Take a Gander: Rebels Serve 2nd Goose Egg of Season

FCHS Football

What’s better than winning a shutout victory in high school football? Winning TWO shutout victories on your home turf.

The Fannin County High School varsity Rebels’ wins this season have something in common: both games were the result of lights-out performances by the defense. Grab a flashlight and an extra set of batteries as we take a moment to shed a little light on the subject.

The Fannin County Rebels’ team captains talk hand-in-hand to the center of the field for the coin toss at Friday night’s shutout of Andrews, NC.

It all started when the Rebels hosted the Gilmer Bobcats for their home opener on Friday, August 18 at Fannin County High School. The Rebels stunned the Cats as they rolled to a 42-0 blowout victory over their longtime rivals. After an extra week of preparation, Fannin took the show on the road only to find the price for minimal margin of error in a 31-0 loss to the Tigers, a score that certainly didn’t reflect the effort of the Rebels offense.

Another week on the road brought the Rebels to Chestatee High School to take on the War Eagles, a team well-known for their speed on the edges and a healthy ground attack at the hands (or legs) of their senior tailback (#4) Nick Lyles, who racked up 133 yards on 20 carries against the Rebels. Fannin moved the ball effectively, but was unable to score until running back Cody Jacobs (#15) covered the ball with two hands and barreled into the endzone behind his senior center Bradley Flowers. The defense gave up 31 in this game, but only a touchdown in each quarter and a fieldgoal in the fourth. As for the Rebels running attack, Jacobs actually out-performed Lyles in total yardage, amassing 160 yards on 28 carries (5.7 yards-per-carry), 34 yards receiving and a touchdown.

With two tough losses on the road, the Rebels finally came home to Blue Ridge, eagerly awaiting kickoff for their second home game of the season. You could literally feel the energy on the sidelines as the Fannin Blue Crew joined the student section, all decked out in black, following their planned “Black Out” theme for the game.

As the FCHS band entered the stadium, marching to the beat of the Rebel drumline and percussion; the Fannin team captains stepped out of the fieldhouse and met at the end of the building for a moment of silence – and prayer – before meeting the Andrews captains and GHSA officials at midfield. The head referee explained the coin toss to the teams, allowed Andrews to call it in the air, and after winning the toss they elected to defer possession until the second half. The Rebels chose to receive the ball first and as quickly as the team burst through the Fannin Rebels banner to take the field; this game was underway.

FCHS quarterback Chandler Smith looks for an open receiver.

The Rebels offensive game plan worked pretty well. “We want to establish the run game and then pass the ball when we want to pass it – not when we need to, but when we want to,” FCHS Offensive Coordinator Travis Earls told TeamFYNSports during the Rebel Wrap-Up show on FYNTV.com (Wednesday @ 7:00pm).

The offensive line for the Rebels handled the dirty work up front, creating lanes for Jacobs (#15), Trenton Pickering (#4) and Smith (#6) to follow on each carry. When Earls and Pavao saw an opportunity in the secondary, Smith was able to sit in the pocket and toss strikes out to his receivers at will. Fannin struggled a bit in the red zone early on, but Dawson King (#30) was able to kick field goals to put points on the board. As the Rebels began to reach paydirt, it was the crowd favorite Sarah Sosebee (#86) who split the uprights for the PATs.

Defensively, everyone but the mascot got involved. Mason Rhodes had another busy night, recording 17 tackles and a sack. Brett Galloway also had a sack, along with seven tackles in the game. Cole Earls was yet another Rebel to sack the Andrews quarterback, and he also had seven tackles. Will Mosley, the ever-impressive freshman, tallied 13 tackles. He recorded one qb hurry, and his caused a fumble. Mosley was also selected this week as the TeamFYNSports Sportswriter Player of the Week for Fannin County. Bailey White, Jonah Henry, Ethan Smith and the big defensive lineman Clay Holloway each recorded five tackles, and Holloway also had two big sacks in the game. Jackson Weeks had six tackles, one for a loss. Austin Brown had four tackles and he ripped the ball out of the air for the only interception in the game. Jakob Tuggle rounded out the stat sheet for the Rebels with one tackle in the game.

The Rebels return to the road this week, opening region play at North Hall on Friday, September 22. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30pm. North Hall (0-4) hasn’t won a game yet this season, but they’ve played well against some tough opponenets. They lost to Chestatee (42-12), who also defeated the Rebels (31-7). They were also shut out by Flowery Branch (38-0) before narrowly falling to Pickens (42-35) in one of the most exciting games of the year. Last week they came up short against White County (28-18). Fannin will look to hand the Trojans their fifth loss of the year, first in AAA Region 7.

 

More photos and sideline action may be found at www.facebook.com/TeamFYNSports

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