Commerce suffered its first Region 8-A loss last week to Athens Academy in Tiger Stadium.
The final score, 21-10, stung, coach Marvin Justice said, but it doesn’t change the bottom line. Commerce still can reconcile its own playoff picture, starting Friday. The Tigers (3-4, 2-1) face undefeated Prince Avenue Christian (7-0, 5-0) in Bogart at 7:30 p.m.
“Athens Academy, Prince Avenue, George Walton, we’re all relatively close to one another, it’s not like one team really stands out,” Justice said. “We’re going to take it one game at time… We are going to let them know. We win out and we win the region championship. We have a chance.”
The Wolverines have allowed just 17 points against the seven, Class A teams it has faced this year. Prince also leads the region. The team’s closest contests include an 18-0 win over Athens Academy and a 21-10 triumph over the region’s second-place team, George Walton.
Focusing on the singular goal to succeed Friday will depend largely on Commerce’s ability to contain the Wolverines’ scattered offensive attack, Justice said.
“They have four guys they distribute the ball to and they’re all pretty equal,” the coach said. “You can’t really focus on one guy. That’s what makes them so tough.”
Conversely, Athens Academy launched an attack through one player, mainly. Senior quarterback Lake Lindsay completed 11 of 15 passes for 130 yards and three touchdowns. He also led his team in rushing with 95 yards.
Turnovers hurt Commerce, with the Tigers giving up two fumbles in the third quarter alone, a key period in the game.
The first turnover stalled the driving Tigers deep in Spartan territory. And the second Commerce fumble at midfield led to a 30-yard touchdown pass from Lindsay to receiver PJ Blaesing.
The score put the Spartans ahead 18-7. The Tigers did not regain momentum after that.
“It was one of those games, the team that made the fewest mistakes would win,” Justice said. “It’s always a close game, we obviously made more mistakes than they did and we came up short.”
Quarterback Cody Streetman scored the Tigers’ only touchdown with a 1-yard run with 27 seconds left in the second quarter, making the score 12-7 at the half.
He was a perfect 3-3 passing for 57 yards in the first half but faltered in the second half as the Spartans’ defensive pressure intensified. A nagging turf toe injury also hobbled Streetman. He twice left the game due to injury.
“I’m sorry Cody got beat up a bit. He’s a great quarterback and it kind of hampered them a little,” Athens Academy coach Michael Gunn said after the game.
At the same time, Gunn nodded with pride to his own players who reached their potential despite the lopsided history between the rival teams that favors Commerce at Tiger Field.
“I am proud of the way we played,” Gunn said. “Commerce is a good football team. I hope they have as much respect for us as we do them. It’s a good rivalry.”
