Heritage overcame some offensive growing pains to give E.K. Slaughter his first win as the Generals' coach Friday night, doing so with strong special teams and a defense that forced four turnovers.
The 28-12 win at Catoosa County rival Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe might not have displayed the high-flying offense Slaughter hopes to deploy eventually, but he was more than pleased with the win.
"When we execute we're a good football team, which we showed at times tonight," he said. "We had a lot of guys play a lot of snaps tonight, and it was a tough rivalry game. Our kids gutted it out at the end, and they deserved it."
The Generals (1-1) escaped a sloppy first half up 14-6 despite the Warriors (0-2) controlling most of the action early. Hadyn Griffin's 2-yard run early in the second quarter capped an 11-play drive that put LFO up 6-0, though the PAT was missed -- a portent of things to come for the hosts' special teams.
Heritage drove to the LFO 17 on its next possession but turned the ball over on downs. However, the Warriors were forced to punt quickly, and a low snap allowed Heritage's Michael Lewis to block the punt and fall on it in the end zone for a stunning turnaround. Lewis was at it again when he intercepted a tipped Ryan Keefe pass with 14 seconds to play in the half, setting up the Generals at the LFO 27.
Dylan Bice hit Luke Grant on a crossing pass to the 1, and on the half's final play Tanner Nance, after initially fumbling the handoff, picked the ball up and scored for a 14-6 lead.
"If we don't force the turnovers I don't think we win this game, because we were so sloppy on offense," Slaughter said. "We picked two passes off and forced a couple of turnovers along with two blocked punts, so we made some things happen defensively."
LFO continued to hurt itself in the second half. A 17-play drive to open the third quarter reached the Heritage 4 before stalling, and a subsequent 21-yard field-goal try was wide right. Four plays later, including a pair of Khalil Hood runs that netted 45 yards, Bice connected with Hood on a perfectly executed screen pass that went 44 yards for a killing touchdown to make it 21-6.
LFO managed to strike back on Keefe's 55-yard pass to Tanner Bennett to start the final period, but a fumble at its own 8 three minutes later led to Bice's clinching 1-yard sneak.
Hood finished with 126 yards on 14 carries, while Jesse Flanagan topped LFO with 81 yards on 22 carries.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296.