By ADAM WELCH
pressbox1.com

SOUTH FULTON - West Carroll battled until the bitter end, but South Fulton managed to survive the War Eagles offensive onslaught for a 33-20 victory.

First-year West Carroll football coach Josh Fronabarger was disappointed with the result, but not the effort.

“I think our team played extremely hard tonight,” the coach said. “It was physical and as hard-hitting a game that West Carroll has been involved with in quite a while. The guys left it all on the field tonight and I’m proud of them."

The game had the feel of an opening round of a boxing match. Both opponents measuring each other, seeking an opening.

The Red Devils wanted to establish themselves early and on their third possession, they did just that. The War Eagles were moving the ball rather effectively late in the first quarter when South Fulton’s Jarred Fowler took possession of the ball away from wide receiver Avery Fuller as they both were going out of bounds, giving the Red Devils the ball on West Carroll’s 37 yard line.

West Carroll’s defense stopped the Red Devils from advancing the ball and forced them into a fourth and 11 situation. On the fourth-down play, South Fulton’s halfback Johnathan Avent intended to take the toss sweep to the right, but fumbled the ball. Avent managed to scoop the ball up, reverse his field, and followed his blocking down the sideline for a Red Devil touchdown with 1:27 remaining in the first quarter. South Fulton’s PAT attempt was wide right, but it led 6-0 over the War Eagles.

In the second quarter, West Carroll was forced to punt following a huge gain on a Cody Nelson-to-Brandt Cowan pass play only to have it called back for a holding penalty. With 9:40 remaining in the half, the Red Devils put together a 10-play scoring drive that covered 81 yards in the process. Corbin Hawks connected on a play-action pass to Alex Gallien for 19 yards and a South Fulton touchdown with 5:05 remaining in the half. The two-point conversion was stopped short of the goal line by West Carroll’s Cowan, but the Red Devils led 12-0.

“I was proud of our team’s effort. The coaching staff challenged them at halftime because we felt that we were outplayed in the first half," said South Fulton first-year coach Kelly Spivey. "The second half we knew what they were going to do and they did it really well.

West Carroll’s Travis Myles returned to ensuing kickoff 29 yards to give the War Eagles great field position at their own 46 yard line. West Carroll finished their first scoring drive with a 1-yard run by Myles, capping off a 13-play drive with seven seconds remaining in the half. Nelson rolled right on the two-point conversion attempt, but slipped and fell as he was cutting up field. The Red Devils held on to a 12-6 lead at the half.

The War Eagles received the second-half kickoff, but their drive stalled as South Fulton’s defense forced a turnover on downs. Avent tackled Nelson for a loss on fourth down to give the Red Devils the ball at their own 40.

During the Red Devils possession, Avent seemingly became more and more elusive as South Fulton marched down field to the War Eagles 1. With 5:40 remaining in the third quarter, senior full back Skylar Cherry moved the pile across the goal line for the score. The Red Devils two-point conversion attempt failed, but South Fulton led 18-6.

West Carroll put together a lengthy drive on their next possession as full back Colby Cooper finished the 13-play 66-yard scoring drive off with a 1-yard dive. The two-point conversion failed, but the War Eagles had fought their way back into the game as South Fulton now led 18-12 with 10:02 remaining in the game.

The Red Devils utilized the running ability of Avent and Fowler to march down the field once again for a score as Cherry scored on a toss sweep to the right from 10 yards out. Avent ran in the two-point conversion on a trap play to give South Fulton a 26-16 lead with 6:35 remaining.

The ensuing kickoff was tragic for the War Eagles as South Fulton recovered a fumble by Myles at mid-field. Three plays later, South Fulton’s Fowler broke through the middle and dashed 20 yards for the Red Devils final touchdown of the night. Hawks made the PAT to give South Fulton a 33-20 lead with 4:56 remaining.

Their never quit attitude paid off as the War Eagles rallied to score once more as Nelson connected with Fuller on a beautiful corner pattern toss from 19 yards out. Nelson also connected with Fuller for the two-point conversion as the War Eagles now trailed South Fulton 33-20 with 3:07 remaining.

That was pretty much that.

At times, the War Eagles were a block away during the game to possibly change the outcome.

"After we look at the film, I’m sure there will be several things that we can improve upon, but our effort can’t get any better than it was tonight," said the coach. "That’s the most important thing; if we have that effort every week then we’re going to be okay. Tonight’s effort was great. They gave themselves a chance to win and they kept battling when they had chances to hang their heads."

There are fixable things, the coach said.

"We just had a couple of mistakes as we put the ball on the ground a few times. We also had a couple of big penalties that were costly and gave South Fulton the momentum.," said Fronabarger. "I was also really proud of Cody Nelson’s performance tonight. We had some situations where there were personnel on the field with little experience in those positions and Cody did a very nice job of getting the offense in the right formation and getting everyone lined up where they needed to be, and he ran the option well. Another player that stands out is Travis Myles and the way he ran the ball tonight. Also, Avery Fuller caught the ball well tonight and made quite a few defensive stops. Overall, our offense played well, but they could have played better. There is a lot of positives that will come from this game, we’ll go to work Monday and correct these things so the team will improve.”

South Fulton Head Coach Kelly Spivey was also pleased with his team’s effort tonight.

"Their quarterback is a tremendous runner and their running backs were effective. We just stopped them on a few fourth downs and we were fortunate to capitalize on some turnovers at key times in the game," he said. "We really felt like we could move the ball tonight and our offensive coordinator Eric Knott did a great job preparing for this game. Our offensive line took over the second half and those guys needed this one because they’ve been laid into about being soft for several years now. They deserve a little bit of credit because they did a great job tonight.”

South Fulton takes on the Bombers of Ballard Memorial High School in Ballard County, Ky. on August 29.

As the Red Devils turn their attention toward the Bombers next week, the War Eagles will host the Fulton City (Ky.) Bulldogs 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29.

Bulldogs defeated the War Eagles in the 2007 season opener 49-7. They are coming off the best season in recent years (9-2) and won their first playoff game since 1968.