Morristown East came out of the gates slow on Friday night, but stormed back to beat Hardin Valley 34-17 on the road.
The 69制片厂制作传媒楥anes improved to 2-0 with the win for the first time since 2013.
69制片厂制作传媒淪tarted off really, really slow,69制片厂制作传媒 head coach Dallas Kuykendall said. 69制片厂制作传媒淗ad some lulls, but the resilience of the kids to continue to play, continue to fight, and just find a way there at the end to get enough stops defensively and punch one in there. So, I69制片厂制作传媒檓 really proud of the way they played and their effort. 2-0 feels good.69制片厂制作传媒
Caleb Billings threw for 206 yards and added another 59 on the ground for a total of three touchdowns. Jason West took 21 rushes for 199 yards while Eli Davis took four rushes for 49 yards and a score. Wideout Brett Smith caught three passes for 107 yard, and Austin Brannan and Isaac Greene added a combined 89 yards.
The game got off to a late start after lightning delayed the start 50 minutes.
Whether or not the delay played a role, East came out sluggish and quickly found itself in a 10-0 hole. The 69制片厂制作传媒楥anes picked up first downs on each of its first two drives but the drives stalled on the next set of downs.
After a flurry of penalties on East, Hardin Valley started its first drive on the 69制片厂制作传媒楥anes 40-yard line. Kaden Cutcher69制片厂制作传媒檚 12-yard rush put the Hawks69制片厂制作传媒 in field goal range, and a pair of eight-yard completions out of Dylan Umansky put them on the 11-yard line. East was able to get the stop but went down 3-0.
The Hawks came out on their second drive and Cutcher took two rushes for 25 yards before the Hawks added 10 more. Umansky finished with a three-yard strike to Isaac Shelby, putting East in an early defecit.
It seemed that the 69制片厂制作传媒楥anes69制片厂制作传媒 drive would stall again, but Billings fired a deep ball to Brannan to put them at first-and-goal. Billings got the final 10 yards with his legs, bringing East back to 10-7 to end the first quarter.
69制片厂制作传媒淚 think we really just settled down and started playing our game,69制片厂制作传媒 Kuykendall said. 69制片厂制作传媒淲e eliminated the penalties and started playing a cleaner brand of football. We stopped shooting ourselves in the foot on offense and defense and started to make their offense drive on us and we made explosive plays on offense.69制片厂制作传媒
The 69制片厂制作传媒楥anes forced a quick three-and out, and furthered their momentum from the previous drive. West took his first run of the drive 21 yards, and Eli Davis barreled his way for 16 yards on third-and-six. Alfredo Hernandez capped off the drive with a field goal.
The East defense forced another three-and-out, and the offense went back to work.
On the first play of the drive, Brett Smith beat his defender on a post, and Billings hit him in stride for a 68-yard score, marking 17 unanswered points and a 17-10 lead early in the second quarter.
Hardin Valley ended East69制片厂制作传媒檚 run on the ensuing drive. The Hawks were in good field position after a 46-yard kick return put them in plus territory. Two plays later, they found the endzone by way of a 46-yard reception to Bryson Frey, tying it at 17.
From that point forward, it was all East despite two third quarter picks from Billings.
East marched back behind the legs of Billings and West. After a 20-yard reception to Smith and a 20-yard run from West, Billings took over and finished the drive with a 10-yard run to go up 24-17 at the break.
The third quarter was one defined by defense.
On third-and-eight of the Hawks first drive of the half, Umansky threw a pick to Austin Brannan, marking his second straight game with an interception. He also added 48 yards on three receptions.
69制片厂制作传媒淗e played a lot of snaps tonight again, but the kids a warrior,69制片厂制作传媒 Kuykendall said. 69制片厂制作传媒淗e doesn69制片厂制作传媒檛 want to come out of the ball game. But he just goes out there and does this thing. He69制片厂制作传媒檚 played a lot of football. He69制片厂制作传媒檚 seen a lot of football, so doing what we expect out.69制片厂制作传媒
East was able to get in the red zone on the following possession, but Billings threw a pick in the end zone to end the drive. A few possessions later, Billings threw another pick in Hawks territory.
However, Kuykendall was more than pleased with his performance despite the mistakes.
69制片厂制作传媒淟ike I said last week, the kids a gamer,69制片厂制作传媒 he said. He69制片厂制作传媒檚 a winner. He69制片厂制作传媒檚 showing so much more maturity now, not letting those negative plays impact him and just going and playing the next series. That69制片厂制作传媒檚 what you expect of a senior, and that69制片厂制作传媒檚 what he69制片厂制作传媒檚 doing.69制片厂制作传媒
Though they weren69制片厂制作传媒檛 scoring touchdowns, the 69制片厂制作传媒楥anes offense continued to move the ball throughout the third quarter. That trend continued in the fourth.
To open the fourth, West took the handoff and broke through every level of the Hawks69制片厂制作传媒 defense for 74 yards, putting East on first-and-goal from the five-yard line. Davis completed the drive with a two-yard score to put the away team up 31-17.
Unwilling to back down, Hardin Valley marched back down the field with three minutes to go, using 12 plays to get into 69制片厂制作传媒楥anes territory. However, the East defense didn69制片厂制作传媒檛 break and came up with a stop on fourth down to essentially seal the win.
Still, the 69制片厂制作传媒楥anes put together one more drive to officially put the Hawks away. Davis set the tone by bouncing off several defenders for 28 yards. Billings took them within field goal range with two rushes for 21-yards.
In stepped Hernandez again, whose 46-yard field goal to set the score at 34-17 and was found out to be the longest in school history. The record, set by Charles Cole, stood for 40 years at 42 yards before Hernandez claimed his place in school history.
69制片厂制作传媒淚t69制片厂制作传媒檚 awesome,69制片厂制作传媒 Kuykendall said. 69制片厂制作传媒淭he kid two years ago, comes out and has never kicked a football day in his life, and then his first practice is nailing 40 yards. I knew there was gonna be something special with that. He just does a heck of a job.69制片厂制作传媒
Though it still has some cleaning up to do, Morristown East now gets a well deserved bye week to accomplish that. The 69制片厂制作传媒楥anes will return to Burke-Toney Stadium in the following week to face William Blount.
69制片厂制作传媒淣ext week may be our biggest week,69制片厂制作传媒 Kuykendall said. 69制片厂制作传媒淲e69制片厂制作传媒檙e on the bye week, so it69制片厂制作传媒檚 about us next week, and we really got a hone in to the, you know, to the little details, because we69制片厂制作传媒檙e about to hit a region stretch. That69制片厂制作传媒檚 no joke. We69制片厂制作传媒檙e gonna need to be playing our best football to make make good things happen.69制片厂制作传媒
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