Collins Hill snaps losing skid; Eagles shutout Mountain View

SUWANEE, GEORGIA – Winless for the past 42 days, the defending Class AAAAAAA state champs finally had something to cheer about Friday night.

Behind a dominant defensive performance and just enough offense, Collins Hill snapped its 4-game losing streak and defeated Mountain View 14-0

The Eagles (3-4, 1-1 Region 8-AAAAAAA) scored both touchdowns in the third quarter and their defense improved with each passing quarter which had head coach Lenny Gregory and the Eagles fired up after earning their first win since Sept. 2.

“I’m proud of the whole football team,” Gregory said. “It’s just a great team win. Our kids have been through a lot of adversity. I’m just so proud of these kids for stepping up and believing in themselves. Defensively, they have kept us in every game this season. They played lights out and we found a way to generate some offense there in the second half. Hats off to the kids. They and the coaching staff did a great job.”

Both defenses dominated in the first half.

Neither team sniffed the end zone for the first two quarters and neither team managed to reach 100 yards of total offense. The Eagles defense held the Bears to 61 yards while the Bears defense held the Eagles to 99 yards.

The Bears benched starting quarterback Jayden Dooley in the second quarter and replaced him with Mason Kidd, who didn’t fare any better. Dooley lost a fumble early in the first quarter and Kidd threw an interception in the second quarter.

The only scoring opportunity either team had in the first half was a 47-yard field goal attempt by the Eagles. The kick fell short with under a minute remaining before halftime.

The game was ultimately won and lost in the third quarter.

On their first drive of the second half, the Eagles finally broke through with a touchdown. They converted a crucial third-and-22 and later capped off the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run from Chase Nash.

On the ensuing kickoff, Mountain View’s Zay Wilson looked to give the Bears some momentum back with a good return, but instead did the opposite. Wilson did his best to evade tacklers, but was forced to go backwards in the process and was tackled at the 4-yard line.

The Bears were then forced to punt from their own end zone and after calling for a fair catch at the Mountain View 37, the Eagles scored on just five plays. A 17-yard completion got the Eagles down to the 1-yard line and Jacarri Thomas finished it off with a 1-yard touchdown run to put the Eagles up 14-0 with 1:28 remaining in the third quarter

“I thought we had good field position all night,” Gregory said. “We talk about winning the field position battle on special teams. I think we did that tonight.”

With the win, the Eagles will now tangle with Mill Creek next Friday night. The winner, in all likelihood, will secure the No. 2 seed out of Regoin 8 and will host a playoff game in the first round.

The Bears can secure the fourth and final playoff spot out of Region 8 with a win against Central Gwinnett next week, barring any other major upsets in the final three weeks of region play.

“(This win) was very pivotal,” Gregory said. “When you’re playing nationally ranked teams and you have that kind of schedule and you’re playing those teams tough, it’s hard for them to understand and gauge just how good of a football team they are. We’re really close and hats off to my kids for not quitting and not being discouraged. They kept believing and they showed up and had a great week. That’s hard to do when you lose four in a row. Our kids have never doubted the plan. They know what the standard is here at Collins Hill and they upheld the standard.”