Robert Willett - rwillett@newsobserver.com
Garner High's Juwan Moye (2) races for a 40-yard gain ahead of the Britt defense to set up a Garner touchdown in the third quarter Friday. Moye, who went over 1,000 yards on the season, was limited Friday.
GARNER -- Nothing about Garner's Friday night against Fayetteville Britt was easy. Not much of it was normal. But like everything else this season, the Trojans just won.
Garner (15-0) advanced to the 4AA state title game with a 34-27 victory over Britt, holding the Buccaneers (11-3) on their last three drives.
"They stopped us from what we've been doing best," said Garner coach Nelson Smith. "But we stepped up and made plays in tough situations on defense and came up with some big passes on offense."
The Trojans will meet Greensboro Page, a 41-27 winner over Charlotte Mallard Creek, next Saturday in the 4AA state championship game in Winston-Salem.
Britt pulled even at 27 with 10 minutes, 2 seconds to play on 1-yard touchdown run and a two-point conversion run by Lindon Watkins.
The Buccaneers' offense got the ball twice more near the 50-yard line in the quarter, but Garner's defense held twice on third downs, then once on fourth down.
Garner junior Jeremie Bolobiongo sacked Britt quarterback Mark McRae on third down with 5:26 left in regulation, forcing a punt.
The Trojans' drive went nowhere, and gave the Bucs the ball back near the 50. Garner's defense came up again, but Andre Gillispie's sack of McRae on third-and-8 forced another punt.
Garner's offense, which hadn't moved the ball on its previous two drives, found its rhythm. Demetrius Fairley broke off a 13-yard run on first down, then Vincent Jeffries threw a strike to Damien Ellis on a curl route about 10 yards downfield.
Ellis spun to the outside as Britt's Dennis Gholston slipped. Forty-two yards later, the Trojans had first-and-10 at the Britt 18. After a 2-yard Juwan Moye run, Jeffries dropped back to pass again. He found tight end Tim Thorb running free in the middle of the field.
The throw found Thorb's hands at the 5 and he jogged into the end zone. Tyler White's extra-point put Garner up 34-27 with 1:27 to play.
Jeffries, in his first year as a starter, had a career-high 268 yards passing on the night. He was 13 of 20 with three touchdowns and an interception.
"Vince made a lot of huge throws, pressure throws that were right on the spot," Smith said.
Britt moved the ball to its own 39 with 1:00 to play, facing a fourth-and-3. That's when McRae tried to find Watkins in the middle of the field just past the first down marker. But Bolobiongo knew what was coming.
"The third and fourth down plays were all about just playing to our keys," Bolobiongo said. "We knew what they were probably going to try to do in those key situations because our coaches had drilled us so much in reading the keys. We just reacted to what we saw."
Bolobiongo lunged toward the ball and tipped it away from Watkins' hands, giving Garner the ball. The Trojans ran 53 seconds off of the clock before being forced to punt on fourth down, but the punt, angled by Gillispie away from the Britt return man, rolled dead as the clock expired, sending Garner to its first state championship game since 1998 and its third in school history.
"It feels like we've started a whole new life," said Garner receiver/defensive back Anthony Tucker. "We've been through so much together as a team, together. I've never played in a college stadium, never played in a game like this. Now we'll get the chance to do both."
Garner jumped out to a 7-0 lead on a 2-yard touchdown run by Fairley in the first quarter, but Britt came back with a 24-yard touchdown catch by Kenny Jenkins early in the second quarter, then went up 12-7 on a 5-yard run by Watkins.
Watkins finished with a game-high 93 yards on 25 carries and three touchdown runs.
Garner's running game was pretty much limited with Fairley and Moye, who both went over 1,000 yards on the season, limited to 67 yards combined on the ground.
Thorb's first touchdown catch of the night put Garner up 14-12 at the break, then senior cornerback Jarvis Shelton returned an interception 61 yards for a score with 9:31 in the third quarter for a 21-12 lead.
Ellis led Garner with 81 yards receiving. He was one of six Garner players to catch passes from Jeffries.
"It was a total group effort," Smith said. "Shelton getting the interception early for a score, Tim Thorb and Damien Ellis making huge catches when we haven't thrown them the ball a lot at times, but we went to them when we needed it most."
Britt came back with Watkins' second touchdown run to cut the lead to 21-19 with 4:57 to play in the third, then Garner made it 27-19 on a 5-yard connection between Fairley and Jeffries with 1:06 to play in the third.
