Commerce High School’s football season ended last Friday in the first round of the state playoffs. The Tigers surrendered to Lincoln County, 35-14, in Lincolnton.
Coach Marvin Justice reported telling his team after the game that he was proud they did not quit.
The Tigers rallied in the second half, posting its two touchdowns on Cody Streetman runs of three and eight yards.
Streetman led the Tigers’ ground game, a punishing ordeal for the senior in his last high school game. He carried the ball 41 times, mostly up the middle, for 198 difficult yards. His rushing total took him to 1,113 yards on the year.
Chance McClure added 51 yards on four carries, finding success in particular in the second half with the Tigers’ longest run of 34 yards.
The Red Devils still managed to stay two or more touchdowns ahead of the Tigers most of the game. This happened mainly because of big plays and breakaway speed, including a 72-yard touchdown run by Craig Jones.
“I’m real proud of them. It probably wasn’t the season we dreamed of. But they played with a lot of heart this year,” Justice said of his 2011 team. “They never quit and never gave up.”
Commerce did make mistakes, however, the coach said.
He mentioned, in particular, his younger players as limiting the Tigers this season. Nine or more freshmen and sophomores started this season because of a relatively small senior class of six players as well as several debilitating injuries suffered to key starters along the way.
“We went down there with a young team. It was midway through the second quarter before we realized we could play with them and by that time it was 14-0,” Justice said, of the first half setback. “We got back in the game but every time we did they’d bust a big play.”
Justice denied any coaching changes or tweaks resulted in Commerce’s second half penetration.
Instead he blamed players’ execution as stopping the team during the opening 24 minutes. He added that coaches relied on the same three or four plays the entire game.
The Tigers earned twice as many rushing yards in the third quarter as any other quarter. And though playing catch-up in the fourth quarter, Commerce managed to gain the vast majority of its passing yards as well.
Streetman finished the night six for 12 with 72 yards passing and two interceptions, the team’s only turnovers.
Fifty-nine of those yards came in the fourth quarter. Garrett Wilson had five catches for 52 yards and Drew Whitfield, sidelined with an injury, caught one ball for 25 yards.
Justice said he hopes to get more out of his younger, speedier players next year. They will be counted on to handle the ball.
Justice, in his first year as Commerce’s head coach, finished the season 4-7 overall and 3-3 in Region 8-A.
NOTE: On an up note, the Georgia High School Football Historians Association posted two more wins to Commerce’s historical win-loss record. The wins happened during the early years of Commerce football from games played in 1909 and 1920, reported Jeff Prickett, the Tigers’ statistician and football historian.
At home, Commerce defeated Maysville (3-0) on Nov. 12, 1909. This game predates the game previously recognized as the Tigers’ first contest — a 10-5 loss to Athens High in 1920.
The second game discovered was another home game versus Toccoa High. Commerce won that game (46-0).
With the 2011 season record of 4-7-0 and the two new discoveries, the Commerce career record now stands at (553-277-22). This spans 102 years but only 86 known seasons of playing football.
