High School Football: Cougars Defeat Gladiators With Late Defensive Rally

By Mike Blum

JOHNS CREEK, GA -- In a game mostly dominated by the offenses of Chattahoochee and Johns Creek high school football teams, the outcome was determined by a late defensive stand put up by the Cougars that resulted in a vital victory over the Gladiators in Region 7-AAAAAA.

Chattahoochee pulled out a 38-31 victory Friday night at Johns Creek, stopping the Gladiators on four
straight plays from inside the Cougars’ 5-yard line with around four minutes to play. The two biggest plays on the Chattahoochee’s clutch defensive stand were made by junior linebacker Marcus Stephens, who also scored the winning touchdown midway through the final period on a pass from quarterback Jack Corrigan.

On third-and-goal from the 3, Stephens broke through the Johns Creek line to tackle running back Nate
Hope for a 3-yard loss. On fourth down, Stephens nearly sacked Gladiators’ quarterback Zach Gibson,
whose desperation pass sailed well out of the end zone. Prior to the late defensive stop, the Cougars had yielded points on the Gladiators’ previous five possessions after Chattahoochee had jumped out to an early 10-0 lead with the aid of a costly Johns Creek kicking game mistake.

The Cougars drove to a field goal on the game’s first series, and made it 10-0 after a high punt snap by
the Gladiators gave the ball to Chattahoochee only one yard from the end zone. Several offensive penalties stalled the next two Chattahoochee drives, and the Gladiators responded with back-to- back scoring drives to pull even at 10-10 midway through the second quarter (SIGN UP: Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app).

From that point, the two teams swapped touchdowns the rest of the game, with the Cougars taking a 22-17 halftime lead after three combined touchdowns in the final three minutes of the first half. The Gladiators scored twice in the third quarter to inch ahead 31-30, but the Cougars retaliated with their fourth straight touchdown drive of more than 70 yards to go back ahead 38-31 with 8:46 to play.

After Chattahoochee held inside its 5, the Cougars faced a third-and- 14 from the 2 when Corrigan connected with Isaiah Bivens, who made a leaping grab in traffic for 15 yards and the first down. On fourth-and-1 from the 26 and just over a minute on the clock, Chattahoochee coach Vince Strine kept his offense on the field. Corrigan shifted from his position in the shotgun to under center and gained two yards on a sneak to clinch the victory.

Strine lamented the number of times the Cougars allowed the Gladiators to break big plays in long
yardage situations, but credited the Chattahoochee defense with stepping up at the right time to "make
that stand."

With the exception of a handful of plays, the Cougars played well defensively against an explosive Johns
Creek offense, but the Gladiators broke several big gainers to account for three of their four touchdowns. Offensively, the Cougars methodically sliced up the Johns Creek defense with four consecutive lengthy scoring drives led by Corrigan, the latest in a line of seemingly cloned dual threat Chattahoochee quarterbacks that includes Travis Marshall, Brendan Cross and Tim Byerly, all of whom went on to play quarterback in college. Byerly led the Cougars to an unbeaten season and state championship in 2010.

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The last four years, however, have been difficult ones for the Cougars, who went 8-22 before going 5-5 last season and making a run at a playoff berth. The Cougars are 4-1 in region play and tied with Centennial for second place, with a showdown with region leader Alpharetta on Chattahoochee’s home field the final night of the regular season.

A key game at home against Pope awaits in two weeks, and Strine pointed out that “you never know
what’s going to happen in the region.”

With three of the Cougars’ four region wins coming by either seven or eight points, the Cougars are no sure thing to still have only one region loss when they face the Raiders, but they have shown their ability to hang on in tough circumstances, and at 5-2 overall seem headed for their first winning season and playoff berth since 2012.

Johns Creek fell to 2-3 in region play (2-5 overall), and barring an unexpected result in its last three
games, should finish at 4-4 and a possible tie for the fourth state playoff berth. A 24-yard catch by Bivens and two gains for 22 yards by Corrigan led to Cecily Mohammed’ s 35-yard field goal and an early 3-0 lead for the Cougars. Corrigan scored from a yard out after the bad Johns Creek punt snap, but a pair of holding penalties stalled the next two Chattahoochee possessions just as the Gladiators’ offense got rolling.

Gibson hit Min Lee for 23 yards and Zach Williams for 19 to get Johns Creek in scoring range, with Hope plowing in from the 3 for the touchdowns. The Gladiators tied the game on a 35-yard field goal by Luke Venco, with the drive aided by two 15-yard penalties against the Cougars. A 20-yard keeper by Corrigan and a 21-yard burst by diminutive running back Max Webb keyed a 75-yard march capped by Webb’s 4-yard touchdown. Webb carried 24 times for 116 yards, his fourth straight game of 100-plus yards, while Corrigan picked up 119 yards on 16 attempts, the third time he’s gone over 100 yards rushing this season.

Mohamed’s PAT attempt was blocked, and the Gladiators quickly regained the lead when Matt Casey scored untouched, taking a slant pass 76 yards to put Johns Creek on top 17-16 with 2:28 left in the first half. The Cougars took less than two minutes to move back in front, with Corrigan completing four passes for 71 yards, the last one to Andrew Thomas in the back of the end zone for 30 yards. The two-point try failed, leaving the Cougars ahead 22-17 at the half.

Facing third-and-29 from their 16 early in the third period, Gibson and Williams combined for a 44-yard
strike, and the two teamed up again for 29 yards and a score to give Johns Creek a 24-22 lead. Gibson was 12 of 19 for 311 yards, with Williams having four receptions for 101 yards. The Cougars got out of a second-and- 22 situation with a pass interference penalty and an 18-yard completion on third down from Corrigan to Jordan Palmer, scoring on a 3-yard wide receiver sweep by Thomas. Corrigan passed to Tee Lee to put Chattahoochee ahead 30-24.

One play after Gibson scrambled for 12 yards on third-and- 10, Hope took a screen pass 68 yards to put the Gladiators back in the lead, weaving his way through the Chattahoochee defense with some heady
running and nice downfield blocking by his teammates. That made it 31-30 with 1:39 left in the third quarter, but the Cougars took the lead for good with a 13-play, 72-yard drive.

Corrigan hit Jamal Smith for 24 yards to the Johns Creek 36, and the Gladiators’ ground game took over from there, moving the ball to the 7 before Corrigan evaded pressure and found Stephens, who slipped out of the backfield to snag a 7-yard pass for the winning score. Thomas converted the 2-point attempt on another sweep.

The Gladiators threatened to tie the game when Gibson went back to pass on fourth-and- 9 from the Chattahoochee 33 and escaped down the sideline for 29 yards before being knocked out of bounds at the 4. Two runs gained negligible yardage before Stephens’ back-to- back big plays kept Johns Creek out
of the end zone.

The Cougars ended up with 424 yards, rushing for 250 with Corrigan 11 of 22 passing for 174 yards. The Gladiators finished with 394 yards on just 44 plays, 22 fewer than Chattahoochee, but had less than 60 yards rushing until Gibson’s late scramble.

Chattahoochee's varsity team will be off next week, but will return to its home turf at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 20 to take on Pope High School. Johns Creek will also face Alpharetta High School at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 13 at home.

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