Signal Mountain quarterback Tom Vatter gets rid of the ball under pressure by the Brainerd defense.
photo by Greg Davick
The Signal Mountain Eagles are slowly but surely moving forward as they work to rebuild a once-proud football program.
The Eagles beat Tyner in the second game of the season, but had lost four games in a row before Friday’s game at Brainerd.
Granted, Signal Mountain still made several key mistakes and they gave up several big plays, but when the final horn had sounded, the Eagles overcame a one-point halftime deficit for a 25-14 victory over the Panthers.
“There are times when you have to go through the fire to get where you want to be, but we win one more game and we’re in the playoffs,” coach Josh Roberts told his team following Friday’s win.
“We wanted to wear them down in the second half and that’s why we ran our no-huddle offense, but the most important thing is we never quit. We made several mistakes and we had three turnovers, but we just kept fighting and I couldn’t be more proud,” the first-year head coach added.
Roberts had said before the opening kickoff that the key for his team was limiting Brainerd’s big plays.
The Panthers took advantage of two big plays in the first half and got touchdowns on both occasions.
Jalen Wofford returned the opening kickoff back to the Signal Mountain 25 and the Panthers were on the board when Joseph Norwood took a swing pass from Xiyeer Lattimore on the third play and covered that distance for the first touchdown with just 34 seconds elapsed.
The Eagles responded with back-to-back scores for a 13-6 lead before Lattimore went to Norwood again. Facing a second-and-14 from their own 16, the speedy Norwood caught a swing pass on the right side and raced down the right side before cutting back across the field for the final stretch for his second TD of the game.
His two-point conversion run gave Brainerd a 14-13 lead and that was the difference at halftime.
A 30-yard field goal by Scott Payne gave the Eagles the lead for the final time at 16-14 with 2:56 left in the third quarter while a safety at the start of the fourth stanza extended the difference to 18-14. Then with the outcome still in question, Drew Lowry scored on a nine-yard run with 5:55 to put the game out of reach.
Lowry was Signal’s leading receiver with 106 yards on 10 catches, but the talented junior was probably thinking about the one ball he dropped early in the fourth quarter that surely would have been a touchdown. He more than made up for it with that final run. He also had an eight-yard scoring pass in the second quarter.
Norwood was Brainerd’s big weapon as he had six catches for 147 yards, but he was limited to just two grabs for 25 yards in the second half and the Eagles kept him out of the end zone for the final 24 minutes.
“We knew that he was a great player with tremendous speed, so our plan was to make somebody else beat us. I thought we did a better job on him in the second half,” said Roberts.
The Eagles were content to keep the ball on the ground after that final touchdown as the clock was becoming a factor. Sam Gault made that possible as he picked up 58 of his 76 rushing yards in the second half. He carried the ball on five straight plays during Signal’s final possession as they were able to run off the final 3:58 on that drive.
He also had Signal’s first TD on a seven-yard run late in the first quarter.
Quarterback Tom Vatter, who completed 17 of 33 passes for 168 yards, was able to take a knee on the final snap as Gault’s last carry gave the Eagles first down at the 16 inside the final minute of play.
Brainerd coach Tyrus Ward felt like his team had several golden opportunities in the first half, but their inability to cash in came back to haunt the Panthers.
“They wore us down in the second half, but we didn’t capitalize on our opportunities in the first half and that hurt. We need to be able to build a nice lead early in the game and we weren’t able to do that. Signal Mountain is in the process of rebuilding their program just like us and they were able to stay the course tonight,” Ward added.
The Eagles finished with 290 total yards and 19 first downs. Vatter’s arm accounted for 168 yards through the air while Gault helped his team accumulate 122 rushing yards.
Brainerd finished with 221 total yards, including 187 through the air and 34 on the ground. The Eagles were stingy in the second half as the Panthers were limited to 21 yards rushing and 25 yards passing in the final two quarters.
Signal Mountain will enjoy a badly-needed off week before hosting McMinn Central on Oct. 13.
Brainerd, now 1-6 for the season, will also be off next Friday before going to Red Bank on Oct. 13.
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 0 13 3 9 -- 25
BRAINERD 6 8 0 0 -- 14
BR – Joseph Norwood 25 pass from Xiyeer Lattimore (run failed), 11:26 left in first;
SM – Sam Gault 7 run (Scott Payne kick), 1:38 left in first;
SM – Drew Lowry 8 pass from Tom Vatter (kick blocked), 5:39 left in second;
BR – Norwood 84 pass from Lattimore (Norwood run), 4:45 left in second;
SM – Payne 30 field goal, 2:56 left in third;
SM – safety when tackle made in end zone, 10:17 left in fourth;
SM – Lowry 9 run (Payne kick), 5:55 left in fourth.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)