Heritage withstood a furious late rally from Sonoraville to clinch a playoff spot from GHSA Region 7-AAAA with a 35-34 home win Friday night at Jeff Sims Field.
The Generals (8-1, 3-1) travel to Central-Carroll (6-3, 2-2) next week and need either a win over the Lions or a loss by Sonoraville (5-4, 2-2) against Southeast Whitfield (4-5, 0-4) to secure the No. 2 seed and a home playoff game. Otherwise, the final three seeds after region champion Cedartown will be determined via tiebreaker.
After Sonoraville jumped out to a 7-0 lead on Zach Lyles’ 2-yard run in the first quarter, Heritage scored the game’s next 28 points to seemingly take command. Quarterback Kaden Swope converted several key third downs in the scoring outburst, the first on third-and-20 leading to a Landon Cansler 3-yard touchdown run to tie the game.
The second conversion was a third-and-22 pass over the middle to Max Owens that led to Swope’s 1-yard touchdown run. The next scoring drive, coming after a Sonoraville possession stalled at the Heritage 24, took only two plays, with Swope connecting with favorite target Tyler Cheatwood for a 72-yard touchdown and a 21-7 halftime lead.
A blocked punt early in the third quarter led to Paxton McCrary’s 3-yard run and a 21-point lead, but the Phoenix used a huge second half from their own elite quarterback to rally.