CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Conner Bates was going to go wherever Ryan Lay went. So when the Walker Valley quarterback scrambled to his left while trying to escape pressure, the McMinn County lineman followed close behind. Because of great coverage by the Cherokee defensive backfield, Lay had nowhere to drop the ball off to. Bates took ahold of the trapped quarterback and pulled him into his own endzone for a safety in McMinn County’s 42-21 win over Walker Valley.
“On a couple of the sacks, if he had someone to throw to, we wouldn’t have gotten to the quarterback,” Bates said.
“The pressure our guys put on the receivers helped a ton, so we owe a lot of thanks to them.”
The first quarter was either a brilliant defensive show by both teams, or sloppy offense, or perhaps a little bit of both. Early on, the Walker Valley offense was unable to capitalize on a couple of McMinn County fumbles. When senior Will Marler wasn’t playing saxophone in the band, he was recovering a fumble to give his team great field position.
However, the Mustangs were locked down early by the DB trio of Luke Hensley, , Caden Hester, and Davion Evans. Quarterback Ryan Lay was unable to get anything downfield and was limited to short dumpoff either right at or behind the line of scrimmage. The Cherokees tackled well and held the passer to 31 yards on 14 attempts in the first quarter.
“We were doing a decent job in the first half, but once we started getting pressure on him and made some coverage adjustments, we started to play fundamentally sound too,” McMinn County coach Bo Cagle said.
McMinn’s offense came alive in the second quarter. Jayden Miller’s athleticism was on full display on the first touchdown drive. Once he got into the redzone, McMinn went to their deadly option game. The Cherokee quarterback faked a give to the sweeping tailback, and then ripped around the right side for a 16 yard touchdown down the sideline.
A sudden downpour drew screams of horror from the home crowd, a noise only amplified by Hester’s 40 yard interception. The defensive back tipped and then corralled a hook route and ran it down to the 10 yard line. Tailback Cody Thompson, who had 65 yards in the first half, finished off the drive with a lightning-quick 20 yard bolt down that same right sideline to give McMinn County the 14-0 lead.
Instead of melting in the rain, the Mustangs came to life. Lay and the offense found a money play: the deep crossing route off play action. Aiden Gibson ran that route to great effect and gained 34 yards on one such play (after an identical action had been called back due to penalty). Kade Tjaarda netted 20 yards on that same play a few seconds later. Once the Mustang offense got to the goal-line, the pass-happy Mustangs had Lay power his way up the gut for a score.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Cherokee returner fumbled the ball and gave it right back to Walker Valley, who now had an enthusiastic crowd roaring behind them. After faking the handoff to Tucker Ownby, Gibson was open by 20 yards and strolled into the endzone on a 25 yard touchdown. After McMinn County had appeared to fumble the game away, take control, and then bumble it back to the Mustangs, the teams went into halftime all even at 14.
“That was the worst half of high school football I’ve seen with all of those turnovers,” coach Cagle said. “I haven’t seen that many turnovers in a long time. I told our guys at halftime, for it to be 14-14, we were very fortunate. We were beating ourselves, and if we cut that stuff out we were going to win the game. We cleaned it up.”
McMinn County seemed to turn into a completely different team after halftime, outscoring the hosts 28-7 over the next 24 minutes of gametime. Lay was hounded by Cherokee pass rushers on almost every dropback, and he threw a near-pick six a few minutes after halftime. Landon Feggins jumped in front of the pass and took it back to the two yard-line. After Miller fumbled the ball into the endzone, McMinn County got the ultimate “lucky bounce” and lineman Bryce Snyder fell on it for the touchdown.
After Bates’ safety and a field goal, McMinn had a two score lead. One of the few bright spots for Walker Valley was Myles Mann, a defensive end who remained stout against the run even as the deficit grew larger and larger. He had at least four tackles for loss and was a constant presence in the Cherokee backfield. But the Mustangs just could not overcome negative plays like their fumble on a punt return at the end of the third, the sixth fumble of a very messy night for both teams.
Aiden Gibson caught a touchdown, but his greatest contributions came on special teams, where he repeatedly pinned McMinn deep in their own territory. On one punt, he put the Cherokees at the one yard line. Jaryd Gable produced the only blemish on his night when he blocked a punt into the back of the endzone for another safety. Walker Valley tends to throw more than they run, but McMinn forced them to be starkly one-dimensional on Friday night, allowing only 15 yards rushing.
Thompson and Miller both added rushing scores in the fourth quarter, and fast freshman Davion Evans was often seen darting in and out of the cuts to great success in the fourth quarter. Lay threw a late touchdown to Tjaarda to make it a more-respectable 42-21 final score. After starting the season 1-3, the Cherokees have now won four straight.
“We’ve gotten better and better,” coach Cagle said. “When I looked at the schedule, I thought there was a great possibility we could be 1-3. But if we could hold together and play for each other, we could make it through that.”
GAME SUMMARY/STATISTICS
MCMINN COUNTY: 00 14 12 16 - 42
WALKER VALLEY: 00 14 00 07 - 21
SCORING SUMMARY:
First Quarter:
NONE
Second Quarter:
MC 8:53 Jayden Miller 16yd Run
MC 7:37 Cody Thompson 25yd Run
WV 2:37 Ryan Lay 1yd Run
WV 2:25 Ryan Lay 25yd Pass to Aiden Gibson
Third Quarter:
MC 10:25 Bryce Snyder Fumble Recovery
MC 9:21 Conner Bates Safety
MC 5:05 Spencer Sullins FG
Fourth Quarter:
MC 10:35 Jaryd Gable Blocks Punt for Safety
MC 6:18 Thompson 9yd Run
MC 1:20 Miller 1yd Run
WV: Ryan Lay 12yd Pass to Kade Tjaarda
STATISTICS:
CHEROKEES MUSTANGS
RUSHING YARDS: 294 15
PASSING YARDS: 30 158
PASSING: 6-12-1 20-38-2
TOTAL YARDS: 324 173
INDIVIDUAL STATS:
RUSHING:
CHEROKEES RUSHING: Cody Thompson 21-144yds-2tds, Jayden Miller 13-89yds-2tds, Davion Evans 13-61yds
MUSTANGS RUSHING: Tucker Ownby 2-5yds, Cameron Davis 2-1yd, Ryan Lay 11-10yds, Spencer Jackson 1-(-1)
PASSING:
CHEROKEES PASSING: Jayden Miller 6-12-30yds-0tds-1int
MUSTANGS PASSING: Ryan Lay 20-38-158yds-2tds-2ints
RECEIVING:
CHEROKEES RECEIVING: Sam Goodin 2-12yds, Caden Hester 1-12yds, Luke Hensley 3-6yds
MUSTANGS RECEIVING: Spencer Jackson 5-18yds, Aiden Gibson 5-82yds-1td, Tristen McCann 1-1yd, Kyler Parris 3-6yds, Kade Tjaarda 6-51-1td
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