South Fulton’s 2020 debut falls short of win

Last Friday night in South Fulton, something occurred that many doubted would be possible.

In the midst of a five month pandemic, which has affected most every nook and cranny of this nation, a football game was going to be played.

For all of the time, schedule changes and protocols it took for Coach Eric Knott, his staff and the players, the moment and opportunity was special.

“It was great. I mean it was great,” said Coach Knott following the game. “That’s why I get so fired up, because I was trying to tell them that it could be taken away from you at any time. Just ask Dresden, just ask Union City. So with the atmosphere of fear that is surrounding everything right now, we have to be ready to play anytime. Each game could be our last. And we were not ready this time, and that frustrates me.”

The night on the field did not turn out as expected for the Red Devils, as Stewart County broke open a scoreless game in the third quarter and went on to win 19-0.

With teams unable to participate in any scrimmages or jamborees in the preseason, the play on the field was far from being polished, Knott said.

“It was terrible,” said Coach Knott. “We had a ton of penalties. They had a ton of penalties. You know, lots of false starts, things like that. We still can’t run the ball. I thought the holes were there, because I put a freshman in at the very end, and the same plays we were getting three yards on, turned into seven and eight. We were not sustaining our blocks, and their coach figured it out that we could only run to the right, so I had to make some adjustments. But I will tell you now that if we can’t run the football, we are not going to win a ballgame.”

The game was completely dominated by the defense until the 7:00 mark of the third quarter, when Stewart County’s Hunter Knotts scored on a 14-yard run and a 6-0 Rebels lead.

The Red Devils countered with what appeared to be a scoring drive, but a personal foul penalty on a first down play, backed the football from the 23-yard line to the 38-yard line.

The penalty stalled the drive, and a chance for South Fulton to tie the game.

In the fourth quarter, the Rebels sealed the opening night win with a 64-yard touchdown run from Will Page, and a 23 yard touchdown run by Caleb Mulcahy.

On the night, the Red Devils offense sputtered with a total of 119-yards, with six intercepted passes off quarterback Bryce McFarland.

“It was terrible. Our protection was terrible. He (Bryce) was having some problems making the reads, and then he gets down on himself. We have to fix those things. Bryce is a great quarterback and he will bounce back. We just have to play better. He presses a little much, and maybe I need to handle things a little different with him. We may make the reads a little more simple in order to give him some success.”

Coach Knott said the offense was going to have to compliment the defense if the team was to be successful this season.

“Our defense played good, like last year the defense played good. But our offense left them out to dry. That’s happened several times. In high school football you have to be able to run the football. If you can’t run, you just can’t win. We get down to the three yard line, then we have a false start. Our receivers are not getting lined up linemen being lazy. Those kind of things like that. That is all stuff that has to be fixed, and it will be fixed. We now move on to region play, and look at that as a scrimmage. We may be 0-1 in the record book, but the region is important to us. We can’t dwell on this one long.”