It was Homecoming at Sale Creek Friday night and the Panthers celebrated with their first region win in a lopsided 42-8 victory over Copper Basin before a near-capacity crowd at the Tobin Davidson Stadium & Sports Complex.
It wasn’t a very pretty football game as both teams made plenty of mistakes, dropped too many passes and had too many penalties.
The Panthers must have had their minds elsewhere at the start as the Cougars drove the ball 60 yards in nine plays to take an 8-0 lead when senior Addison Hook scored on a run from the 1 with 4:19 left in the opening stanza.
Hook, without a doubt Copper Basin’s best player used more on the offensive and defensive lines, added the conversion run and things looked promising for the visitors from Polk County.
But Hook suffered an ankle injury on the very next play following his touchdown and things went downhill the rest of the game for the Cougars.
The tough-nosed fellow played sparingly the rest of the way, but was totally ineffective and the Cougars really didn’t have anyone who could fill his shoes.
Meanwhile, the Panthers overcame that lethargic start to score the final 42 points as they evened their record at 2-2 and improved to 1-0 in their first region win of the season.
Copper Basin is now 0-4 overall and 0-2 in Region 3-A.
Sale Creek coach Ron Cox has been saying all season that this is one of the best football teams Sale Creek has ever fielded. And despite losing two close games at the start, their offense has really come alive in the past two weeks by scoring 79 points.
“That’s a good win for this football team as was our first region win,” Cox said while the assistant coaches were addressing the team at midfield following the hard-hitting contest.
“We didn’t come out and play like I wanted at the start, but we calmed down and decided to play football after they scored that first touchdown.
“Two years ago, we would have dropped our heads and given up, but we just kept battling tonight. We still have a whole lot of work to do, but we just have to learn how to hold our composure.
“But our defense was outstanding tonight and our offense wasn’t bad either,” Cox added.
Copper Basin coach Chad Grabowski, who has been the head man for the Cougars for five years now after a successful stint at Red Bank, hit the nail on the head when addressing his team after the game.
“We had a great first drive, but we sort of fell off the deep end when Addison (Hook) got hurt. But I was proud of the way we battled in the second half.
“I feel like we’re better than what we showed tonight, but we just need to go back to the drawing board to regroup and refocus. I just want us to know that we win with class and we’re going to lose with class,” he added.
There was trash talking on both sides in the first half and several penalty flags were thrown in an effort to maintain control. Nobody ever got ejected, but the whole spirit of the game was damaged as high school football is just not designed to be played in that manner.
Sale Creek finished the game with 353 total yards, including 250 on the ground and another 103 through the air.
Nick Hall was the leader for the Panthers as he totaled 97 yards on just six carries and had TD runs of 29 and 48 yards.
Lucas Mathis was the leading receiver with one grab that covered 49 yards from the Sale Creek 46 to the Copper Basin five.
Grayson Cosper scored on a run from that point on the next play to put the Panthers on the board with 35 seconds left in the first quarter.
While the Sale Creek was better than average on offense as they scored at least one touchdown in every quarter, the Panther defense was even better as they completely shut down the Cougar offense.
Copper Basin had 165 passing yards, but had a negative 28 yards rushing on 23 attempts.
A.J. Fitchett was the leading receiver with four catches for 26 yards while Cadan Williams had two receptions for 40 yards and Avery Crowder three for 39.
Sale Creek had a 28-8 lead at the half before adding two more TDs in the final 24 minutes.
Copper Basin will be at home next week to host Tellico Plains while Sale Creek will be on the road for a game at Pickett County.
COPPER BASIN 8 0 0 0 -- 8
SALE CREEK 6 22 6 8 -- 42
CB – Addison Hook 1 run (Hook run), 4:19 left in first;
SC – Grayson Cosper 5 run (pass failed), 0:35.8 left in first;
SC – Ridge Morgan 4 run (Cosper run), 8:22 left in second;
SC – Garrett Pickett 32 pass from Khari Escobar (Nick Hall pass from Escobar), 6:51 left in second;
SC – Hall 29 run (run failed), 1:30 left in second;
SC – Hall 48 run (pass failed), 2:25 left in third;
SC – Jackson Moore 32 run (Justin Griffin pass from Moore), 1:11 left in fourth.
COPPER BASIN TEAM STATS SALE CREEK
8 FIRST DOWNS 12
23-minus 28 RUSHES-YARDS 36-250
165 PASSING YARDS 103
137 TOTAL YARDS 353
17-36-0 PASSES (COM-ATT-INT) 6-9-0
10-109 PENALTIES-YARDS 6-75
8-27.2 PUNTS-AVERAGE 4-34.0
3-0 FUMBLES-LOST 6-2
INDIVIDUAL STATS:
RUSHING: A.J. Fitchett 8-0; Addison Hook 1-1 (Copper Basin); Nick Hall 6-97; Jackson Moore 2-36; Michael Gilley 4-28 (Sale Creek).
RECEIVING: A.J. Fitchett 4-26; Avery Crowder 3-39; Cadan Williams 2-40 (Copper Basin); Garrett Pickett 2-34; Lucas Mathis 1-49; Grayson Cosper 1-17 (Sale Creek).
PASSING: Cade Dean 10 of 22 for 105 yards; A.J. Fitchett 7 of 14 for 60 yards (Copper Basin); Khari Escobar 6 of 9 for 103 yards (Sale Creek).
RECORDS: Copper Basin 0-4 overall, 0-2 in Region 3-A; Sale Creek 2-2 overall, 1-0 in Region 3-A.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)