Soddy-Daisy football coach Justin Barnes preached apple juice over soda all week long leading up to Friday night’s Homecoming battle with community rival Hixson.
And it had nothing to do with nutrition.
After imploding with four turnovers last week in a loss to Lenoir City and with powerhouse Knox Catholic on the horizon next week, Barnes simply wanted his men of troy to react with an apple juice mentality rather than a soda when adversity reared its ugly head.
“If you shake a soda it will explode, but you can do whatever you want to a can of apple juice and it will be ok.
Last week, I just felt like we didn’t handle adversity very well and things kinda’ exploded on us and in the game of football you can expect adversity, so it’s all about how you handle it,” explained Barnes.
The Trojans absolutely handled the Wildcats, beating their rivals for a 10thconsecutive time, in 42-7 fashion to send the Homecoming crowd home happy. And they got a big ol’ swig of apple juice almost from the get-go.
Despite riding a 14-game losing streak coming into play, the visiting Wildcats quickly gave Barnes and Co. just the sort of adversity he was talking about. Soddy-Daisy opened the game recovering an onsides kick, but quickly turned it over on downs only to have Hixson seize the momentum with a 10-play, 61-yard drive for a 7-0 lead.
Jonah Gipson recovered the onside kick at the Wildcat 43, but two straight running plays netted four yards and two straight incompletions turned it over. Hixson’s Landon Wallace made a spectacular play in the secondary to prevent a sure TD on the fourth-down play and was so pumped about it, he quickly directed the Hixson score.
Tre Warthan reeled off two nine-yard runs and a pass interference penalty helped Hixson convert one of three third-down plays on the drive, including Wallace’s keeper from the 3 to make it 7-0 after Jackson Alexander’s PAT.
“They came out and smacked us in the face there. It got our attention,” said Trojan lineman Cooper Chambers.
Added senior linebacker Ben Jenkins, who was all over the field all night: “We got it straightened out on the sideline as soon as we got over there. Last week we were not who we are, so we wanted to make sure they got to see our real identity tonight.”
Soddy-Daisy responded with a 67-yard drive with workhorse Hayden Maynor crashing in for the first of three TDs on the night in the final 1:25 of the quarter with a one-yard burst and it was tied 7-all.
“After that we sorta got it rolling, but give Hixson credit because they were ready. It got our line’s attention for sure,” said Maynor, who finished with 101 yards on 14 carries.
After allowing 61 yards on that first drive, Soddy-Daisy gave up just eight more yards for the half and didn’t allow another first down until late in the fourth quarter. The offense, meanwhile, shoved 28 points on the scoreboard in the second quarter.
“We wanted to get off to a good start and we did with the onside kick, but Hixson bowed its back and turned it on us pretty quickly,” Barnes said. “In a way, it worked out well for us because we needed that adversity to see how we would respond and I’m proud of the guys for rising up. We showed some maturity out there and took care of business.”
After forcing a punt after a three-and-out, the Trojans went 39 yards in three plays with Isaac Barnes getting 15 and Maynor adding the final 24 with his second TD jaunt. Another three-and-out forced another Hixson punt and this time big runs by Kesean Eubanks (14 yards) and Maynor (30 yards) set up Gavin Chambers 8-yard scoring run and it was 21-7.
Landon Maynor returned the a Hixson punt 22 yards to the 16 after a third consecutive 3-and-out and Barnes slipped it in from the 2 to make it 28-7. The Trojans added a fourth score in the quarter after (you guessed it) a three-and-out, but this time the punt never got off after a bad snap set up SD at the 21. Chambers found Eubanks for a three-yard strike with 55 ticks before the half and the Trojans led 35-7.
Soddy-Daisy (2-1) had its longest drive of the game to start the second half, whisking 65 yards in seven plays and Maynor’s powerful nine-yard run gave them a 42-7 lead that not only held up, but got the second-half clock rolling with the mercy rule.
The Trojans will travel to Catholic next week to face the defending state champs in a rematch of a game the Trojans blew a three score lead last year and lost by a single point.
“We have a lot of respect for them, but we are not fearful. We certainly didn’t want to overlook anybody and we have a ton of respect for Hixson, but we are looking forward to getting back on the field with them,” said Jenkins of the trip to Knoxville.
Hixson was led by gutsy tailback Tre Warthan who had 73 yards in 14 carries and Christian Hedges recovered a fumble for the Wildcats. SD got a fumble recovery from Morgan Hollis after a big sack from teammate Cooper Chambers jarred the ball loose. Noah Howard also had an interception for the Trojans.
Hixson will travel to Sequoyah next Friday.
Megan Campbell was crowned Homecoming Queen at halftime.
HIXSON 7 0 0 0 – 7
SODDY-DAISY 7 28 7 0 – 42
H – Landon Wallace 3 run (Jackson Alexander kick) (5;35, 1st)
SD – Hayden Maynor 1 run (Cooper Hamilton kick) (1:25, 1st)
SD – Hayden Maynor 24 run (Cooper Hamilton kick) (10:39, 2nd)
SD – Gavin Chambers 7 run (Cooper Hamilton kick) (7:32, 2nd)
SD – Isaac Barnes 2 run (Cooper Hamilton kick) (4:36, 2nd)
SD – Kesean Eubanks 3 pass from Gavin Chambers (Cooper Hamilton kick) (0:55, 2nd)
SD – Hayden Maynor 8 run (Cooper Hamilton kick) (9:52, 3rd)
HIX STATS SD
8 1st Downs 16
34-115 Rush 36-210
1 Pass 41
116 Total 251
4-10-1 Passes 4-10-0
11-87 Penalties 5-65
5-28.0 Punts 0-0.0
2-1 Fumbles 1-1
Individual Stats
Rushing: Tre Warthan 14-73, Bradley Woodall 6-22, Nyikee Logan 4-19 (H); Hayden Maynor 14-101, TJ Patton 5-55, Gavin Chambers 4-21 (SD).
Passing: Landon Wallace 4-10-1 1 yard (H); Gavin Chambers 4-9-0 41 yards, Isaac Barnes 0-1-0 0 (SD).
Receiving: Nyikee Logan 1-10 (H); Landon Maynor 2-21 (SD).
Records: Hixson (0-3), Soddy-Daisy (2-1).
(Contact James Beach via email at 1134james@gmail.com or Twitter