Talk about a bounce-back effort.
After dropping a 44-point game to rival Ooltewah last week, East Hamilton’s Hurricanes stormed back with a 20-13 win over Hixson on Friday night in Region 3-4A football action at East Hamilton.
The Hurricanes (3-2, 2-0) got the scoring started on a rather bizarre play in the second quarter.
Hixson quarterback Ladaqius completed a pass to Austin Slifko for no gain, but Slifko fumbled and East Hamilton’s Kevin Siniard scooped up the ball and ran 69 yards for a touchdown with 1:13 left in the first half.
The Hurricanes extended the lead to 13-0 when David Whiteside bolted 40 yards for a score and Jake McClure kicked the extra point.
Hixson (0-4, 0-2) lit up the scoreboard about seven minutes later on a Myles Ratliff 2-yard touchdown run.
The extra point kick by Slifko was blocked.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Hurricanes’ Jeffrey Coleman stunned the Wildcats with a 95-yard return for an insurance touchdown with 3:32 left in the third quarter. Coleman returned two kickoffs for 127 yards.
Hixson closed the gap to 20-13 when Word ran 1 yard for a touchdown with 1:45 remaining in the game.
The Wildcats’ Ratliff led all rushers with 101 yards on 23 carries.
Whiteside finished with 99 yards on 17 carries.
Ian Amerall paced the Hurricanes’ defense with seven tackles. Frankie Campo and Siniard each had 6.5. Tyler Slatton had 4.5 stops for the Wildcats and Joel Salazar had four.
Hixson 0 0 6 7 – 13
East Hamilton 0 6 14 0 – 20
Second Quarter
EH – Ladaqius Word 31 fumble return (kick failed), 1:13
Third Quarter
EH – David Whiteside 40 run (Jake McClure kick), 10:32
HIX – Myles Ratliff 2 run (kick blocked), 3:49
EH – Jeffrey Coleman 95 kickoff return (McClure kick), 3:32
Fourth Quarter
HIX – Word 1 run (Ausin Slifko kick), 1:45
YARDSTICK
HIX EH
First Downs 16 6
Rushes-Yards 48-207 25-107
Passing Yards 71 57
Comp-Att-Yds 9-13-0 5-10-0
Plays-Tot Yds 61-278 35-164
Fumbles-Lost 5-3 2-1
Punts-Avg 3-30.3 3-38.0
Penalties-Yds 1-10 7-50
INDIVIDUALS
RUSHING – Hixson: Myles Ratliff 23-106, Ladaqius Word 11-56, Tyrik Twitty 13-39, Justin Nicholson 1-6; East Hamilton: David Whiteside 17-99, Jeffrey Coleman 2-10, Andrew Sturdivant 1-5, Nick Woods 5-minus 7.
PASSING – Hixson: Word 4-9-0 71; East Hamilton: Woods 5-10-0 57.
RECEIVING – Hixson: Greyson Caldwell 2-27, Ivan Buckner 2-24, Austin Slifko 3-21, Twitty 2-minus 1; East Hamilton: Hunter Gregg 2-36, Jordan Gorman 1-19, Whiteside 1-0, Blake Aldredge 1-0
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)