Heritage limits Brooks, but Pickens pitches shutout

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

RINGGOLD, Ga. - Shannon Brooks and his 1,700 rushing yards dominated the pregame talk, but the Pickens County defense stole the show Friday night in a 23-0 Region 7-AAAA win at Heritage.

While Brooks did manage 116 yards and two touchdowns -- 89 yars came on one play -- the Dragons' heretofore maligned defense got all the postgame kudos from coach Chris Parker after holding Heritage to 73 total yards. Pickens (7-1, 4-1) clinched a playoff berth with the win, while the Generals (4-4, 2-3) will need to win out to have a chance.

"I was real proud of our defense tonight," Parker said. "Sometimes we maybe give them too much grief because we score so quickly and put them on the field a lot. I thought Heritage did a nice job. That was one of the better defensive performances anyone has played against us, and not just this year. Coach (E.K.) Slaughter is building something nice at Heritage, but tonight was our night."

Pickens built a 10-0 halftime lead thanks in large part to several Heritage offensive mistakes. A penalty stalled the opening possession, followed by a short punt and Chris Pittman's 22-yard return to the Heritage 18 that led to a 27-yard field goal.

Later in the opening period, a bad snap on Heritage's first play after a Pickens punt resulted in a turnover at the Generals' 30. Four plays later Brooks burst loose around right end for a 10-yard touchdown and a 10-0 lead.

The Generals then moved the ball to the Pickens 14, but a fumbled snap by quarterback Corbee Wilson led to a 12-yard loss and a 43-yard field-goal try that was wide right.

"We were behind the chains on every single possession, whether it was bad snaps, dropped snaps, busted routes -- it was absolutely gross," Slaughter summed up. "That's a good offensive football team, and our defense played great. We missed out on an opportunity tonight, and it's a shame. We're a good football team, but as badly as we played offensively we couldn't beat anybody tonight."

The Generals, after forcing a punt to start the second half, moved to the Pickens 27 before a 12-yard sack, one of 10 for the Dragons, forced a punt. On the next play Brooks finally found room around right end and broke three tackles in his 89-yard deflating score. Pickens quarterback Marcus Byrd then put any Heritage comeback hopes to rest with a 43-yard touchdown run early in the final period.

The Heritage defense, led by Jacob Riggs, Isaac Miller and David Besh, held Brooks to 2 or fewer yards on 11 of his 16 carries and Byrd, who came in averaging over 20 yards per completion, to just 2-of-5 passing for 12 yards.

Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296.

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