RINGGOLD, Ga. - With one of their big weapons sidelined and the opposition daring their team to run, Northwest Whitfield coach Josh Robinson and offensive coordinator Greg Brown did just that.
With bruising sophomore Dominique Sistrunk running for a school-record 286 yards and four touchdowns on 30 carries, the Bruins built a 20-point lead over Heritage and had to hang on through a wild fourth quarter to secure a 41-34 Region 6-AAAA win.
Quarterback Luke Shiflett added 119 yards and two scores as the Bruins (4-3, 2-1) racked up 430 yards on the ground. With leading receiver Jay Jones out after just one catch due to a leg injury and with the Heritage defense pressing, Northwest let the 230-pound Sistrunk loose.
"Dominique had a great game, but I'm going to start up front, where our line did a tremendous job," Robinson said. "With Jay out and them playing press coverage, we were having a hard time getting open, so we had to get it done on the ground. The guys were opening the holes, and when Dominique did get hit he pushed the pile forward all night."
The game appeared to be over early in the final quarter when Sistrunk, who started the scoring with a 96-yard run, capped a 45-yard drive with a 1-yard plunge for 28-14 lead. The Bruins, who had been burned by a long kickoff return earlier in the period, elected to pooch kick. The ball rolled away from a Heritage player, and Tanner Boyd recovered it for Northwest.
Four plays later Shiflett scored from a yard out for a 34-14 lead with 8:53 remaining. What happened over the next few minutes will not go into the Northwest defensive highlights.
Heritage quarterback Corbee Wilson, who finished 23-for-45 for 430 passing yards and four touchdowns, connected with Ryan Carter (five catches, 183 yards) for an 83-yard touchdown just 40 seconds later. Northwest again marched down the field, with Shiflett converting a third-and-long with a 16-yard pass to Caleb Womac and Sistrunk powering in from the 5 for a 41-21 lead with just 2:26 left.
A short kickoff was followed two plays later with a Wilson-to-Carter 55-yard touchdown pass down the left sideline. The Generals (5-2, 2-1) then recovered the onside kick and Wilson needed just one play to make it a seven-point game as he found Jeffrey Curtis for a 47-yard touchdown with still 2:01 remaining.
"I don't know why we kept chasing the underneath routes on those plays," Robinson said, shaking his head. "It's ridiculous we let them get back into it."
Northwest recovered the next onside kick, but three runs netted just 5 yards, resulting in a punt. Heritage took over down seven with 1:13 to play at its own 20. Wilson hit four passes to move the Generals near midfield, but with seven seconds to play a pass to Luke Grant (10-140) and two ensuing laterals resulted in a fumble as the game ended.
"Hey, I would rather have an ugly win as opposed to a pretty loss," Robinson said. "We've got to fix some things, but this is a big win for us."
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296; follow on Twitter @youngsports22