Tucker quarterback Na’Riya Hardy-Briscoe had two touchdowns, three one-point conversions and an interception in Tucker’s 27-6 win over McNair. (Photo by Mark Brock)
The Tucker Tigers picked up a pair of girls’ flag football victories on Tuesday night at Adams Stadium 7-0 over Druid Hills and 27-6 over McNair to improve to 3-10 on the season.
Tucker and Druid Hills (2-8) opened the triple-header with a defensive battle that featured three drives stopped by interceptions, five punts and three possessions that ended on downs.
Druid Hills ended Tucker’s first drive of the on an interception by Katie Retzlaff as the Druid Hills 23. Three punts and a turnover on downs later Tucker made the big play of the game as Haven Winfrey intercepted a Druid Hills pass at the Red Devils’ 26-yard line with 49 seconds to play in the first half.
A 13-yard pass from Na’riya Hardy-Briscoe to Sandhya Gurung moved the ball to the Druid Hills’ 13 to set up a first and goal. Three players later Ethel Brown took a handoff and weaved into the end zone on a nine-yard run to give Tucker the lead. Hardy-Briscoe added the one-point run for a 7-0 Tucker lead with just four seconds remaining in the first half.
Druid Hills three possessions in the second half ended on a punt, an interception by Tucker’s Hardy-Briscoe and on downs at the Tucker 26.
Tucker had three possessions in the second half the last coming with 59 seconds to play and they ran out the clock on runs of five and four yards by Gurung.
Tucker 27, McNair 6
Tucker scored touchdowns on its first three possession in route to a 27-6 victory over McNair in the second game at Adams Stadium.
McNair was forced to punt from its own endzone on its first possession and Tucker’s Sandhya Gurung retuned it to the McNair nine-yard line to set up a first and goal for the Tigers.
McNair’s To’Niyah Butler (with ball) took a hand-off from quarterback Kei’Asia Clayton against Tucker. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Three plays later Ethel Brown went the final two yards for the touchdown with 14:30 to play in the first half. Na’Riya Hardy-Briscoe ran in the one-point conversion to make it 7-0.
The Tiger defense held again forcing McNair to punt from its own 25. Tucker’s Hardy-Briscoe gathered in the punt and raced 42 yards to the McNair four to set up another first and goal for Tucker.
After the two teams exchanged penalties, Tucker faced a third and goal at the one-yard line. Hardy Briscoe ran it in at that point and tacked on the one-point conversion via the run to make it 14-0 in favor of Tucker with 3:18 to play in the half.
Following another McNair punt, Tucker got the ball at the Mustangs’ 13 for another first and goal opportunity with 43 seconds to play.
Three plays later Gurung ran around the left side and into the endzone from seven yards out with 10 seconds left in the half. Hardy-Briscoe again converted the one-point run to give Tucker a 21-0 lead at the half.
McNair forced Tucker to punt on the first possession of the second half and Kei’Asia Clayton returned the punt to the Tucker 20. Clayton then connected on passes of 12 yards to Maricruz Gomez and then an eight-yard touchdown pass to Xaria Victor to get the Mustangs on the board. A two-point try was no good as McNair cut the lead to 21-6 with 15:08 to play.
Hardy-Briscoe came up big again as she intercepted a McNair pass stopping a McNair drive at the Tucker 17. Five plays later with Tucker facing a third and 25 she went straight up the middle of the field 65 yards for a touchdown to close out the game. The point after try was no good and Tucker concluded a 27-6 win.
Druid Hills Katie Retzlaff (8) had several pass breakups and an interception in two games. Here she breaks up a pass in front of McNair’s Xaria Victor and teammate Elaina Elmore (17). (Photo by Mark Brock)
McNair 7, Druid Hills 0
McNair scored with 3:20 to play in the game to slip past Druid Hills 7-0 in a Division 1 Area 8 contest in the nightcap at Adams Stadium.
Kei’Asia Clayton set up her winning touchdown by intercepting a Druid Hills pass and returned it 28 yards to the Druid Hills four-yard line to set up a first and goal situation for the Mustangs.
Clayton got around the right end on the first play following her interception for the four-yard touchdown run to put McNair ahead. To’Niyah Butler ran in the one-point conversion to make it 7-0.
Druid Hills got out to its 28-yard line and turned the ball over on downs as a run by Taleah Casurra came up four yards short of the first down. McNair (2-6, 1-1) ran out the clock to seal the win. Druid Hills fell to 2-8 and 0-3 in the Area 8 standings.
McNair controlled time of possession in the game including a drive that took 11:35 off the first half clock to open the game. The drive ended when Druid Hills defender Elaine Elmore stopped Clayton three-yards short of a first down at the Druid Hills three-yard line.
Druid Hills had two short possessions and caused McNair to turn the ball over on downs as the first half ended in a 0-0 tie.