FOOTBALL: Second-half rebound helps Dublin stymie East Laurens upset bid, escape with third win

One half of football told a surprising story, as East Laurens – in a theme extending to several area teams hosting once- or unbeaten teams Friday night – carried an unexpected 13-0 lead to halftime on Dublin. 

But the tale of two would recount the Irish turnaround to score five unanswered touchdowns, and claim an 11th straight win in their rivalry with the Falcons, 37-13. 

Dublin (3-1, 3-0 region 2-High A) would survive to take its win streak to three games, but got a handful over 24 early minutes controlled decisively by an East Laurens team that came out firing, and hit on more than its share of big plays. 

All told, the final count was as close as the Falcons (1-3, 1-2 region) have kept a game with the Irish since their loss of only 22 under Buddy Sorrow in 2015. 

However by game’s end, the pest of turnovers – plaguing both teams – wound up biting the Falcons as much, and more severely. 

After driving for a quick touchdown to start the game, East capitalized on the first of its four takeaways to grab another and get its lead to two scores. 

Despite staying in the clear through intermission, the Falcons would give up possession just as many times by the end of the night.  

Dublin, once it got out of its own way and settled on defense, took over control and pulled away.

A good deal of the adversity the Irish faced in this second-straight road test was of their own creation. 

The first of their several unforced errors occurred just after a 72-yard Eastside march for the first touchdown, on a muff of the ensuing kickoff that put the Falcons right back in position to add to the lead around the Dublin 20. 

Two fumbles later in the night would spoil promising drives with potential to chip away sooner, and an interception the same after the Irish had taken back the lead. A handful of penalties committed during the bumpy start also didn’t do much to help reverse the East Laurens momentum. 

Defensively, Dublin sunk back into a fairly relaxed zone coverage that offered the Falcons plenty of space to get their playmakers the ball. 

And that they did with Skyler Snead, who was 12-for-23 with 176 yards passing, performing surgery from behind center. 

A holding penalty backed them up on the first drive, but a completion to Bryson Hazley made a second-and-long into third-and-manageable, and Norrion King’s jet sweep off the left found room to move the chains for a first time.

Moments later, Major Floyd made an amazing catch amid a sea of defenders on a 52-yard reception to get East to scoring range, and though an Irish sack would set them back into fourth and a pile, Snead extended another pivotal play with a scramble to his left, as Jaden Wright broke a step or two open in the back of the end zone, and caught a rope for the 28-yard touchdown. 

John Thang’s PAT made it 7-0. 

A second Falcon score followed the fumbled kickoff, though Dublin’s defense again forced them to a fourth down on which a pass toward Hazley fell incomplete, but Snead got hammered on a rush, the Irish were flagged for roughing and East Laurens picked up a free first down. 

After getting Floyd to the 4 on second-and-goal, Snead threw a Tim Tebow jump pass over the line to Tawan Horne off play action for the touchdown. 

The Falcons’ point failed, but their lead was an astounding 13-0. 

There were almost eight minutes gone, before Dublin’s offense was able to take the field and snap the ball for the first time. 

The Irish had to scratch and claw for the early yards, but got things moving with Jeff Davis, who proved to be OK following an injury scare at WACO last Friday, back at quarterback. 

Conversions on two thirds-and-short got them over the midfield hump, and a Trav Bostic toss gaining 17 on the second of those  – then an East Laurens offside penalty – had them knocking on the door. 

But then came some trouble with the snap, as Davis was pitched to the side while trying to stoop to get it. The ball was kicked aside, and Falcon fumble-hawk Dianco Murray scrounged it up, with a return out to the 39, for his fourth recovery in as many games.  

As the game transitioned to the second quarter, East Laurens ate up some clock on another solid drive featuring Snead and King that reached the red zone. 

But the Falcons, once there, would suffer a bad snap and fumble for a loss on likely the first critical error they’d committed all evening. 

That was the break the Irish defense needed to force a stop, which Quantavis Lovett roared in from the right to seal with a fourth down sack. 

A critical false start, and Jeremiah Rozier tackle on third down, had Dublin punting the ball back quickly. 

East got a first down, but eventually did the same to give the Irish just their third possession of the game. It ended similarly with a drop, and a breakup keyed by Murray and Cason Wadley. 

The Falcons let the clock go as they reached midfield on a final drive to get the 13-0 lead into the locker room.

Coming out of the half, Dublin turned the early-game trends on their head, but not until after more misfortune in the turnover department on a first-play fumble – recovered again by Murray – to squander great field position off a 33-yard Bennett Lake kickoff return. 

But the Irish defense had made some needed adjustments, bringing an extra man nearer the box and assigning Snead a mirror who would force the issue a good bit more on his adventures from the pocket. And as they forced a quick punt to negate the turnover, Dublin finally found its stride on offense. 

Davis’ 27-yard completion to Will Wallace started out the next drive in fine style, then a reverse picking up 15 gave it some steam. 

The rest fell to Dontavious Cannon, who went right down the gut to set up a first and goal, then finished off the drive from a couple yards two plays later. Urick Andrews’ point-after brought the Irish within six, 13-7, with 7:47 to go in the third. 

Another East punt, the result of backfield disruption from Jalen Dardy, had the Irish half a field away from scoring to tie or take the lead. And once again, the drive started with a Davis pass completion – this time to Jamarcus Knight – for a large gain that a roughing penalty increased. 

Dublin equalized as Bostic got outside and sprinted into the end zone from 11, and Andrews kicked for its first lead, 14-13. 

Things, suddenly, were spiraling for the Falcons as Lovett sacked Snead and forced a fumble to set the Irish up on a 30-yard field. 

They covered it in four plays to score on another Cannon blast from four yards, and go up 21-13 with 1:12 to go in the period. 

Bostic came up with a diving pick on the first play of the fourth quarter to take the ball away again, and Dublin drove 61 yards on an explosive run by Vicente Bond, then a reverse to Knight that scored from 16. 

The streak of turnovers would continue, as Domimarkeyo Walden  pried the ball loose on bull-rush sack up the middle, and the Irish were primed to score a fifth offensive touchdown from 13 yards out. 

But a Davis shot toward the end zone on the next play would be picked back by Hazley, and East got it back with 9:40 to go, still with some hope of a response to get back in the game. 

Those hopes fell through in part with another punt, but in whole after Dublin reciprocated, and Dorian Carcamo streaked in on a blitz to pop the ball loose on a sack. The ball hopped right to him on the way into the end zone for a 24-yard return to conclude the scoring. 

Knight led the Irish on the ground with nine carries for 90 yards. Bostic rushed 11 times for 63, Bond three times for 51 and Cannon nine times for 43. Dublin ran for 246 of its 309 total yards. Davis was 2-for-5 passing with 63. 

Snead had 44 of East’s 77 rushing yards, finishing with 220 of the team’s 253. 

Hazley had 67 all-purpose yards, Luis Roman four catches for 52 and Wright two for 48 to lead Falcon receivers. 

The eight tackles each of Jeremiah Rozier, Raquis Stanley and Kayleb Butler – plus a sack and fumble recovery by Caleb Jackson – led East on defense. 

The Irish will be back at home Friday continuing region play against Jefferson County, as the Falcons head on the road to play Dodge.