As well as Pebblebrook played Friday, it could've very well been Mableton.
For the second straight week, the Falcons' defense yielded just a single field goal as they took an early lead and held on for a 13-3 victory over Harrison in the Region 4AAAAA opener at Bruce Cobleigh Stadium.
"The defense did a tremendous job (Friday)," Pebblebrook coach Randall Smith said.
C.J. Goodman threw a touchdown pass, Sertonuse Harris ran for a score and Charles McCline had two sacks and a forced fumble for Pebblebrook (2-2, 1-0), which won its second straight game.
The Falcons' defense held speedy running back Ryan Godhigh (12 carries, 42 yards) and the rest of the Hoyas (1-3, 0-1) to less than 100 yards on the ground.
"The scheme is the scheme, but the kids limited (Godhigh)," Smith said. "They came in this week with the mindset that we were going to stop him, and they did. They had a purpose to stop him and not let him beat them, and that's what they did. That's a testament to the kids."
Pebblebrook capitalized on the second play of the game, recovering a fumble by Godhigh at Harrison's 35. After first-down runs by Goodman and Harris, the Falcons took the lead for good on a five-yard TD run by Harris with 10:30 left in the first quarter.
Harrison responded with a 12-play drive on its ensuing possession, shaving 6 minutes off the clock, but had to settle for a 32-yard field goal by Darren Parkinson.
After a pair of punts by each team, Pebblebrook stretched its lead to 10 when wide receiver Dontavious Heard made a leaping catch - on a well under-thrown pass - over a Harrison defender and sprinted the rest of the way for a 76-yard touchdown with 3:15 left before the half.
In the second half, the Falcons' defense wasn't on the field as long, but they still came away with one huge stop in the fourth quarter. After a long drive by the Hoyas, linebacker Khalid Henderson stopped Harrison quarterback Sean Skradis at the 2-yard line on fourth down.
"We gave up some big plays, but we didn't break," Smith said.
The Hoyas had a chance to cut into the lead once again after Harris lost a fumble on the Falcons' 9-yard line, but Parkinson missed a 27-yard field goal with 5:23.
Harrison forced Pebblebrook to punt with less than 3 minutes to go, but turned the ball over on downs after four plays deep in its own territory.
Skradis had 109 passing yards for Harrison, which, like Pebblebrook, is off next week.
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We use to think Coach Cobleigh was a bad coach who would call the waggle 30 times a game, and just gave it to Jonathan Walker the other 30 times. But now I realize that maybe he was a good coach.
I don't keep up with Harrison high school football really but I'm ashamed of our current team the past couple years.
I guess we need to tear down that dumb missing brick thing.
The biggest problem with the Hoyas is the lack of character of Hines. He talks about God, faith and team and then turns around and blames the death of Garrett Reed on the players saying they were not watching out for each other. He refuses to retire the number of this former player because his death did not meet David's personal moral standards. Shame on you David! My God is a God of forgiveness and mercy.
It is time for the head coach to look in the mirror and at that point he may be able to reach the team.
I anticipate that the pattern will continue this season - The D will keep it close, but running a vanilla offense against superior size & speed will mean few points, and evenutally a turnover or big play by the opposition will result in a close Hoya loss.
Unlike other posters, I am not questioning the "character" of the players or coaches. That's ridiculous. The effort is there and the team does not quit (a testament to both players and coaches). It's about available talent and scheming to fully utilize that talent.
@oldhoyafan-judging by your name,you must be an old hoya fan so why the heck do you care anymore?? don't tell us to suck it up and play harder, because if you think you know all the answers you go talk to the coaches or if your young enough put on some pads and play with us.
@anonymous&anonymous999- I said it once and i'll say it again! its not the coaches fault! he is working us the best he can and challenges us the best he can. When another coach is making mistakes such as not rotating people in or making a badd play call such as running it on 3rd and long he speaks to them and corrects them. So either come to our practices and see whats really going on or shut it!
Talent - The players give it their all, but the current roster is full of small, slow players and has almost no playmakers/gamebreakers. Robbie Godhigh & Turnipseed could score on any play the last 2 years, but now they are gone. Ryan Godhigh (#21) & Posey (#1) appear to be the only potential gamebreakers this year, but their effectiveness is limited when the defense stacks 8-9 in the box against your overmatched line & you continue to run the same basic lead play over & over. Defense is solid, yet unspectacular. Myricks (#7) looks like the only difference-maker on D, although I like Haley (#4) & Dupaty (#6) also.
Coaching - It's on the coaches to fully utilize the available talent. When you are overmatched physically, you aren't going to win by running single-wing plays & throws to the flat that keep all 22 players within 10 yards of the line. You have to spread the field, throw it downfield some, and isolate & create space for your few true playmakers. They are trying to use the same gameplan as when they had the college-level talent of past years, and that talent is just not there.
With the current talent & coaching philosophy, the Hoyas will struggle this year. The D will keep it close (except MacEachern), but lack of big-play ability on offense will mean that turnovers or big plays by the opposing team will likely mean relatively close defeats - see Pebblebrook, Woodstock and W Forsyth.
i completly agree. the kids they have now are not the same character that there used to be in harrison football. the coaches also i think have got some bad things going on. last year with a 4-6 record, this year what seems to be worse. seems like season 2008 is the last REAL HOYA football team we have seen for a while
Why would you take anything away from Pebblebrook. They did a nice job and have LOTs less students to pull from to play than HHS
@West Cobb Resident - that was the first toughest team we ever played defeated us with that much points on the scoreboard. we wanted to see what its like being #2 in the state and we learned what we have to do in order to get that far. you cant get mad at pebblebrook for doing their best to win. since we know what to do, i think we can do it for a rematch