North Cobb Christian wanted to force turnovers and keep its offense on the field as long as possible against Baconton Charter late Saturday.

It didn’t work out that way.

The visiting Eagles, who had to make the lengthy trip to south Georgia, were the ones that turned the ball over with two interceptions, two fumbles and a muffed punt.

Baconton took advantage by breaking the game open early in the third quarter with two quick scores off North Cobb Christian miscues and held on to seal a 45-21 victory.

“We had to keep (Baconton’s) offense off the field and force turnovers,” North Cobb Christian coach Harry Miles said. “But they reversed us so that was pretty tough.”

North Cobb Christian (2-3) came out strong against Baconton in the first half, and it was still in the game trailing 13-6 going into the break.

The Eagles played well enough defensively to give their offense a chance to take the lead in the second half. Although they gave up two scores, they never surrendered big plays. But the same defense ended up spending too much time on the field and struggled to hold Baconton on third downs.

Once the second half began, the game started slipping away from North Cobb Christian.

At the start of the third quarter, the Eagles fumbled a kickoff, which led to a Baconton touchdown. Then, the Eagles threw an interception on their ensuing drive and the Blazers tacked on seven more points.

Four minutes into the second half, North Cobb Christian found itself trailing 27-6, and it ended up being too much of a deficit to overcome.

“We ran 23 offensive plays for the game and it’s hard to score that way,” Miles said.

The Eagles had a hard time generating drives offensively throughout the game and they often had to start deep in their own territory.

That led to the defense having to defend short fields, making it a simpler task for Baconton to score points. On three straight possessions in the second half, Baconton started from inside the North Cobb Christian 40-yard line.

North Cobb Christian did score twice in the fourth in attempt to rally. One of its touchdowns came on a 59-yard reception from Crute to John Town.

Crute completed seven of 11 passes for 98 yards and a touchdown and rushed for an additional 35.