McMinn Co. Secures Region 5-AAAA Title With Win Over Walker Valley

ATHENS, Tenn.  — The Walker Valley Mustangs still have never beaten the McMinn County Cherokees.

 

After trailing the 6-2 (3-0 Region 5-4A) Tribe by just three points at the half, a McMinn County score to open the third quarter followed by an onside kick recovery that led to another touchdown proved to be more than the Mustangs (3-5, 2-1) could overcome in a 24-7 region loss that secure the region championship for the Cherokees Friday in Athens.

 

“The third quarter not getting that onside kick.

I felt like we knew it was coming, we just could not communicate it well with our players on the front line. That kind of changed the whole momentum of the game. It changed the whole complexion because they went down and scored,” said Mustangs coach Drew Akins. “Just a lot of things happened in the third quarter that we couldn't overcome. If you don't do enough to overcome those things you end up with a score like that.”

 

Walker Valley's lone score came on their second possession of the game on a 70-yard drive capped by a Tucker Ownby 40-yard TD run that tied the game 7-7.

 

The Tribe went into the half with a 10-7 lead thanks to a 40-yard Spencer Sullins field goal.

 

McMinn took the third quarter kick and drove 63 yards to open a 17-7 lead. After recovering the onside kick, the Tribe upped their lead to 24-7 moving 48 yards in 11 plays. The Cherokees controlled just shy of 10 minutes of the third-quarter clock.

 

Walker Valley had its chances in the second half, but a stout McMinn defense led by Aiden Wilson kept Mustangs' quarterback Evan Schwarzl running for his life for the better part of the final two quarters. 

 

“I thought our defense played great all night. Our offense just couldn't get anything going. I knew that defense was stout. They made it hard on us all night. No. 99 is a great football player. He's very difficult to handle. Because of that we weren't able to run the ball and if you can't run the ball it makes it really difficult for the offense to go,” said Akins. 

 

The Mustangs step out of region one final time to face 6-2 Upperman Friday before winding up the regular season with a final region game against Howard.

 

“Hopefully, we come out of this healthy. We had some guys banged up, I think, throughout the night. We've got to go check on those guys. All-in-all that's a great football team we just played and really without the onside kick it's a 17-7 game where we're competing. Kudos to them, I think coach (Bo) Cagle is a great coach. I think he did a great job,” said Akins.

 

“We still get to host a playoff game at our place. We've got two games left to play with a region game left. We've got all those things right here in front of us. We've got to regroup, get back together and make sure we're healthy enough to finish this run.”

 

Summary

Walker Valley          7    0      0    0 —   7

McMinn County      7    3    14    0 — 24

 

First Quarter

MC — Jayden Miller 2 run (Spencer Sullins kick), 4:42

WV — Tucker Ownby 40 run (Eli Wilson kick), 2:11

Second Quarter

MC — Sullins 40 field goal, 5:39

Third Quarter 

MC — Caden Hester 6 run (Sullins kick), 8:45

MC — Dakota Thompson 6 pass from Hester (Sullins kick) 2:49

 

WV MC

First downs 6 22

Rushes-Yards 21-80 46-220

Passing 62 142

Total yards 142 362

Att-Comp-Int 8-10-0 11-15-142

Penalties-Yards 7-66 11-88

Punts-Avg 5-38 1-11

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-0

Rushing: Noah Jones 8-25, Blaine Lowe 1-11, Ownby 3-43 TD (WV); Miller 13-58 TD, Cody Thompson 8-38, Dakota Thompson 4-36 (MC).

Passing: Evan Schwarzl 8-10-62 (WV);Thompson 11-15-142 (MC). 

Receiving: Ownby 5-56 (WV); Luke Hensley 2-62, Hayden Smith 1-40, Faulkner 3-21, Thompson 2-22 (MC).