Undefeated Prince Avenue solidified its command over Region 8-A with a 35-13 win over Commerce in Bogart last Friday.
However, the Tigers’ loss did not hurt their playoff run. In fact, another team’s unexpected loss actually boosted Commerce’s chances at securing home field advantage in the first round.
Athens Academy fell to Athens Christian on Friday, 13-7. Commerce beat Athens Christian earlier in the season and could move past the Spartans, even though the team beat the Tigers.
But Commerce must win out to secure the No. 2 seed and with it, the home field advantage.
“With Athens Christian beating them, if we can win the two football games, we’ll be the region runner up,” said coach Marvin Justice. “But it won’t matter if we don’t play well and win the game this Friday.”
George Walton (6-2, 4-1) is a strong team with large physical size on the offensive line, in particular, Justice said. Most of the linemen are returning from last year’s Bulldog team, which shut out the Tigers 21-0. Commerce will face the team at 7:30 p.m. in Monroe.
“They’re huge. They are a big team, they have an offensive line, 270 pounds a man, they are enormous,” Justice said. “I am always upfront with them and tell them the truth about who they are playing.”
The impressive strength up front supports the Bulldogs running offense, which is its primary attack, Justice said.
“It won’t be an easy task beating them, we’ll have to play well,” Justice said.
At the least, Commerce (3-5, 2-2) will have to play better than it did last week. Mistakes again plagued the Tigers, who fell for the first time to Prince Avenue. (Prince Avenue also handed George Walton its only region loss.)
Rob Farriba earned 210 yards on 20 carries to lead all ball carriers. Bryce Huff added 91 yards on 12 carries. The Wolverine backs combined for five touchdowns.
“They’ve got a good football team. They’ve got four or five guys who are capable of doing (what Farriba did) on any given night. They’ve got a lot of balance,” Justice said. “Simply put, they out executed us on both sides of the ball.”
Commerce hung with the Wolverines in the first quarter following a Quay Little touchdown run. However, the Tigers momentum stalled before the end of the second half when a turnover led to a Wolverine touchdown and 21-6 score at the half.
“They stretched the lead to two scores,” Justice said. “In the second half, we kicked off to them, held them, got the ball back and scored. It was a touchdown game. But from there we weren’t able to keep it close.”
Quarterback Cody Streetman briefly revived Commerce in the second half with his passing, mainly. He completed 9 of 19 attempts for 63 yards to receivers his leading receivers, Garrett Wilson and Drew Whitfield.
But Streetman’s stats were marred by the Wolverine defense, which intercepted the ball three times and recovered a Commerce fumble.
While the quarterback did score the Tigers’ second touchdown, the Wolverine defense contained the Commerce’s leading rusher to 60 yards on 20 carries.
“Passing was a part of our plan. It did work well. But once we started relying on it, they started pinning their ears back and did a good job of pressuring Cody and containing us,” Justice said.
