Gwinnett Daily Post

SNELLVILLE - Wade Brogdon didn't miss a kick Friday night.

Brookwood's football hybrid made two first half field goals of 37 and 36 yards.

Only three of his kickoffs didn't sail into the end zone, forcing South Gwinnett to start on the 20 and keeping its speedy return men flat-footed.

Then there was his interception in the Broncos' 21-7 win over rival South.

"It wasn't really anything special, I just read the play," he began, then corrected. "I had to jump pretty high for it."

He soared for it.

And he did it one play after he couldn't quite jump high enough. With the ball near midfield, Brogdon, also the punter, stood back to take the snap. It came back slightly too high and he fell on the ball on the 37, giving the Comets great field position trailing by 14.

But the next play ended when he leapt and picked off the Michael Polascik pass.

"That felt like a momentum changer," Brogdon said.

South only ran four more offensive plays after that and Brookwood kept its streak alive in the neighborhood rivalry with a win that also sealed the Broncos' return to the playoffs no matter what happens in another annual rivalry game against Parkview next Friday.

"Now we can just worry about the rivalry and that extra pressure is gone," Brogdon said. "It's still a big game."

So was this Friday's.

Aside from the win and the playoffs, the Broncos showcased another running back from the stable in junior Allen McCray, who carried the ball 35 times for 187 yards.

"Allen got his chance and stepped up and did a great job," said Brookwood head coach Mark Crews. "Our offensive line seemed like it had the best night it has had yet."

And it showed. Aside from the grinding performance by McCray, Marvis Lane exploded for 112 yards on 14 carries, with 106 of those yards coming in the second half. It was Lane, with a 30-yard sprint, that first got the Broncos into the end zone and gave Brookwood a lead it never surrendered.

"He's a big body, he's hard to bring down," Crews said of Lane.

But the night belonged to McCray, who couldn't stop smiling after the game.

"I had to do this for the team," McCray said. "I drank a lot of water this week so I could get back in shape to take over the starting role since Brice (Smith) is out.

"It was fun."

McCray never reached the end zone and in the first half, Brookwood's stalled drives opened the door for South.

By the time South Gwinnett's offense picked up its first first down of the game, the Comets trailed 6-0 and there were less than nine minutes left in the second quarter. Brookwood had nearly 100 yards rushing and had its first of four turnovers.

But all those dominating yards and time-sucking drives had only amassed the two Brogdon field goals. Despite the offensive dominance, Brookwood had failed to get closer than 20 yards from the end zone on any drive.

Even the first down didn't first translate to points when the Broncos' Kent Rollins picked off Polascik's pass at the 4-yard line.

But Brookwood fumbled the ball back to the Comets at midfield with 2:58 left and South's spread offense didn't let the interception sap its confidence.

Polascik led a 2 minute, 30 second drive over seven plays, completing 4 of 4 passes for 46 yards including a 17-yard touchdown pass to Johnathan Krause with 28 seconds left in the half to give the Comets a 7-6 lead. For the game Polascik was 15 of 20 for 172 yards, but he threw three interceptions.

The lead ended with the first drive of the second half. Brookwood went 65 yards in eight plays with 22 of those yards coming from McCray and the final 30 from Lane.

"I gave a good fake (on the play)," McCray said. "It doesn't matter."

Brookwood extended the lead on its next possession with quarterback Ben McLane hit tight end Jake Moore for a 32-yard scoring strike. McLane ended the game 6 of 10 for 80 yards and a touchdown.

And now the fight for playoff position moves up Five Forks-Trickum to Parkview.

"Hopefully we are turning the corner and playing well at the right time," Crews said.

"Hopefully we can hold on and be No. 2 in our region and be playing well at the right time when we enter the playoffs."