2 Down – 3 to Go! The Northside Eagles continued their march through the 2006 state playoffs by defeating the Brunswick Pirates by the score of 38-13. The victory marked the 200th win in Coach Conrad Nix’s career in 21 years at Northside. Junior running back Tijuan Green again led the Eagles on the ground with 227 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries.

On the Eagles first offensive possession, they took over on the Pirate 44 yard line and two plays were later, Green was in the endzone after a 19 yard run. Devon Pike was perfect on his first of 5 PAT attempts and the Eagles led 7-0 with 8:25 left in the first quarter. Brunswick then put together an impressive 11 play drive that finally stalled, and they had to settle for a field goal from 34 yards out to make the score 7-3 with 3:50 to go in the first. Northside responded right back with a 5 play – 76 yard drive culminating in another Green TD, this time from 34 yards out. Pike’s PAT made the score 14-3 with 2:16 in the first quarter.

On the Pirates’ third play of its next possession, sophomore linebacker Eric Fields forced, recovered, & returned a fumble for 3 yards to set the Eagles up at the Brunswick 6 yard line. On the second play from scrimmage, QB Marques Ivory connected with senior tight end Brett Moore for a 6 yard touchdown. The PAT from Pike was again good, and the Eagles now led 21-3 with 24 seconds still remaining in the first quarter. Brunswick fumbled the ensuing kickoff but the Eagles could not take advantage of it as they turned the ball over on downs. The Eagle defense forced a “3 and Out” but fumbled the punt to set the Pirates up deep in Northside territory. However, Northside’s Mitchell Bell halted any further progress from the Pirates by picking off a pass on the first play and returning it 28 yards to midfield. The interception led to a 33 yard field goal four plays later from Devon Pike and the Eagles now led 24-3 with 4:33 until halftime. The Eagle D forced another “3 and Out” but the offense gave the ball right back to the Pirates on fumble on their first play from scrimmage which eventually led to another Brunswick field goal with 7 seconds before halftime to send both teams to the locker room with the score 24-6.

The Eagles opened the third quarter by running 6 plays before throwing an interception. The defense stepped up again as senior Charles McKenzie picked off a Pirate pass at the Northside 1 yard line. The offense retook the field and this time stayed on it for 14 plays as they covered the full 99 yards in 6 minutes culminating in a 1 yard TD run by Tijuan Green. Pike’s PAT made the score 31-6 with 1:15 left in the third quarter. The Eagles final score came with 7:53 left in the game when Ivory connected with junior wideout Nick Bass for a 5 yard TD pass. Pike’s fifth PAT in 5 attempts made the score 38-6. Brunswick scored a TD with 11 seconds left in the game against the Eagle backups for a final score of 38-13. The Eagles now advance to the third round with a matchup against Habersham-Central at the MAC!!