Missed tackles and other mistakes doom Central in 49-0 loss against East Laurens

By the time the East Laurens team boarded the bus, the door to the Central locker room was still closed.

About half an hour after the final horn, the door opened. Out came head coach Jarrett Laws, who took a big chug of water and sighed.

It was that kind of night for Central and its second-year head coach, as the Chargers made too many mistakes and failed to contain East Laurens quarterback Tylan Snead in a 49-0 loss to the Falcons Thursday night at the Ed Defore Sports Complex.

East Laurens improved to 2-2 overall and 1-2 in GHSA Region 2-A/Division I, while the Chargers fell to 0-4 and 0-2 in the region.

It was the Falcons’ biggest win since 70-7 over Twiggs County to open the 2021 season, and largest shutout margin since a 36-0 win over Johnson County in 1991.

The loss marked the second time this season the Chargers have been shut out.

“I didn’t anticipate our not being able to react to competitive moments,” Laws said. “I know they’ve not been in very many competitive situations where they connect. Us as a staff, we’ve got to do a better job of creating some sort of competitive situation where our kids react to pressure a lot better.

“I don’t think it was a matter of being outschemed, more than out-executed.”

The Chargers made life easier for the Falcons with a slew of missed tackles, or being in the right place but putting forth a soft tackling effort. That happened on Snead’s 30-yard scoring run in the first quarter, when two Chargers ran into each other and knocked each other out of a tackle possibility.

More missed tackles came five minutes later when the lanky Snead crept around the right side and cruised to a 14-yard touchdown, and again on his 22-yard scoring run at the 2:05 mark of the second quarter. Snead tossed a 15-yard touchdown pass to freshman Major Floyd between those two scores.

A familiar scenario played out on a 23-yard pass play to Norrion King that set up a 45-yard touchdown pass from Snead to a well-covered Carson Smith in the final seconds of the half, which ended with East Laurens up 35-0.

Snead finished with 162 yards rushing, his night ending shortly after an 83-yard touchdown run — again, with less interruption than Laws wanted — early in the third quarter. He completed 7 of 14 passes for 122 yards, all in the first half.

“He read his keys a little bit,” said East Laurens head coach Jesse Hicks, who went 20-31 as Central’s head coach from 2012-16. “We got the blocking for the quarterback stuff. He’s just being who he is, pulling the ball and picking just what he can get. I thought he had a great game.”

King added 90 yards on 10 carries.

On the other hand, Central was held to negative yardage on the ground in the first half despite some tough runs from Ontario Covington.

The Chargers had decent-to-good field position regularly in the first half. The two times they started in a big hole, on the 12 and 3 yardlines, they dug out and got past midfield.

One possession ended on a turnover, the other on a sack on fourth and 11. Central came up with a stop after one and gave up a score on the other.

“It’s the most complete game we’ve played,” Hicks said. “Johnson County was the most competitive game, but this was the most complete game.”

East Laurens outgained Central 372-121.

Both teams are off next week, and Laws expects it to be a week of perhaps a little transition for Central

“I think it’s a step backwards,” he said. “That could end up being a step forward, because sometimes when you get to the point where you feel like rock bottom, at that point, you can’t go any lower, so you’ve got to try to find ways to reach up.

“I anticipate finding out … who in our group is in it for the process and not just for immediate gratification. I’m pretty sure we’ve got a couple personnel things that we’re going to look at to try and make us more efficient.”