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Saints are edged by the Generals
Melissa Grace
photos by Jennifer Hall
The Saints hit the road Friday afternoon to Newton Academy in a rematch of last season’s district championship game.The Saints won the toss and elected to receive the kickoff from the Generals.As is normal for NCA, they opened the game with an onside kick that was covered by the Saints on their own 46 yard line.PCS came out with a balanced attack of pass and run, but could not get past the General 33 yard line.The Saints elected to punt to the Generals in hopes of flipping the field, but the punt went into the end zone putting the ball on the NCA 20 yard line.The Generals picked up a twelve yard gain on first down.A blitz on second down by Eric Powell caused a fumble that was recovered by the Saints, but an inadvertent whistle gave the ball back to the Generals in Saints territory.Newton continued their drive down to the 11 yard line.The defense stepped up and ended the drive their with a big sack by Austin Daughdrill and tough line play from Tanner Berry, Kash Miller, Kolbe Verdun and Jack Chavis.The ground game was the key for Prentiss after the turnover as they put together a series of runs by Daughdrill, Powell and Greenlee that put the Saints deep into General territory.Greenlee found Josh Daley on a second down pass for nine yards and a touchdown with just over a minute to go in the first quarter.Daley’s PAT went wide left keeping the score at 6-0.The following Daley kickoff went all the way to the NCA 8 yard line and was brought out to the 20 yard line where Steven Colson and Miller made the tackle.The Generals lost five yards on the drive and elected to punt from their own 15 yard line.The punt was blocked by the Saints and recovered by Daughdrill on the 11 yard line.He also took the next handoff for a touchdown.Greenlee attempted to convert the two point conversion, but was unsuccessful.The Saints led 12-0 with 11:38 to play in the second quarter.Daley’s next kickoff went well into the end zone setting up a touchback and putting the ball on the 20 yard line for the Generals.Newton attempted to pass on first down.However, Powell intercepted the ball on the 50 yard line and returned the ball to the 32 yard line.Daughdrill took the next handoff the distance for a touchdown and Daley added the PAT.Prentiss led 19-0 with 11:08 to play in the second quarter.The following kickoff flew fifty yards and was returned to the 25 yard line.Wade Watkins made the tackle for the Saints there.The Generals made their way down to the PCS 45 yard line and attempted a pass from there.Cornerback Hunter Sutton deflected the pass and the General receiver caught the pass off of the defection and carried it for a touchdown. The PAT was added and the lead was cut to 19-7 with 7:10 to play in the second quarter.The General kickoff was fielded by Zevohn Smith on the 20 yard line and returned ten yards before being brought down.On first down, Greenlee’s pass was intercepted on the General 40 yard line.The General offense took big chunks to the Saint 18 yard line.From there, NCA threw a touchdown pass and added the PAT.The General kickoff was again fielded by Smith who returned the ball to the 42 yard line.Daughdrill and Blaise Holder gained twenty yards for the Saints on good carries, but the drive stalled due to a holding penalty.PCS got some of the yardage back from a facemask penalty by Newton Academy.An incompletion and a sack backed the Saints up and forced a PCS punt.Greenlee’s punt went 39 yards and was downed on the NCA 7 yard line. Newton gained five yards on first down and attempted to pass on second down.Daley was there and picked off the General pass at the General 30 yard line.Passes to Jeremiah Sumrall and Daley moved the Saints to the General 14 yard line.A short one yard pass reception by Powell wasn’t enough to get Prentiss a first down.On fourth down, Daughdrill was called upon and found the end zone again.Unfortunately, his two point conversion attempt failed keeping the score at 25 to 14 with thirteen seconds left in the half.Following the fifty yard kickoff and a thirty yard return, the Generals decided to kneel out the clock.The Saints opened up the third quarter with a good kick.The return was halted by Dathan Dungan at the 32 yard line.The potent General offense worked all the way down to the 6 yard line of the Saints.It was there Chavis caused a fumble that was recovered by Holder.The Saints could not gain any yardage and had to punt back to the Generals.Greenlee’s thirty five yard punt was caught on the Saint 42 yard line and returned four yards.The Saint defense forced the Generals into a fourth down attempt, but was unable to stop the drive.Six plays later, NCA found the end zone on a one yard run and completed the two point conversion.The NCA kickoff was taken by Daughdrill and returned fifteen yards to the PCS 43 yard line.Three plays later, Greenlee was intercepted again and the Saint 45 yard line.The Saints made a few good defensive plays by defecting passes, but were hit with an off sides penalty and a holding call in the end zone that gave Newton a first and goal situation. Daley intercepted the pass, but the penalty negated the turnover. From there, NCA threw a touchdown pass in the front of the end zone.The PAT was added giving Newton their first lead of the night; 29-25.The following kickoff was taken by Daughdrill who only managed one yard on the return under good coverage.Sutton and Powell came out running and getting big gains to the General 33 yard line.It was there Newton made a stop and forced Prentiss into a fourth down attempt.Greenlee rolled out and under pressure hit Sutton on an eight yard pass to keep the drive alive.On first down from the 25 yard line, Greenlee kept the ball himself for a nine yard scamper around the right end.Daughdrill took the next handoff sixteen yards for a touchdown.Daley’s following extra point was ruled to have missed putting the score at 31-29 with 2:09 to play in the game.Daley kicked off fifty yards to the 10 yard line.The kick was returned to the 21 yard line.In a series of short passes and broken up passes, the Generals picked their way into Saints territory.Prentiss forced the Generals into a fourth and one situation on the 17 yard line.An early jump by Powell off the edge put the ball on the 12 yard line with only eleven seconds to go in the game.The Generals lined up for the field goal attempt.Despite the Saints partially blocking the kick, the ball split the uprights giving Prentiss Christian its first loss of the season 32-31.The Saints are off this week going into the playoffs.However, the younger Saints will play in an exhibition game Thursday night at 7:00 at home.Please come out and support the future Saints’ starters as they host the New Orleans Home School Saints.The entire team will resume action on the 28th in the first round of the MAIS AA playoffs.
