NORTH AUGUSTA - North Augusta football emphasizes winning the special teams battle each week, and it made all the difference against South Aiken on Oct. 16.
In a game where every point mattered, kicker Jacob DeGennaro helped the Jackets squeeze past the T-Breds by just three points with a late fourth-quarter field goal to give them a 10-7 victory. With the win they remain undefeated in region play with two games left.
“We won,” said North Augusta head coach Richard Bush. “It was not what we wanted to do tonight; it was ugly. But the kids found a way to win, and that's what you want. We talk about playing four quarters and finding a way to win. Our goal was to go 1-0, and that's what we did. So at the end of the day, we're happy for the win. We got a lot to continue to get better at, but I'm super proud of the way the guys fought and played four quarters. A lot of guys had to play tonight that hadn't gotten a lot of snaps all year, and they stepped up and played well. So happy on that part.”
It was truly a defensive battle throughout all four quarters between two physical football teams. North Augusta had a chance to put points on the board in the first drive of the night, moving the ball downfield with ease. But once the Jackets threatened within scoring distance, that’s when the T-Breds defense stepped up.
DeGennaro came out for the first field goal attempt of the game to put something on the board for North Augusta but missed wide to come out of the drive with nothing. The rest of the opening quarter came and went with nothing else going for either team.
Eventually the Jackets did take the first lead with a 10-yard throw from senior quarterback Collin Tillman to senior wide receiver Jeremiah Brown in the endzone. The dogfight continued until halftime as South Aiken fought to gain any momentum offensively.
Both defenses have had standout seasons and feature a Shrine Bowl invitee with South Aiken’s Ray Harris and North Augusta’s Simeon Jones. For the T-Breds, their defense has been their bread and butter, and it’s what kept them in the game until the very end.
“ We're pretty fast and physical on that side, and we take a lot of pride in it,” said South Aiken assistant coach Heath Corley. “And North Augusta and Coach Mack do a great job on defense. It was a defensive heavyweight fight tonight, and it was just back and forth good old school that you don't really see anymore. Old school, physical football for four quarters. And they made a couple more plays than we did, but I'm super proud of our guys.”
The T-Breds finally found their spark offensively in the opening drive of the second half as running back Drelyn Brown took the ball to the endzone from 60 yards out to tie up the game at seven all.
Despite the explosive play to kick things off coming out of halftime, the game remained a battle following the touchdown. After a clean first half, the second was a flurry of flags as players fought to gain any yardage on each play.
Neither looked poised to score again until North Augusta found its way to first and goal midway through the fourth with a chance to take the lead back. As the Jackets relied on their run game, the T-Breds brought them to the ground every time.
At fourth and goal, DeGennaro made his way back out to the field for a second time to attempt a field goal from 34 yards out. After a successful kick sent the ball through the uprights, all North Augusta had to do was stay on top for five more minutes.
And it wasn’t the first time throughout the night special teams made a difference for the Jackets. Punter Landon Sweat was able to flip the field several times, putting South Aiken right up against its own goal line to start drives.
“Flipping the field is always important,” Bush said. “And Landon continued to step up and do his job, and he did a tremendous job flipping the field and doing his job. We always talk about doing your job. He did his job.”
With South Aiken falling to 1-2 in region play, the Region 5-AAAA standings have started to take a more defined shape, with North Augusta sitting comfortably at the top with a 3-0 record. The T-Breds will face Midland Valley, who fell to Irmo to also earn a 1-2 record heading into the matchup. The Jackets will play a Fox Creek team that is still in search of its first region win since moving up to Class AAAA.
Corley said the key to getting back on track ahead of Midland Valley will be to learn from the experience and move on,
“I told them, ‘It's going to hurt. It should hurt,’” he said. “I mean, you invest a lot into it, and you give it your all, and you play with your boys and it's supposed to hurt. And if it didn't, something would be wrong. So we're a good enough program from the foundation up and leadership that the kids have good examples of how to kind of bounce back.”