On Oct. 18 the Bears traveled across town to battle Johns Creek in their house. The Bears ended up losing the game by 37 points.

The Bears were faced with a fourth down early in the first quarter and decided to go for it with sophomore Will Petit at quarterback. Petit came short and the Bears turned the ball over to the Gladiators.

After the Gladiators turned the ball over in the first, the Bears’ offense took the field. 

However, the end result of this drive came when quarterback Zach Harris dropped back and threw the pass; the Gladiators defense was ready for it and intercepted the pass with 6:54 left in the first quarter.

On the very next play Johns Creek quarterback dropped back from the fifty and delivered a bomb down the field to number nine, wide receiver Dalton Pierson, who jogged into the endzone.

The Gladiators ended up going for two and converted, bringing the score to 8-0 Gladiators with 3:51 left in the first.

At the end of the first, the Bears trailed the Gladiators 8-0. 

After Johns Creek’s quarterback was sacked twice by the Bears’ senior linebacker Mike Hudson, he then got through the line again of Johns Creek to bring up a fourth and long.

After a run on fourth down by Johns Creek to the end zone, they score and led the game by a score of 15-0, with 5:06 left in the second. 

The Bears received the kickoff and, on this drive, sophomore Zach Harris, dropped back to throw and the pass was read by the Johns Creek cornerback, who returned it to the house for a pic six and the Gladiators led the bears with a score of 22-0 with 4:10 left in the second.

The Bears ended up with a turnover on downs and the Gladiators got the ball with enough time to score in the half to go up by a score of 29-0.

The Bears ended up kicking it by Petit to begin the half and it was recovered by the Bears kickoff team. 

On the next play, Harris clicked with junior wide receiver Hayden Gardella, who got a pass on a fly route and took it to the end zone. But the Bears still trailed the Gladiators by a score of 7-29.

On the next drive, the Bears’ defense had forced a fourth down on the Gladiators and they ended up going for it on a fourth and nine, but Johns Creek had a false start penalty after the penalty Johns Creek sent out the punt team.

The Bears got the ball back and were faced with another fourth down, but failed to convert and Johns Creek got the ball back. 

But after a sack by the Bears on the next drive forced another fourth down on Johns Creek, the Bears quarterback dropped back and threw a pass.

This was picked off for another pic six and the Bears trailed the Gladiators by a score of 37-6 with 4:47 left in the third.

On the next drive for the Bears, Harris connected with junior wide receiver Evan Kurtz for a touchdown and the Bears trailed by a score of 36-14. The Bears’ defense put Johns Creek in another fourth down situation, but the Gladiators convert and earned a first down before the end of the third.

The Gladiators  began the fourth quarter with a “Wildcat” formation, and they completed the touchdown pass to wide receiver Gardella. With that score, the Gladiators led the Bears by a score of 43-14 with 11:52 left in the game. 

A blocked punt by Johns Creek led to another score by them, and the score changed to 50-14 with 10:22 left in the game.

The Gladiators got the ball back and scored again, with 6:01 left in the game, and the score changed to 57-14. 

The Bears got the ball back on the drive, senior quarterback Garrett Cotnoir ended up throwing a touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Cade Ellington for the touchdown. 

After a blocked field goal, the Bears ended up losing the game 57-20.

“We have practiced these throws all the time in practice and we got the timing down,” said Gardella, “It worked perfectly in the game.”

“Next week we just got to work harder. We know that we can compete with Pope and just trust the game plan that the coaches make for us.”