Royals end Fitzgerald’s season

By Dusty Vassey

November 17, 2006 11:56 pm

— FITZGERALD — Hurricane season is over.
The No. 4 Fitzgerald Purple Hurricane's undefeated season and the hopes of a state title ended Friday night. The Hurricane lost at home to the Bleckley County Royals 19-10 in the first round of the Class AA playoffs.
Bleckley's stifling defense held Fitzgerald's heralded rushing offense to only 112 yards on 26 carries, and the Royals outgained the Hurricane 250 yards to 163. The Royals were also helped by eight costly Fitzgerald penalties.
Bleckley took the lead in the first quarter and never relinquished it. After a short Fitzgerald punt, the Royals began inside Fitzgerald's 40-yard line. After a couple of 14-yard passes from Royals' quarterback Brett Bowen, Bleckley had a first-and-goal at the Fitzgerald 6. From there, running back Zeke Rozier crashed in for a 6-0 lead with 4:29 left in the first quarter. The extra-point attempt failed.
The score remained 6-0 until 8:07 in the second quarter when Fitzgerald kicker Victor Ayala booted a 33-yard field goal to trim the lead to 6-3. The biggest play on the drive came on a 22-yard run by Corey Taylor.
Bleckley put together a 70-yard drive in the closing minutes of the first half. Fitzgerald forced a third down three times on the drive only to have the drive continued by 20-yard passes from Bowen to towering tight end Carl Hall. Hall, who stood at least 6 feet, 6 inches tall, easily leapt over the smaller Fitzgerald defenders on fade patterns, including a 20-yard touchdown reception on the final third down of the drive. A two-point pass attempt failed and Bleckley led 12-3 with 56 seconds left in the half.
Fitzgerald scored on the opening drive of the second half to give the Hurricane renewed life. Again the big plays came from Corey Taylor who caught an 18-yard pass from Brad Taylor on a third-down screen pass, and gained 17 yards rushing on the next play.
The Canes picked up a first down at the Bleckley 6 but could not score on three plays. Finally, on fourth down, Fitzgerald's Dion Ross pushed over several tacklers and twisted into the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown run. Ayala added the extra point to make the score 12-10 in Bleckley's favor.
A 69-yard run by Rozier on the next drive put Fitzgerald in danger of falling even further behind. However, the Hurricane defense stood tall and forced a turnover on downs. But the Fitzgerald offense continued to sputter, and the Royals got the ball back near midfield.
Thirteen plays and 54 yards later, Rozier ran the ball in from 3 yards out to score his second touchdown. Bowen kicked an extra point for the 19-10 lead with 9:33 left in the fourth.
Fitzgerald got the ball back several times in the fourth quarter. The Fitzgerald offense thrived on running the ball all season, and when forced to pass in a desperation situation, the Canes could not move the ball successfully.
Corey Taylor led the Fitzgerald offense with 55 rushing yards on five carries and also caught three passes for 37 yards. Nick Williams, who led Fitzgerald with over 1,000 rush yards on the season, was held to 48 yards on 14 attempts.
Brad Taylor completed 6-of-17 passes for 51 yards and threw one interception.
Rozier ran for 124 yards on 20 carries for Bleckley.
Fitzgerald finished the season with a 10-1 record while Bleckley continued on in the playoffs with a 7-4 record.