Tattnall surges in second half, defeats John Milledge 28-17 for seventh straight win

Tattnall Square Academy head coach John Garrett Abernathy was a bit worried before Friday night’s game. 

Abernathy knew that for the first time this season he would be without Antone Johnson, his “do-all” athlete who has seen time at virtually every skill position on offense and defense this season. 

Johnson missed the game with an injury but, after a sluggish start, Tattnall found a way to take a 28-17 win over a very stubborn John Milledge Academy.

“The only words I can really use for our first half was poor, or pathetic, or maybe pitiful,” said Abernathy, whose team improved to 7-1 on the season. “I feel like the kids were waiting for their playmaker to make a play and he wasn’t here tonight. We were all kind of down that we had to play without him, but thankfully we found a way to win.”

John Milledge took an early lead on a David Todd touchdown run and then added to the lead on a 30-yard field goal by Jacob Noles. Tattnall Square finally got on the board in the second quarter when quarterback Caden Faulk hit Ty Hunnicutt for a 45-yard score, but that was all they could add as they threw three interceptions and lost a fumble. 

Tattnall finally found a running game in the third quarter with Ben Brown, a little used junior who is more known as the starting outside linebacker. He was pivotal in giving Tattnall it’s first lead of the night and capped the drive off with a six-yard touchdown run.

John Milledge would not quit however, as they drove 55-yards with Todd scoring from seven yards out with seven minutes left in the game. 

Tattnall was faced with a third down and seven in their own territory when Faulk and Hunnicutt struck again. Faulk threw a pass that barely cleared the defensive back’s hand, and Hunnicutt caught it, broke four tackles and went 65 yards for the score to give Tattnall the lead for good. 

Hunnicutt would add a third touchdown on a 30-yard pass from Faulk.

“I knew we were losing 17-14 and I had to make a play,” said Hunnicutt, who broke a Tattnall record with 213 receiving yards. “I saw the ball just miss the defensive back’s finger and it was a perfect throw. I just caught it and tried to get to the sideline and get away from the tacklers. Once I got away it was just a great feeling.”

Abernathy was quick to give praise to Brown who sparked the running game. 

“Ben Brown came in and ran hard and we needed that because it opened up the passing game,” Abernathy said. “The best thing about him is he is a physical back and even though he doesn’t get a whole lot of reps in the game, he gets them in practice and he was ready when we called his number.”

The well-rounded offensive performance gave Tattnall its seventh-straight win since losing the first game of the season.

Abernathy was already looking to next week’s game with FPD.

“Oh we will have to be much better next week,” Abernathy said. “FPD has a great coaching staff and a great football team and we will have to play our best to beat them.”