Durant’s first drive of Friday’s game was impressive but, unfortunately for the Cougars, Armwood wasn’t fazed for long.
The Hawks went to Durant High School and dealt a serious blow to the Cougars’ playoff hopes by handing them a 35-6 loss to close out the 2017 regular season.
Durant took a 6-0 lead when quarterback Carlton Potter and wide receiver Agiye Hall linked up with a 30-yard touchdown pass with 7:59 left in the first quarter, which capped off a 75-yard opening drive. Armwood was able to block the point-after attempt, though, and the Hawks were able to tie the game four and a half minutes later when Brian Snead finished off their ensuing drive with a three-yard plunge for a touchdown. Once kicker Adrian Olivo connected on the PAT attempt, giving Armwood a 7-6 lead, the Hawks never looked back.
Snead scored the first of Armwood’s three second-quarter touchdowns on a 29-yard run with 11:04 left in the first half. Devin Black found Ezeriah Anderson with a 12-yard pass for another touchdown with 5:11 to go and, after Black made up for a long David Tabakovic punt with a long run of his own, threw a 20-yard score to Markeis Colvin with 1:04 to go.
The Hawks couldn’t expand upon their 28-6 lead for nearly all of the third quarter thanks to a slew of penalty flags, a theme that had stuck with both teams throughout the game but escalated in that quarter. In one sequence, with just under eight minutes left in the quarter, Armwood missed two consecutive field goal tries granted by penalties and got stuffed on fourth down to turn the ball over, which was followed by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that gave the Cougars better field position to start.
As time expired in the quarter, Colvin scored the final points of the game taking a punt return to the house.
Neither team could produce in the fourth quarter, though Durant was able to pick up its first set of first downs since the first quarter. The Cougars got one last chance to find the scoreboard again with 1:38 left to play but Armwood’s defense kept Tabakovic and the run game in check long enough to bleed out the clock.
The FHSAA will announce the final regular-season standings and playoff teams on its Selection Sunday broadcast, scheduled to go live at 11 a.m. Sunday on NFHSNetwork.com. Playoff brackets will be released on FHSAA.org at noon.