LAWRENCEVILLE — Friday night’s game between Mill Creek and Archer won’t win first place in any beauty pageants.

The two teams combined for just 420 yards of total offense and five turnovers in the game, Mill Creek took advantage of some big special teams plays and a pick-six by Jonathan Gipson to walk away with a 31-10 win on the road in rematch of last season’s state quarterfinal.

The Hawks (4-0) forced two turnovers, recorded five sacks and allowed just 201 yards of total offense in the game. Special teams was a highlight as well, with a big punt return, a blocked field goal and a school-record 56-yard field goal by Brenton King.

Yet the offensive struggles for Mill Creek concerned head coach Shannon Jarvis. The Hawks rushed for just 76 yards and turned the ball over three times, twice on a fumble and again on an interception.

“Our defense saved us tonight,” Jarvis said. “With the turnovers we had offensively, we had more tonight than we’ve had all season and it wasn’t pretty at times, that goes without saying, but at some point this has got to get squared away. We as coaches know and I think our players know it. We’ve got a great time to have our off week … I’m a little concerned that we’re not getting the progress that we need. We’ve got to do it now. We go in to region play and we’ve got to focus on Mill Creek right now. The fumbles, the interceptions, we counted on the sideline and we had eight plays in a row with missed assignments. We will not win at all with that. So we’ve got to get that fixed.”

Mill Creek scored first as Anthony Presto capped off a nine-play drive with a 3-yard touchdown run. Archer (1-2) responded with a 10-play drive of its own, but had to settle for a 41-yard Michael Johnson field goal after Brandon Johnson couldn’t haul in a sure touchdown pass from Braylen Weems.

With the two defenses playing to a stalemate early in the second quarter, a big punt return by Jack Plummer got the Mill Creek offense going. After Plummer returned it to the 20, Cameron Turley connected with Ace Williams for a touchdown on a stop-and-go route executed perfectly.

The two teams traded turnovers later in the quarter. Mill Creek’s Matthew Winston intercepted Weems with 8:35 remaining in the half, but Archer got the ball right back as Quinn Miller recovered a Joe Thomas fumble on the next play.

Two plays later, Jonathan Gipson snatched a Weems pass from Malik Sproles’ hands and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown and a 21-3 lead.

After forcing an Archer punt, Mill Creek was again driving into Tigers’ territory, but another fumble ended the drive. This time it was Andrew Booth who collected the Presto fumble.

Despite a lengthy drive, Archer again was forced to punt. The Hawks were able to tack on three more points just before the half as Brenton King nailed a 56-yard field goal. He had missed from 51, but a false start gave him a second shot at it. The 56-yarder broke his own school record of 51 set last year against Peachtree Ridge and put the Hawks ahead 24-3 at the half.

Jarvis and King both said they felt comfortable with the senior attempting anything inside of 60 yards on Friday night.

“I knew if my snapper and holder kept doing the same things they’ve been doing all year it wouldn’t be a problem,” King said of backing up for the extra five years after the penalty. “It turned out as three points and that’s all that matters.”

Archer started the third quarter with another three-and-out but were able to come up with its third turnover of the game. A Turley pass was tipped up in the air and Miller came down with the pick.

He returned it to the Mill Creek 25, but the Tigers couldn’t take advantage as a low Johnson field goal attempt was blocked.

Mill Creek extended its lead to 31-3 with 3:33 remaining in the third quarter as Turley threw an out-route to Edmond Graham for a 20-yard touchdown.

In the fourth quarter, Archer was able to stop Mill Creek on fourth down in its own territory with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game when Miller came up with a tackle for loss. The senior linebacker also had four carries for 11 yards on offense in the game.

Following the stop the Tigers were finally able to drive down the field and find the end zone as Keegan Strickland (17 carries for 70 yards) was able to find some running room. With 5:24 left in the game Weems scored on a 3-yard keeper to make it 31-10.

Weems finished the game 11 of 24 for 102 yards with two interceptions and a rushing TD as the Hawks kept him bottled up in the pocket. Turley was 9 of 23 for 143 yards, two touchdowns and a pick.

Jarvis said the offense at times showed its big-play capability, but it has to be more consistent moving forward. Mill Creek has a bye week coming up before opening region play with Collins Hill, while Archer travels to Norcross next week.