Parkview Wins Fourth in a Row

The Parkview Panthers played spoiler for the Central Gwinnett homecoming and beat the Black Knights 22-15 Friday night in Lawrenceville.

The defiant Parkview defense held the team together by coming up with big plays to slow down the quick Central Gwinnett offense.

Twenty seconds into the game, Central Gwinnett's first play from scrimmage ended with an interception by Parkview's Bryce Lewis, who returned it to the 8-yard line. A half minute later, Chris Carson scored the first of his three touchdowns to put Parkview up 7-0.

The next possession, Central Gwinnett threw its second interception, picked off by Shaquille Vereen. But Parkview failed to score on the next possession.

Central Gwinnett scored on its next possession, when Emmanuel Westmoreland scored on a quarterback keeper. Central went for the two-point conversion and took an 8-7 lead.

It did not take Central long with their no-huddle offense to score again when Westmoreland foundMalachi Jones open in the back of the end zone to take the lead to 15-7.

On defense, Central Gwinnett attempted to utilize the power and strength of Georgia Tech-bound, 6-foot-6 defensive end Francis Kallon to slow down the Parkview offense, but by the end of the first half the Central defense and offense had fizzled.

Central had a key opportunity to score before the half and take control of the game. In a bizarre and gutsy move, with 42 seconds to go in the half and deep in Parkview territory, instead of kicking a field goal to get more points on the board, Central decided to go for it on fourth down and came up empty and was stopped at the 1-yard line by a slew of Parkview defenders. Central went into the half leading 15-7.

Parkview received the second-half kickoff and was able to get another score from Carson. Parkview went for the two-point conversion and tied the game at 15-15.

A third touchdown by Carson gave Parkview the lead 22-15 with 9:39 left in the fourth quarter.

Parkview played smashmouth defense and closed the doors on the Central Gwinnett homecoming and walked away from Tally Johnson Field with the win to post a 4-0 record in Region 8-AAAAA and move into a tie with the first-place Grayson Rams, who are also ranked #7 in the country by the USA Today Super 25 High Schools.

The battle for sole possession of first place in the region will take place Friday at the Big Orange Jungle.