Eagles upended

ALBANY — Edmund Burke coach Buddy Sorrow said he’d never seen it happen before. Sherwood Christian Academy coach Reggie Mitchell probably hopes to never see it happen again.

Burke Academy held the football the entire third quarter to rally from a 12-7 halftime deficit as the visiting Spartans grounded out a 21-12 victory over homestanding Sherwood in the GISA AA quarterfinals Friday night.

Burke (9-2) ran 24 plays in the third quarter, and the Eagles never took a snap on offense. A crucial running-into-the-punter penalty kept EBA’s opening drive of the quarter alive en route a 15-12 advantage. The Spartans then recovered an onside kick and scored seven plays later on the first snap of the fourth quarter for the final margin.

“No, I have never seen a game where a team did not run a play in a quarter,” Sorrow said. “We were trying to grind them down. We had heard if we pounded on them (Sherwood) we could soften them up. But they pounded us right back.”

Penalties also hurt the Eagles. SCA had two fourth-down flags which kept EBA scoring drives alive, and two more on fourth down on fourth-quarter possessions which negated first downs and stymied potential scoring drives.

“Penalties are just part of the game,” Mitchell said. “We had our chances to win. Sometimes you get those calls, sometimes you don’t. That’s a good football team over there (EBA) and I wish them the best the rest of the way. We had a great season and I am proud of our guys and our program.”

Sherwood, which closed out the most successful season in school history at 8-3, grabbed a 6-0 lead with 4:25 remaining in the opening period on quarterback Terrance Burnette’s 2-yard sneak. The teams swapped possessions before EBA quarterback Logan Christian hit flanker Alex Sturkie with a 49-yard pass to the SCA 8. The Spartans lost a yard in three tries and were facing fourth-and-goal from the nine when the Eagles’ Tony Foster was flagged for interference in the end zone, giving EBA new life at the SCA 4.

It took the Spartans all of four plays to crack the end zone with Christian sneaking in to boost EBA to a 7-6 lead with 6:30 left before halftime.

The lead, however, was short-lived.

EBA squibbed the kickoff and Dontavious Brown scooped up the ball at his 37 and weaved 63 yards on the return to boost SCA into a 12-7 advantage.

“That was my fault,” Sorrow said. “We should have been onside kicking all night. We knew if 30 (Brown) got his hands on the ball he had a chance to take it to the house.”

The Eagles squandered a golden scoring opportunity on their last possession of the first half. Fullback Pete McSwain carried the ball six of 9 plays for 52 yards as the Eagles marched from their 32 to a fourth and goal inside the EBA one where they turned the ball over on downs as the half ended.

Sherwood never got past the Spartans’ 28 and ran just 16 plays in the second half.

EBA took the third-quarter kickoff and went 57 yards in 16 plays, eating up more than 11 minutes of the clock. Sturkie scored from 3 on fourth down to put the Spartans up 15-12 with 2:41 remaining in the third. Burke then got the ball right back after recovering an onsides kick at the SCA 49. It took EBA just seven plays to cash in with Michael Taylor scoring on fourth-and-goal from the 2 with 11:55 remaining for the final 21-12 margin.

As time wound down, Sherwood converted a fourth-and-2 play from midfield, but it was negated by a holding call. The Eagles then another fourth-down conversion called off because of an illegal motion flag.

Brown, SCA’s phenomenal back, was held to just 55 yards on 12 carries. McSwain had 69 yards on 10 carries.

Edmund Burke will play the Piedmont-Memorial Day winner next Friday in the GISA AA semifinals.