Armwood comes from behind to defeat Venice

Armwood Hawks (11-0) used standout play from all three phases to comeback to beat Venice Indians (8-3) 31-19 in Class 6A region quarterfinals action. The Indians led the Hawks 10-7 at halftime.

Offensively, junior quarterback Noah Johnson hit on 11 of 16 passes for 122 yards, rushed for 109 yards on 15 carries, and scored on runs of 12 and 4 yards. Senior runnerback Craig Carrington rushed for 52 yards on 8 carries and sophomore wide receiver Trevor Laurent had 5 catches for 68 yards and a 5-yard go ahead touchdown run midway through third quarter.

Hawks’ defense held Indians’ 1,800-yard senior runnerback Terry Polk under 100 yards. Junior linebacker Jordan Griffin had 3 tackles for loss (TFL) and knocked down a pass, senior defensive lineman Hyraim Fredrick had 2 TFL given him 20 TFL this season, and junior defensive end Bryon Cowart added a sack for his tenth sack of the season.

Leading 14-10 with one minute left in third quarter, Armwood got a big special teams play when junior Sterling Hofrichter’s punt bounced off a Venice helmet and senior Kyle Gibson recovered at the Venice 4-yard line leading to Noah Johnson’s second touchdown run to go up 21-10. After both teams traded field goals in the fourth quarter including Sterling Hofrichter’s 39-yarder, and Venice scoring on a 25-yard pass to close the score to 24-19, the Indians attempted an onside kick but Trevor Laurent broke free from the pile of players to return the kickoff 52 yards for a touchdown sealing the 31-19 win with a minute to play.

For Venice, senior quarterback Dom Marino hit on 14 of 29 passes for 232 yards and a touchdown, senior Terry Polk rushed for 75 yards on 13 carries including a 59-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, junior wide receiver Noah Montgomery had 5 catches for 92 yards, and junior kicker Stone Wilson hit on field goals of 42 and 35 yards.

Armwood (11-0) will host Jefferson (10-1) in a Class 6A region semi-finals game next Friday.

By Don Haggard and Jordan Haggard