Washington County works clock, wears down East Laurens to get first win

For a second-straight week, the East Laurens Falcons were right there in a winnable game, but couldn’t make enough plays in the second half to get it done as their closest so far ended with a third-straight loss. 

A couple of key two-point conversions after touchdowns in the first half, and one long, time consuming possession in the fourth quarter, got Washington County to the finish line with a 16-14 lead to claim a first career victory for its new head coach Jay Ware at the new Falcon Field. 

The Golden Hawks’ crisp, physical Wing-T attack had its best showing so far, churning out steady positive yardage as it chewed clock throughout the night, and punched in consecutive rushing touchdowns for the full scoring total during quarter 2. 

East Laurens (0-3) had some early offensive success, but couldn’t do enough on its only two chances with the ball after halftime.

The Falcons were held to only 25 net rushing yards. Skyler Snead was 6-of-12 passing for 60 yards passing with touchdown completions to Braedyn Evans and Bryson Hazley that bookended WACO’s points. 

Hazley led receivers with three catches for 42 yards.

All the scoring took place in the first half. 

Floyd played an important early role for the Falcons, catching a screen pass for a first down on the Falcons’ opening drive, which would later be forced into a punt by the sack of Cameron Cason, and sniffing out a run for loss that forced WACO into a third-down situation after driving fairly deep the other way on its first. 

The Golden Hawks (1-2) would set up a screen pass that resulted in a fumble, and Jaxten Thomas returned it 51 yards to the other end to set up East’s first strike of the game. Floyd carried for a bit to get the Falcons into the red zone, then Skyler Snead rolled left and found Evans wide open in the back of the end zone for the touchdown. 

John Thang’s PAT kick made it 7-0 late in the first quarter. 

WACO resumed its methodical pace on the ground, and seldom lost yardage, on a 70-yard drive to a response early in the second quarter. 

Marderius Poole, who had several of the possession’s biggest runs, took the last carry around the left-hand side for a 17-yard touchdown, then the conversion over the line for an 8-7 lead. 

A similar march, starting from the Golden Hawks’ 19, followed an exchange of punts. Their biggest play of the sequence was a play-action pass from Aiden Watts to Cason, who carried tacklers all the way down to the 5 to set up first and goal. 

East Laurens stiffened to hold them out of the end zone on the next two snaps, but Kade Swint managed to drive his way in on third down for the score. Watts kept for the two-pointer to make it 16-7 WACO. 

A Golden Hawk sack, time by Daveion Holmes, once again erased some early progress in the form of a 30-yard Snead keeper on the Falcons’ first drive of quarter 2 to force a punt. The second, a quick three and out, had the same outcome. 

They relied on another non-offensive boost to add a second touchdown just before the half, as Myles Burke returned the WACO kickoff all the way to the opposing 24. 

East scored on the next play with a screen for Hazley, who took the ball all the way back across the field and into the end zone. 

But from three points back, there was no benefit to a two-point try, and the Falcons elected to bring on Cristofer Vasquez to add the point for a 16-14 deficit at the end of the half, following reciprocal punts to close it out. 

Sacks by Washington County D-linemen remained a common theme as East attempted to mount another late threat, but a fourth and fifth of the half from Braylon Griner and Albert Stone neutralized the damage of another double-digit Hazley screen. 

The Hawks returned the third quarter kickoff over midfield, but turned it over on downs to give East Laurens what would be its next-to-last chance with the football. 

The Falcons started at their own 29, flung it to Hazley for another big gainer over midfield (plus 15 yards on a WACO personal foul), but failed to score, and punted the ball away. 

The Golden Hawks would proceed to grind up most of the fourth quarter as they drove from deep in their own territory to around the East Laurens 10 before eventually turning the ball over on downs. 

Swint and Brayden Gilmore had most of the key touches to move the chains along the roughly 80-yard odyssey that got the Falcons’ defense pretty worn down, and took the clock down to 3:39 before Antonio Hargrove’s tackle and a fourth down incompletion gave the ball back to East at its 15. 

An early run by Jaden Griffin reached its 42, then Snead scrambled for about 13 more. But a holding foul, a loss of footing against pressure for what amounted to a sack and a dropped screen put the Falcons in a desperate fourth and long. 

Snead rolled to his right, avoided the rush and flung it for Major Floyd, who made the catch against the sideline, and may or may not have been out of bounds. But with four yards still needed from the landing spot of his right foot, the point was moot, and WACO took over to run out the clock. 

The Hawks will host Dublin this Friday. East Laurens heads into an open week before its non-region finale Sept. 18 at Metter.