PREP FOOTBALL: Ballard shuts down North Georgia Christian

To view a photo slideshow of this game, click here.

An unnamed Ballard Christian player tested coach Buddy Hammock’s patience at the end of a practice this week, prompting him to repeat what he’d been saying ever since the Eagles clinched their first-ever playoff berth.

The guilty culprit yelled “Bring on Covenant” — the only team to beat the Eagles during the regular season that just so happened to be their expected semifinal opponent in the ICSGA playoffs.

“I said ‘Nope, we ain’t talking about Covenant,’” Hammock said. “Next week, we’ll talk Covenant.”

Next week, thanks to a dominant effort from the start against an overwhelmed North Georgia Christian squad, is now.

Ballard’s offense didn’t stop moving until the final horn sounded on its 62-16 victory over the Chargers, giving the school its first-ever playoff victory and one sweet birthday gift for the 65-year-old Hammock.

“We kept them focused and every time we’d hear something about Covenant we would say ‘Hey, if we don’t win tonight, we don’t play Covenant,’” Hammock said. “We took control of the game from the first series.”

Jacob Hall’s 51-yard kickoff return to start the game made that first series a whole lot easier. Judson Butler cashed in the prime field position five plays later with a 6-yard touchdown run — his first of three in the Eagles’ 41-point first half.

Hall, a sophomore, added two touchdowns of his own in the first half to go along with his game-high 101 rushing yards and 194 kick/punt return yards. His 77-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the third quarter served as a quick response to the Chargers’ first score of the game.

“He’s a trooper,” Hammock said. “You just give him the ball and he runs. We’re looking forward to having him for a couple more years, too.”

Ballard’s defense forced just one three-and-out in the first half, but made numerous big stops in its own territory to keep the Chargers off the scoreboard until the third quarter. William Cahill returned an interception 44 yards for a touchdown and T.J. Turkington sacked North Georgia Christian’s quarterback on third down for a 30-yard loss to stifle the Chargers’ best chance at scoring in the first half.

Turkington, a mohawked junior middle linebacker, finished with 20 tackles and two sacks.

“Some teams you can beat and they’ll come back and shut you out,” Turkington said of the Chargers, whom Ballard beat, 56-18, earlier in the regular season. “We were all looking at the next week and then we were like ‘No, we can’t look at Covenant. Covenant is the future.’”

Ballard will host Covenant, who beat Crosspointe Christian Academy, 50-8, in its first-round playoff game, next Friday at Sluder Field. The Eagles, in just their second year as a program, lost at Covenant earlier this month, 66-38.

“The first year we weren’t able to have an offseason conditioning and strength program,” Hammock said. “We did this year and they worked hard all summer.

“It’s paid off a lot.”

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