The NC Varsity Football team suffered its first loss of the 2017 season last Friday, September 15th, to the East Coweta Indians by a close score of 36-35. The loss puts the Warriors at 3-1 for the season, with last week’s win against the Hoyas from Harrison.

Looking back at the victory against Harrison, the squad took care of  senior quarterback Justin Fields and Co. 45-42 in a back and forth battle. The defense fought hard against the number one ranked QB in the country and forced two fumbles from him, with one ending up in the end zone for a touchdown.

Looking at the most recent game, the Warriors decided to receive the first half kick-off and ended up scoring on the first play from scrimmage when senior quarterback Dillon Waye found senior wide receiver Delshaun Harris for a 67-yard touchdown pass. It looked like the Warriors would control the game, but the Indians quickly responded with a 99-yard kickoff return touchdown. The next drive, the Warriors scored again by a one-yard rush from Waye, but East Coweta immediately scored again on an 80-yard touchdown pass on their first play on their next drive.

“I felt like the defense wasn’t putting up their end of the bargain. The offense put up points and the defense was lacking,” senior Jordan Sesan said.

21-14 ended up as the score at halftime, but NC gained over 240 more yards on offense than East Coweta, with  junior running back Christian Singleton erupting for 239 yards and a touchdown all in the first half.  

“Christian went off, [he had] 30 carries for 333 yards and a touchdown. I memorized the stat because it was so amazing,” senior Shiv Pandya said.

The second half started with the East Coweta Indians scoring an electric 58-yard touchdown run, which evened the scoreboard at 21. Waye then went on the ground to pick up his second rushing touchdown of the game with a one-yard run that put the Warriors on top at 28-21.

Again, kickoffs seem like an issue NC must take care of because the Indians scored another kickoff return right after Waye’s second rushing touchdown. The special teams unit allowed two kickoff returns during the game when they did not allow one in all of their other games combined. Typically junior kicker Anthony Rodriguez launches all of the kickoffs into the endzone for touchbacks, but he failed to this game on multiple occasions. Since he did not get the touchbacks, the other members of the unit missed key tackles that allowed the Indians to score the kickoff returns.

Waye ended up with his third touchdown run late in the third quarter, which put the Warriors up 35-28. East Coweta then scored another touchdown, and instead of attempting for the usual point after touchdown, they elected to try for two, and it worked on a run from their quarterback. The 36-35 margin showed up as the Indians’ first lead of the game and turned into the final score when the Warriors failed to score on their last two drives.

The Warriors look to bounce back from the tough loss with a home game against the Pebblebrook Falcons from Mableton on Friday, September 22nd.