Rabbits just five plays to put the ball in the end zone. Three plays were runs by Phillips, who notched the first of his three first-half TDs from three yards out.
Conley Richardson’s point after had Atlanta up, 7-3, with 10:40 still showing on the first quarter clock.
Keshawn Jones returned the ensuing kickoff 53 yards to the Atlanta 22. Atlanta’s defensive front asserted itself early, allowing just three yards in three plays. Dalton Hinson’s 45-yard field goal try was dead-center, making it 7-3 at the 8:24 mark.
Atlanta responded with an eight-play, 75-yard drive to make it 14-3. The big play was a 51-yard strike from Layton Henson to Jeremy Smith.
The Hawks picked themselves off the mat after that haymaker and threw one of their own, an 11-play, 65-yard drive. Logan Wesley’s 11 yard burst up the middle made it 14-10 with six seconds still on the first quarter clock.
Less than a minute later, it was 14-12 after Pleasant Grove’s defense forced a three-and out. The fourth-down snap sailed high over the head of punter Carson Lambert, whose belated punt attempt was blocked by a wave of Hawks. The ball squibbed past the end line for a safety.
Vashon Williams caught Lambert’s ensuring punt at the 28 and sprinted through the Atlanta defense for 42 yards to the Rabbit 30.
Wesley picked up 17 on first down and three plays later Keshawn Jones swept around the right side for 6 yards and the score. Hinton’s point-after made it 19-14, PG.
Phillips immediately answered for Atlanta, finding a big gap on a counter play to the right for 52 yards to the Hawk 14. Two plays later he hit the middle for the go-ahead score. A two-point play failed, but Atlanta was back on top, 20-19, midway through the second period.
Late in the period, the Rabbs made it 27-19 when Henson hit Jacobi Hamilton with a 45-yard bomb to set up an 8-yard quarterback keeper.
The Hawks clawed their way back into the game after another errant punt snap resulted in another safety. Again, Williams had a big return on the following punt, this time to the Atlanta 22. That set up a 35-yard field goal by Hinton as time expired on the first half.
Pleasant Grove regained the lead late in the third period when Carson Cox hit Wesley for 49 yards on a screen play. The junior back scored four plays later to make it 31-27.
That’s when Phillips decided he had had enough, and scored the next four touchdowns.