GAINESVILLE, Ga. – Third-ranked Gainesville had its Region 7-5A fate in its hands, but No. 6 Roswell snatched it away and can now win the region with a victory over Milton next week.
The Hornets held off Gainesville 37-35 at City Park on Friday night. The Red Elephants (8-2, 5-1 Region 7-5A) will have to wait until next week to see where they finish in Region 7-5A.
Roswell (8-1, 5-0 Region 7-5A) plays host to Milton next Friday. The Hornets will win the region with a victory, and the Red Elephants will be second. If Milton wins, there is a three-way tie between Gainesville, Roswell, and Milton with the region champion, along with second and third place determined by a tiebreaker.
The Red Elephants’ regular season is over. They will have a couple of weeks to prepare for the Class 5-A playoff.
“I think this group could be as good as they want to be,” Gainesville Coach Josh Niblett said. “We made a few mistakes tonight. We had a couple of things from a penalty standpoint, a few different times that got us on a couple of drives. We have to clean those up. But I do think this is a deep run team that can go win a championship. I do; I really do.”
The Hornets used a defensive stop and a 99-yard drive to take a 37-28 lead with 2:33 left. Roswell stopped Nigel Newkirk on fourth down at the Hornets’ 1. Roswell then drove 99 yards in 13 plays and scored on quarterback Trey Smith’s 14-yard run.
Gainesville quickly drove down the field with quarterback Kharim Hughley finding Philip Williams with a 24-yard touchdown pass at 1:17. Smith recovered the Red Elephants’ onside kick, and Roswell ran out the clock.
“We get the ball to the 1-yard line,” Niblett said. “We’ve got to score there. I would go for it again. I would because I feel like that’s a score we gotta have.”
Newkirk rushed for 116 yards and two touchdowns. He passed the 1,000-yard mark with his third carry of the night. Dwight Lewis ran for 91. Hughley completed 14-of-21 passes for 219 yards and two scores. Williams caught five passes for 111 yards.
Gainesville led 21-16 at the half and was driving to start the third quarter before the Hornets intercepted a tipped pass at their 17.
Roswell marched for the go-ahead score. Smith took it in from 2 yards out. He had a 1-yard TD run on the Hornets’ next possession. He finished with 100 yards rushing and four touchdowns. He completed 16-of-20 passes for 274 yards. Wills Campbell was his favorite target, catching 10 passes for 169 yards.
Gainesville took the lead late in the first half with the help of its defense. The Hornets tried to convert at fourth-and-1 at their 46. Gainesville defensive linemen Kadin Fossung and Marshall Leonard combined to stop Smith short.
The Red Elephants quickly drove 46 yards with Newkirk scoring on a 22-yard run with 47.9 seconds left in the half.
Roswell had taken a 16-7 lead midway through the second quarter on Nick Peal’s 10-yard run, but the Red Elephants answered with an 8-yard drive. Newkirk had a 40-yard run to the Roswell 22. Hughley completed a 7-yard pass to Collin Porterfield to convert a third down. Hugley capped the drive with a 1-yard scoring run.
Hornets led 9-7 early in the second quarter on a 7-yard touchdown run by Smith and Balint Vorosmarty’s 33-yard field goal.
Hughley and Porterfield combined for a 9-yard touchdown pass for Gainesville’s first score. It capped a 13-play, 80-yard drive that took 8:42 off the clock.
It was a tough loss to end the regular season, but Niblett believes his team will respond and be ready when the state playoffs start on Nov. 14.
“There’s a lot of leadership in that locker room,” Niblett said. “These guys have worked too hard. I told them, Hey, we’ll be grown men about it. It’s going to hurt a little bit. And then we gotta refocus on what we gotta do and get a plan together.”
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