Success in all three phases of the game powered East Hamilton to a 27-10 road victory over Class Region 3-AAAA opponent Central High.
Offensively, running back and defensive back turned QB, Juan Bullard lead the way for the Hurricanes. After losing their starting quarterback to injury in the preseason, Head Coach Grant Reynolds and his staff were put in a tough situation. In a time of need, they turned to the Senior, and he has handled the job as well as possible.
“Juan has come in and done a really good job for us directing the offense,” said Reynolds.
Bullard ran for a whopping 218 yards and three touchdowns on the day. Rarely did he drop back to throw, only six times to be exact, but when he did, he made quick and precise decisions. He did his job and did it well.
As expected in a tough situation where the man behind center has little experience there, the offense struggled early on. When a team runs the ball on 53 out of 59 plays, the defense has a good idea of what’s coming, making it easier to defend, but in this case, the Bullard-led offense got better as the game went on - especially in the late third and fourth quarter when they started to run away with the game. It was pure domination on the ground as the Central defense couldn’t stop what they knew was coming. Bullard’s 30 and 56-yard touchdown runs in that time made that evident.
“I thought we stumbled a bit early but we figured it out in the second half. Give credit to Central, their guys are hard to block,” said Reynolds.
Also starring was the defensive unit. They were stout, only allowing 120 total yards on 47 plays, an incredible 2.6 yards per play. Two forced fumbles and an interception were the cherries to go on top of the countless negative plays in big situations they forced. With the offense fumbling the ball away twice in their own territory, the D wasn’t always in the best position to succeed, but anytime they needed a big play, they got it.
“Coach Turner did a good job coaching our defense and getting those guys ready to play. They came out with great effort tonight and got some turnovers for us that really helped us separate late in the game,” said Reynolds.
Also, starring was the most overlooked phase of the game, special teams, and maybe the most underrated player, Ethan Hixson. It was evident from the opening kickoff that Hixson, who serves as kicker and punter, had a special leg as he booted the ball completely out of the field at an impressive velocity for a touchback. He continued to do that whenever his team needed. Scoring as the kicker, Hixson had two no-doubter field goals from 27 and 35 yards. Punting the ball, the Junior impressed with hang time, distance, and most importantly, his spin on the ball that caused a game-changing muffed punt leading to a rushing touchdown a few plays later.
“Ethan Hixson, our kicker and punter, did a tremendous job tonight, and our cover guys did a good job getting down the field and making plays. A lot of people forget the kicking game is a third of the game. If you can win the kicking game, you got a chance to be in every game. We really focused on that this week,” said Reynolds.
East Hamilton will look to continue their undefeated year in the region vs Soddy Daisy, while Central will try to get back on track and over .500 versus Sequoyah.
“We’re 3-0 in the region right now and have a matchup with Soddy next week so we need to take it one day at a time and prepare for them and see if we can come out with another win next week,” said the Canes' coach.
SUMMARY
EAST HAMILTON 7 3 7 10 - 27
CENTRAL 7 3 0 0 - 10
EH - Juan Bullard 21-yard run (Ethan Hixson kick)(10:04, 1st)
CHS - Ronye Watson 6-yard run (Owen Maddox kick)(6:36, 1st)
CHS - Owen Maddox 36-yard field goal (9:30, 2nd)
EH - Ethan Hixson 27-yard field goal (0:23, 2nd)
EH - Juan Bullard 30-yard run (Hixson kick)(3:03, 3rd)
EH - Ethan Hixon 35-yard field goal (4:30, 4th)
EH - Juan Bullard 56-yard run (Hixson kick)(2:44, 4th)
EH STATS CHS
14 First Downs 10
53-230 Rushes/Yards 29-72
65 Passing Yards 48
295 Total Yards 120
4-6-0 Passing (Att-Comp-Int) 4-18-1
6-50 Penalties/Yards 9-70
4-28.8 Punts/Average 4-33.8
2-2 Fumbles/Lost 2-1
Individual Stats
Rushing: Juan Bullard 36-218, Michael Hinton 9-13, Javon Bullard 3-9, Zane Liffick 2-4, Zach Barcelona 1-0, David Cole 1-(-6), Jake Ralls 1-(-8) (EH); Perry Armour Jr. 16-53, Ronye Watson 11-34, Marquise High 1-3, Caden Jones 1-(-18) (CHS)
Passing: Juan Bullard 4-6-0 65 yards (EH); Ronye Watson 2-16-1 25 yards, Caden Jones 2-2-0 23 yards (CHS)
Receiving: David Cole 3-52, Kireese Willis 1-13 (EH); Larry Henderson 2-32, Houston Boykin 2-16 (CHS)
Records: East Hamilton (4-2, 3-0 4A Region 3); Central (3-4, 2-2 4A Region 3)