McEachern has one of the more athletic and experienced teams in the state this year and it showed in the Indians’ 31-10 demolition of a proud Brookwood squad in the nightcap of the Metro PCS Corky Kell Classic at the Georgia Dome.
After an opening drive by Brookwood that netted a 3-0 lead, No. 4 McEachern took over and scored the next 24 points of the game in a little less than two full quarters. An electric 90-yard scoring run by running back Taj Griffin punctuated the Indians’ surge, but coach Kyle Hockman’s defense may have been the key to McEachern’s victory.
“Right now, the core of our team is the nine or 10 returning starters on defense,” said Hockman. “And they played that way. Obviously, we have some great skill guys on offense, but we’re inexperienced up front. But our defense just did an outstanding job.”
Coming into the game, Brookwood coach Mark Crews’ goal was to keep the ball away from McEachern’s dynamic playmakers on offense. But that task proved to be too tall, as two key injuries and the Indians’ tough defense prevented Brookwood from establishing a sustainable ground game.
“It’s hard to move the football when we lost both of our backs, our fullback and our tailback (to injuries),” said Crews. “So we were sort of knitting and stitching our offense back together.”
Normally a powerful running team, Brookwood was held to 70 yards on the ground while McEachern rolled up 323, including 239 in the first half. Griffin finished with 154 rushing yards while quarterback Ty Clemons totaled 109 on the ground with an 11-yard score of his own. He also passed for 67 yards.
One of the more disappointing aspects of the game was the consistent penalties called on both teams, which combined for 23 flags for a total of 189 yards. Hockman thinks discipline is one thing his team can work on before its next game, which was less than six days away at the end of tonight’s contest.
“I don’t know if (the penalties) were us or the officials. We’ll have to look at that, but we just want to play a clean game and a smooth, smart game all the way around,” he said. “I think we got a lot better from our scrimmage to tonight, and we’re going to get better from tonight to next week.”
The Indians host Lassiter Friday in the Battle of the Big Chicken, one of two games to be played at McEachern. The other will be Hilgrove vs. Walton. The short turnaround presents a challenge to the Indians’ preparations this week.
“We’ll probably back off just a little bit more early in the week and try to have just one real hard, physical practice, but we got a few guys banged up,” he said. “We’ll be a little tired, banged up, but Lassiter hasn’t played yet, so I think it’ll all offset.”
Crews came away impressed with the team from west Cobb he had just seen.
“Athletically, they’re as good as anybody we’ve played against,” he said. “Their defense has got some big ol’ guys on there, their offense is awfully talented as far as team speed and that kind of thing, so they’re a good football team.”
Crews’ Broncos have the week off before traveling to No. 7 Mill Creek.
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