An astounding backs-to-the-wall performance by Pinecrest’s defense —capped by a two-point conversion stop late in the fourth quarter — allowed the Paladins to hold on for a 10-8 victory over Trion.

It was the private school’s first-ever win against a public school, and the Paladins have a winning record next to their name for the first time since joining the Georgia High School Association before last season.

The win also gives Pinecrest (2-1) a well-needed boost heading into Region 5N-A play, which begins next Friday at Mount Pisgah Christian.

“It is the biggest game in Pinecrest history, as far as I’m concerned,” said head coach Charles Wiggins. “If we play hard and get our offense clicking, we’re going to be tough to beat.”

With 1:43 left in the contest, a host of Paladin defenders stuffed Trion’s offense short of the goal line as the Bulldogs tried to knot things up.

It was the last of seven giant stops for Pinecrest, which also forced two turnovers on downs, recovered two fumbles and blocked a field goal.

* West Forsyth 21, Etowah 13

WOODSTOCK — The Wolverines' defense held Etowah to just 165 yards of total offense en route to a 21-13 win.

The game saw two key plays early that would put West up for good.

First, on just the seventh play of the game, West linebacker Mohamed Camara took a 44-yard interception return back for a score to put the Wolverines up 7-0.

The second play came early in the second quarter when Drew Robbins blocked an Etowah punt to set up a three-play scoring drive.

 “[Running back Blake] Roberts was great, the offensive line was great, it was just a great effort all around," said West head coach Frank Hepler. “It is what is great about football, you have to play every minute of all four quarters and our guys did a great job of that tonight.”

Next up for West (3-0) is a trip to Rockmart on Friday.

* Lambert 24, Creekview 21

The Lambert Longhorns made the first foray in the young program's history into the state top-10 coaches’ poll this week, and they spent the first half looking every inch the part.

But despite running out to an early 21-0 lead, Lambert nearly self-destructed and had to hang on to knock off Region 7-AAAA foe Creekview in Suwanee.

It took an interception inside the Lambert five by senior Zach Price with seconds remaining on the clock to snuff out the final Creekview rally.

“We sort of lost momentum when they got a couple of big plays,” said Lambert head coach Sid Maxwell. “We spent a lot of time chasing momentum, but they really didn’t make any mistakes to give it away.”

Daniel Myers (2 TD) spearheaded a three-pronged Longhorn rushing attack that rolled up 233 yards on the ground.

Lambert improved to 3-0 on the season, with a rivalry game at South Forsyth next.

* Chattahoochee 34, Forsyth Central 7

By the time the Forsyth Central found any rhythm on offense, Chattahoochee held a 24-0 lead.

The Bulldogs got on the scoreboard in the second half, but couldn’t mount a consistent threat against the defending Class AAAA state champion Cougars, who earned a 34-7 win in Region 7-AAAA action at Bulldog Stadium.

Central sophomore running back Shay Hollis rushed for 158 yards on 33 carries, but big plays told the tale on this night — all going the Cougars’ way.

Chattahoochee scored touchdowns on plays of 53, 43 and 51 yards.

“He was a workhorse,” said Central head coach Chris Bennett of Hollis. “In order for him to do that, we had to have the guys up front play well. I think we found a little bit of an identity there in the second half.”

Central (0-2) plays host to Rome next Friday before closing September with consecutive road games at Woodland and Lambert.

* Hillgrove 45, North Forsyth 0

The game didn’t open well for the North Forsyth Raiders, who trailed 7-0 after 11 seconds against Hillgrove.

And unfortunately for North, its fortunes didn’t get much better as the Raiders fell 45-0 at home.

“There were moments we looked great, there were moments when we looked pretty bad,” said North Forsyth head coach Blair Armstrong.

“But we’re young and learning and growing, and hopefully we’ll learn from this.”

North (0-3) travels to Etowah on Friday.

* South Forsyth (1-1), which had a bye week, welcomes Lambert on Friday.

For complete coverage of all the action, see the next edition of the Forsyth County News.