Saturday, August 29, 2009

Falcons hold off Powell, 21-13







Fulton junior runningback, Dametrius Thomas, scored two touchdowns and added a conversion run Friday night in Fulton's 21-13 win at Powell's new Scarbro Stadium.
"We battled hard to get the win," said Thomas, who scored on runs of 27 and 70 yards.
It was the first win for Fulton (2-0) against Powell (1-1) since 1988 and avenged a 28-0 loss in 1992 - the last time the teams played - when Buck Coatney was a first-year coach for the Falcons.
Fulton, 8-6 all-time against Powell, committed 12 of the game's 21 penalties.
Powell turnovers helped Fulton lead 14-0 at the half. Both touchdowns followed Powell fumbles.
"Fulton did what championship teams do," Powell coach Matt Lowe said. "They took advantage of our mistakes."
Powell fumbled on its first drive and Fulton's Quientest Vinson recovered. Six plays later, Fulton quarterback Ben Winters completed a 25-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Barfield, who caught the ball at the 5 and turned to score. Thomas' conversion run gave Fulton an 8-0 lead.
Hunter Hodge completed a pass to Landon Wright who broke a tackle and got into the secondary but a slight misstep allowed a Fulton defender to catch him and strip the ball.Fulton recovered at its 19 and eventually scored on a 28-yard touchdown run by Thomas for a 14-0 lead.
Powell's offense answered on the opening drive of the second half with an 88-yard drive highlighted by a 55-yard run from Dy'shawn Mobley to the Fulton 1. That led to a 3-yard touchdown pass from McPhetridge to Matt Meade to cut the deficit to 14-6 as the kick failed.
After Thomas' 70-yard run for Fulton, Meade caught a 69-yard touchdown pass from McPhetridge to cut the deficit to 21-13 with 10 minutes to play.
"We had a lot of opportunities to win that game," Lowe said.


Game Statistics:

--------------Fulton--------Powell
1st downs------9--------------11
Rushes/yds--33/170-------25/130
Passing yards--110-----------148
Passes-------10-20-0------10-23-0
Fumbles/lost---4-1-----------5-3
Penalties/yds--11-120-------9-82
Pungs/avg.-----3-26.6------3-26.0




Score by quarters:

Fulton 8-6-7-0-21
Powell 0-0-6-7-13
Scoring Plays: Fulton: Antonio Barfield 26-yard pass from Ben Winters (Dametrius Thomas run). Fulton: Thomas 28-yard run (kick failed). Powell; Matt Meade 5-yard pass from Dustin McPhetridge (kick failed). Fulton: Thomas 70-yard run (Brad McKeehan kick) Powell: Meade 69-yard pass from McPhetridge (Karl Harris kick)


Powell Comes up Short Against Fulton (knoxsportsonline.com):

The real rain didn’t start until right at the end Fulton ’s 21-13 win over Powell Friday night. Until then the only thing falling from the sky had been penalty flags.
The Falcons overcame 120 yards in penalties – including a pair of pass interference calls the kept the Panthers’ hopes alive late – to win the inaugural game at Powell’s rebuilt stadium.
They were able to brush off the penalties thanks to the legs of running back Dametrius Thomas. Thomas, a junior, scored on runs of 28 and 70 yards as Fulton (2-0) built a 21-6 lead after three quarters.
Thomas finished with 143 yards on 18 carries and his 70-yard score in the third quarter – he took a pitch from quarterback Ben Winters and was not touched around left end – effectively put the game away.
Powell (1-1) pulled to within 8 on Dustin McPhetridge’s 69-yard scoring throw to Matt Meade with just over 10 minutes to play. It was their second scoring play of the half, with the pair also connecting on a 5-yard pass in the third quarter.
"Dustin did a good job moving around and finding a receiver on both plays,” Meade said. “Still, this was a tough one to lose. We had our chances.”
Powell had a chance to pull within 2 on its next possession, but McPhetridge’s pass to Justin Wood on fourth-and-8 from the Fulton 37 was high and wide. In the first half the only thing on the ground more than penalty flags was footballs. Powell lost three fumbles on its first four possessions, including a tying-touchdown-turned-what-the-heck-happened kind of play.
After Fulton took a 8-0 lead on Winter’s 26-yard scoring pass to Antonio Barfield and Thomas’ conversion run, Powell took advantage of a Falcon fumble at the Fulton 47. Facing third-and-11, Powell quarteback Hunter Hodge hit Landon Wright on a slant pass, the defender missed the tackle, and Wright was o on his way to the end zone. He never got there. Wright was all by himself when he lost his grip on the ball at the Fulton 20 and the Falcon’s Jerron Brown jumped on it. Nine plays later Thomas scored his first touchdown. “We’ve got to find some playmakers on offense,” said Powell coach Matt Lowe. “Our defense played well enough for us to win, but offensively we didn’t get a whole lot done.”
Fulton ended up outgaining Powell by only 2 yards, 280 to 278, but fumbles set up both of the Falcons’ first half touchdowns as they took a 14-0 lead.


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