Commerce Loses Opener 17-14
Following a thrilling 17-14 loss to Jefferson Friday in the season opener, the Commerce Tigers will try to even their record Friday night in Carnesville against the AAA Franklin County Lions.
The Lions enter the non-region contest off a 14-14 tie with Hart County. Franklin County has won the last three games against Commerce, with the Tigers’ last win coming in September of 2006.
In 24 previous games, the Tigers have won 17 games while dropping seven.
Commerce coach Steve Savage said he thinks Friday night’s game will have many of the same situations that the Jefferson match-up did.
“Offensively, they’ve got a real good back,” he said. “They’ve got a good quarterback. They’ve got a big offensive line and a big defensive line. They do a lot of stunting.”
Kick-off is at 7:30 p.m.
Jefferson Game
It was definitely a game to remember.
After a scoreless first half, Commerce overcame a 10-0 deficit in the third quarter and a 6-17 disadvantage in the fourth, and roared back to came up just short on a last-second field goal attempt.
Jefferson’s Zach Allen blocked Josh Swistak’s 37-yard field goal try as time expired Friday to preserve a 17-14 Dragon victory and give Jefferson its fourth straight win over Commerce.
Commerce lost despite rushing for 271 yards.
Most of that came via a stellar night from Tiger quarterback Cody Streetman, who ran wild with 200 yards on 30 carries and two touchdowns.
With his team down 17-6 in the fourth quarter, Streetman ripped off runs of 28 and 30 yards to set up his one-yard score with 5:24 left in the game to cut the lead to 17-12. Streetman then tacked on the two-point conversion to bring the Tigers within a field goal and set up the late dramatics.
On the final possession of the game, Commerce drove from its own four to the Jefferson 20 — keyed by a 25-yard from Addison Davis — but the rally ended when Allen got a hand on Swistak’s potential-game tying kick.
For Jefferson, Drequn Sewell and Bryant Shirreffs both scored touchdowns, while Asher Orr kicked a 27-yard field goal for the Dragons, who extended their regular-season winning streak to 21 games.
Commerce dominated the line of scrimmage and the time of possession early on, holding the ball for all but 1:05 of the first quarter. Jefferson ran just two plays in the opening period.
Despite that, the first half ended in a scoreless tie, and the Tigers didn’t get on the scoreboard until the third quarter.
Trailing 10-0, Commerce got a 13-yard score from Streetman with 3:46 left in the period to cap a five-play drive. Marquavius Little set up the touchdown with a 40-yard run to the Dragon 18.
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Commerce News.
