The Warriors made sure of that, one week after their overtime loss to South Cobb.
Most of the mistakes North Cobb made in its previous game were corrected, and the Warriors came up with solid game plans on both sides of the ball en route to a 41-14 victory over Hillgrove in a Region 4AAAAAA game at Emory Sewell Stadium.
After giving up two turnovers last week, the Warriors (5-1, 4-1) didn’t turn the ball over against the Hawks (3-3, 2-2), and they were penalized just four times for 40 yards, instead of their previous tally of nine times for 75.
“I told our kids we didn’t play very well last week,” North Cobb coach Shane Queen said. “We couldn’t let South Cobb beat us twice — meaning that we couldn’t let it carry over into this week — and that was answered very quickly.”
North Cobb’s defense shut down Hillgrove for the first three quarters, while quarterback Tyler Queen brought the offense to life with 132 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
No doubt, North Cobb had one of its better games of the season against a prolific Hillgrove offense.
The Warriors’ secondary gave Hillgrove quarterback Troy Thompson fits for most of the first half by swarming his receivers. Meanwhile, defensive lineman Eghosa Agbonghae and linebacker Jali Kuku led the front seven in applying constant pressure to the Hawks’ backfield.
Thompson, who was fifth in Cobb County with 909 passing yards coming into Friday’s game, was only 5-of-16 for 77 yards against North Cobb. He misfired on six straight pass attempts at one point, many of which were broken up by the Warriors’ secondary.
A defensive play by North Cobb early in the fourth quarter put the game out of reach. Hakeem Sawyer sacked Thompson on a fourth-down play from the Hillgrove 44, Thompson lost the ball as he went down to the turf, and Trenton Pruett was there to scoop it up for a touchdown to give the Warriors a 34-0 lead.
“We broke on balls (Friday),” Shane Queen said of his defense. We were there and made the plays.”
The Warriors didn’t have to rely on their dynamic receiving duo of Xavier Borishade and Nick Miller. They combined for two catches and just 15 yards, but they each had rushing touchdowns.
If the opening drive was any indication, the Warriors planned on gaining most of their yards on the ground. Tyler Queen had runs of 24 and 36 yards on the first drive before J’Vonte Herrod finished it off with a 1-yard run that put North Cobb on the board.
A costly pass-interference penalty against Hillgrove’ defense helped set up North Cobb’s second touchdown, on a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Queen, and Borishade sprinted 13 yards for a score following a blocked punt to put North Cobb ahead 21-0 at the break.
North Cobb chewed 7 minutes off the clock in its first drive of the second half before Queen found the end zone from 10 yards out. And Queen’s 16-yard run midway through the fourth quarter set up North Cobb’s final touchdown, a 22-yard run by Miller.
Hillgrove avoided the shutout early in the fourth quarter, on a 73-yard touchdown pass from Elijah Ironside to Evan Engram. Evan Arnold scored a late touchdown late on a 1-yard plunge.
“It’s always a work in progress,” Hillgrove coach Phil Ironside said of the loss. “We’ll have to come to practice Monday and work, and just get better for the next one.”
Follow us on Twitter!
Well once again they turn-As a coach I spend all of my off season time trying to develop talent for free!! But you know what your kids don't come and expect to show up to practice and play. Your Days, Chubs, Drakes, McCune and your Tews Work extremely hard in the off-season, thats how they get that good. Yes they are talented, but they work hard to be good players. If your going to complain grab a whistle and get on the field. If not step aside and let us do our volunteer jobs. If you can coach the High school better, get your teaching diploma and start coaching.
Please accept my sincere apology if you interpreted my comments to be insulting. As a parent, I couldnt be more grateful for the uncompensated time our coaches volunteer. My family is very involved with our sports programs and try to do everything we can to help. My kids work extremely hard both on and off-season and if they play their cards right will reap the benefits.
With all due respect, I am entitled to my opinion and wont apologize for that.
I want to give you a little incite to Coaching. Has you child ever come home from school saying that his teacher doesn't like them. So you schedule an appointment to meet with the teacher. When you meet you find out that there is allot of things that your kid left out about what he or she is doing in class. Its happen to me!! What I learned is no to jump to conclusions and to pay attention to my kids behavior.
I would challenge you to watch a practice( the entire practice)and pick out the things that your child struggles with. Is he standing at the back of the group? Not paying attention and doesn't know the plays when he gets in. Watch a game! Not for the touch downs... Watch what your son is doing. Is the player that normally plays that position that much better at it. What Can I do as a Mom or Dad to make them better? Do I need outside help?
As far as the High School goes we have had better than winning seasons every year ever since we hit 4A. This will be the first year that we really struggled. I credit Coach I and his staff. Because in Georgia that is hard to do! Look there are plenty of schools in our region that have the talent of that we have had but they still cant win games. Why.... Coaching. He's not alway going to call the perfect play. The kids (and I stress Kids) arent always going to run the play as it was designed but.. We are beating the teams that we should and competing with the team that are difficult. Let just support them in anyway we can.
The moving to a new region comment is just "ridiculous" and lacks any "common sense".
I doubt NC being able to read HGs play calls is illegal, cudos their coaching staff (or whomever) for figuring it out or HOWEVER they got the info. Shame on HG for not going to huddle or alternative if they were aware.
HG can definitely play better! Players need to step up and it seems they could do a better job at play calling. Perhaps someone less emotionally involved can do a better job calling plays on both sides of the ball! I heard the same with regards to play calling. Nothing that happens in practice ends up in the game, that doesnt make much sense to me. and this is me, staying out of the QB controvesy.....
#1 has been HGs best "play maker" all year, making something out of nothing. The 3 or 4 6'2" plus group of receivers have some talent and dont get utilized, but with the ground game restricted by injury it isnt likely they will. Passes have been less than accurate, so the reception % seems good considering. Both the O and D line have some pretty significant injuries #56 and #25 (jr is likely to get picked up by Alabama or another SEC power house). Incidently, it is very difficult for an OL to block if the QB isnt where he is supposed to be....
Stay positive and try to get better each week. You win some and you lose some. No reason to jump off a bridge. Plenty of games left in the season, but you gotta be in it to win it! I am a faithful supporter of my team in both good and bad times, that's a real fan!
And drhouse1971- what in the world do you mean Hillgrove needs to get in a better region? If you can't compete with the better teams of this region, how is it going to help to go to another? Plenty of games left for the Hawks to get it together. They might even surprise you and beat those Indians in that last game.
Also, Its very very obvious that you have ZERO, NONE, ZILCH clue as to the actual facts of the RB. You probably got your info from Twitter!
And like I said, you have no clue about the RB, you hear something from someone and run with it as its true. Keep thinking you know it all though, its good entertainment on here and shows some of us that you actually know very little.