Grady 28, Northwest Whitfield 27
Star: Grady quarterback Caylin Newton had 311 total yards and three touchdowns.Up next: Grady will travel to Thomson in the second round.
TUNNEL HILL, Ga. - The pain reflected in Josh Robinson's face late Friday night said it all.
Northwest Whitfield had just been eliminated from the first round of the GHSA Class AAAA football playoffs with a 28-27 loss to Grady, and the Bruins' coach knew it was as much -if not more - about his team's mistakes than anything the Knights did.
Four key miscues did in Northwest (7-4): a fumble on its first possession led to a Grady (7-4) touchdown; a fake punt led to a short touchdown drive for the Knights; a blocked punt was returned for another Grady touchdown; a missed point-after kick on the Bruins' final touchdown led to the final margin.
"When you get a team that talented, you can't make mistakes, and we had plenty," Robinson said. "We had a couple of series we played bad in spots offensively and defensively, and we didn't put them away when we had a chance."
Northwest, after fumbling on its first play and falling behind 7-0 quickly, recovered in style with three consecutive touchdowns. Freshman running back Dominique Sistrunk capped drives of 59 and 45 yards as the Bruins took a 14-7 lead on the first play of the second quarter.
Getting the ball right back after Northwest's defense held the Knights to a three-and-out at the Grady 48, Bruins super sophomore quarterback Luke Shiflett was 3-for-3 passing, including an 8-yard touchdown pass to Jay Jones as the lead grew to 21-7 with 8:25 to go in the half and the visitors reeling.
Starting at the Grady 2 after the kickoff was caught on the sideline, Knights junior quarterback Caylin Newton, Cam's little brother, began to take over. He completed a 48-yard pass to 6-foot-7 receiver Kemari Averett, then ripped off a 42-yard run before hitting Averett with a 1-yard touchdown pass.
Momentum then turned quickly when the Bruins, facing fourth-and-2 at their own 45, tried a fake punt, but Shiflett (also the team's punter) was caught a yard short. Seven plays later, Newton snuck in from the 1 to tie the game.
"We took over there," said Newton, who finished with 113 rushing yards and 198 passing. "We just kept fighting and never quit."
Things got worse in the third quarter for the Bruins when a bad snap on a punt led to the lanky Averett blocking it with his leg, scooping it up at the 18 and easily scoring a touchdown for a 28-21 lead.
Northwest got new life late in the quarter when Cyrus Addison tipped a Newton pass and linebacker mate Austin Morrison intercepted and ran it back to the Grady 31. Shiflett, who had been harassed by the active Grady defensive line in the second half, converted a pair of third downs with short passes and hit Jones on a 7-yard touchdown pass on the final quarter's first play.
The kick to tie, though, was pushed wide right.
Grady ate up six minutes driving to the Northwest 11, but a penalty helped end the possession on downs at the 27 with 8:05 left. The Bruins reached the 41, but on fourth-and-2 they elected to punt, with Grady taking over at the 16 with 4:58 to play.
Northwest didn't touch the ball again as Newton and running back Satchel Crawford combined to get four first downs and run out the clock.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296. Follow him at Twitter.com/youngsports22.