Sanderson says Falcons defense up to task vs. GHS

FLOWERY BRANCH -- Cory Sanderson can’t stand watching football -- he’s got to be in the game.

After four years at Flowery Branch, the senior Falcons standout has had enough standing on the sidelines -- both of his own doing and blind fate -- to last a lifetime.

“I hate it,” Sanderson said, remembering back to his sophomore season, when he opted not to play football after a trying freshman campaign and had to watch his teammates from the stands.

Even worse, this season he was forced to the sidelines when, during the Falcons’ 31-17 win over Johnson on Sept. 25, the starting middle linebacker suffered a blindside hit that caused him to temporarily lose sensation in his arms and legs and sent him to the emergency room.

“I started getting the feeling back when I was in the ambulance,” said Sanderson, who missed one game after the hit and was diagnosed with a herniated disc in his neck.

Yet Sanderson isn’t complaining about time or opportunities missed. All he really cares about is doing the most with the time he’s got -- starting with Friday’s subregion 7B-AAA showdown with Gainesville (a game broadcast live on WDUN AM-550 and ESPN 1240 AM).

Should the Falcons knock off the No. 1-ranked Red Elephants, they would clinch 7-AAA’s second seed for the playoffs and do a lot to make up for two disappointing losses so far in 2009.

“It would be huge,” Sanderson said. “We’ve got to win this game. And I think we can.”

To do that, the middle linebacker will have to help his team do something that no other defense has managed so far this campaign -- contain Gainesville’s high-octane offense that is averaging 47.1 points per game. And while Flowery Branch’s own high-powered attack (45.1 points per game) will certainly present problems for the Red Elephants’ defense, Falcons coach Lee Shaw says the outcome of Friday night’s contest rests largely with Sanderson and his defensive teammates.

“That’s going to decide the game,” Shaw said. “You’d be naïve to say you could stop Gainesville. But we’ve got to find a way to slow them down, force some turnovers, get some three-and-outs and win the field position battle.”

In other words, Sanderson will need a big game.

As the team’s starting middle linebacker, the 6-foot, 205-pound Sanderson is the unit’s quarterback, making play calls and leading a defense that is giving up an average of 22.2 points per contest. He is third on the team in total tackles with 64 (and remember that’s after missing a game-and-a-half) and has a team-high 41 solo stops so far.

“It all starts and stops with Cory on the defensive side,” Shaw said. “He’s the catalyst on defense. He plays with a fast motor all the time and he tries to lead by example. He’s not real vocal, but when he does show emotion, it cranks our guys up. It really makes a difference.

“I think he’s pretty versatile, kind of a hybrid. He’s got good speed, and he blitzes well, but he can also get out in pass coverage and it’s not a mismatch.”

Tight pass coverage will certainly be necessary against a Gainesville offense that specializes in spreading defenses out and hitting short passes in space. Yet that’s the kind of style Sanderson says the Falcons are built for, especially this season.

“Our defense is made to stop this offense,” Sanderson said. “We’re a little undersized, but we can fly to the ball.”

That lack of size hurt the Falcons in their two losses to Creekview (38-35) and North Hall -- two run-oriented teams that were able to gash Flowery Branch for 402 and 395 rushing yards, respectively. But the Falcons are looking forward to their next challenge.

“I think the match-up is more suited to us,” Shaw said. “Of course we haven’t faced this kind of speed either, and we better be able to tackle in space.”

Shaw says he can depend on Sanderson to do just that.

“I think Cory’s gotten better as a linebacker this year; he was good last year, but he also was able to make a lot more plays in space last year,” Shaw said. “This year he’s had to shed more blocks and make plays with guys all over him.”

Funny enough, that kind of determination and effort is not exactly the way Sanderson has always been characterized.

“Honestly I was kind of lazy my freshman year,” he said. “I had always played running back, and then I moved to linebacker because we needed guys to play there. I got a little frustrated because it was a tough move, and I didn’t letter. I didn’t really want to put up with it, so I just decided not to play the next year.”

It was both the best and worst decision of his life, as the frustration of watching from the outside as a sophomore built in Sanderson a determination that made him into a starting middle linebacker by game two of his junior season.

“It made me work a lot harder over the summer because I knew I had to catch up to everyone after missing a year,” he said.

After helping solidify a unit that went from a question mark to a strength in 2008, Sanderson and his linebacking crew were a key in the Falcons’ march to the Class AAA championship game. And, as a returner, Sanderson hoped for even bigger things in ’09.

Two losses and a scary but brief injury -- “I think he might have gotten hit in the head by a teammate’s knee, but I’m not sure,” Shaw said -- have thrown up a couple of obstacles along the way, but Sanderson says he and his teammates can erase any sour feelings with a win on Friday.

“I still think we can go on and do what we did last season, except this time come home with the trophy,” Sanderson said.