After being outscored 101-12 in their first three contests, the Chattahoochee County Panthers nearly came away with an upset Friday against Brookstone, but the Cougars (4-0) held on for a 21-14 win.
Despite improvements, three costly fumbles spoiled what may be the Panthers’ (0-4) last opportunity to beat one of their rivals, since the school may be moved up to Class AA next year. Brookstone is 5-1 against Chattco in the series’ history and defeated the Panthers 52-12 last season.
The first giveaway came on the Panthers’ opening drive. After driving the length of the field, fullback Eric Zeigler fumbled as he tried to stretch out for the end zone, ending the drive and turning the ball over to the Brookstone offense.
The next two turnovers came in the fourth quarter. With the Panthers backed against their own end zone tied at 14-14, senior running back Marquis Thorton fumbled at the 8-yard line.
Thorton said a bad snap created a bad exchange between himself and sophomore quarterback Malcolm Anderson.
Though the Panthers shut down two running plays on the subsequent drive, Brookstone quarterback Duncan Fletcher found running back Madison McCluskey from 8 yards away in the corner of the end zone.
“We flooded the zone and they didn’t have enough people to cover us,” Brookstone head coach Blair Harrison said. beam of hope after barreling 33 yards to put the Panthers at the Brookstone 25-yard line with 7:30 remaining. Two plays later, though, the Cougars recovered a fumble by Anderson and ran out the clock on the ensuing drive.
Panthers head coach Russell Morgan said he made the decision to move Thorton to running back and Anderson to quarterback after running back Chris Askew suffered a concussion against Greenville Sept. 9.
“We’ve been hoping Malcolm would be able to come on at quarterback … Marquis is a super athlete, wherever we put him,” Morgan said. “If he’s at receiver, you would see him doing great things.” Morgan said he is unsure when Askew will be able to return.
Thorton had 21 rushes for 122 yards and a touchdown. Though Anderson showed flashes of potential, especially with a 48-yard touchdown pass to receiver Jamaris Jones in the second quarter, which gave Chattco its only lead, Morgan said Anderson has to overcome inexperience.
“Do we have a true quarterback? Probably not,” Morgan said. “We fumbled a couple of snaps and made some mistakes that are just from inexperience. I think he’s going to get better every week.”
McCluskey accounted for one rushing and one receiving touchdown for Brookstone and finished with 154 total yards.
Despite remaining winless, Morgan said the game was a step in the right direction and believes his team has already played its three toughest opponents this season. The Panthers will play Friday at Macon County.
“Our kids have come so far in the last three weeks,” Morgan said. “We looked like a different team … we played with an intensity we hadn’t played with all year.”
