CHARLESTON, Tenn. -- Walker Valley did just what it needed to do get back in the Region 4-5A race Friday night controlling all four quarters against East Hamilton in a 18-17 win.
The Mustangs (6-2, 3-1 Region 4-5A) tightened up the battle for the top spot handing the Hurricanes their first region loss. Both teams now stand at 6-2 and 3-1. The Rhea County Golden Eagles, by virtue of cancelling its game against Howard, also have one region loss, but are hobbled in percentage points since the game against Howard will not be played. The Eagles were not charged with a loss in the forfeit to the Hustlin' Tigers, but will be down region game when the final tally is counted up.
The Mustangs will host PURE Academy Friday before a bye week then will head into the final game of the regular season on the road against McMinn County. The Hurricanes have a week off and will return to action against Sevier County before closing out against Rhea
The Mustangs rallied around returning starting quarterback Dosen Stum, who threw for 114 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Roman Eulo hauled in a TD toss from Stum and raced in for two more. A third Eulo score was called back on a holding penalty. Hudson Makuch also carried a Stum pass to the end zone.
East Hamilton's Jaden Haywood, who has averaged will over 100 yards per game, was held to less that 100 thanks to a stingy Mustangs defense. Stum and company picked up 231 yards against the 'Canes with Javan Hall pushing his way to 133 yards. Eulo carried for 108 yards.
“Dosen was able to make a couple of plays in the pass game that solidified our lead where we could kind of coast at the end,” said Mustangs head coach Drew Akins. “I thought our defensive secondary played great. I wish we would have made a couple more tackles. We were spinning down. They do such a good job in the run game, But ultimately we stayed on top of verticals and didn't give up the explosive play. That was a huge thing for us throughout the night.”
The Hurricanes opened on a strong note scoring six plays in on a 41 yard carry by Wyatt Miller.
Eulo answered with a 65-yard TD on the Mustang's first possession out of the Wildcat set.
Spencer Payne put East Hamilton on top 10-7 with a 33 yard field goal late in the first half, but the Herd came right back with a 12 yard Stum to Eulo pitch and catch that put walker Valley on top 14-10 at halftime.
“That's an outstanding football team. I've got a ton of respect for Coach Nance and what he does,” said Akins. “Early on I could tell we were controlling the line of scrimmage and that wins ballgames. We made some mistakes with penalties that cost us early. We didn't get off the field great defensively, but in the second half things really came together.”
The Mustangs opened the second half with a 75 yard, eight yard drive that came to a close when Stum found Makuch for 48 yards putting Walker Valley out front 21-1
Spencer Makuch set the Mustangs up in fine position with an 82 yard punt return to the East Hamilton 12. On the first play from scrimmage, Eulo raced around the right side of the 'Canes' defense for the score for a 28-10 lead.
East Hamilton cut it to 28-17 with a Miller to Ben Spangler connection that resulted in a 47 yard score with 14 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
The Hurricanes chewed up more than seven minutes of fourth quarter clock, but came up empty when a 28 yard field goal attempt missed wide left
“We got beat be the better football team tonight. We killed ourselves with penalty after penalty after penalty tonight. We put ourselves in a bad spot. We've got some stuff to clean up,” said Hurricanes coach Aaron Nance. “We've got a bye week next week. We're a little banged up. We've got time to get healthy and regroup for the final two games of the regular season and get ourselves in position for the playoffs
With the win, Walker Valley is back in the hunt for a second consecutive region title with one region game remaining on Nov. 1.
“It was a very similar situation to last year in the fact that now we kind of control our own destiny going into our last game (against McMinn County). McMinn is playing as good as anybody's playing right now. They are probably the top of the region the way they are playing right now. But, we gave ourselves and opportunity,” stated Akins during the postgame celebration. “That's what I talked to our guys abut throughout this week and in the pregame we talked about the opportunity to put ourselves back in contention for the region championship. That's our No. 1 goal. Every single year our No. 1 goal is to go win a region championship. That sets you up for playoff success. We're excited to be in that. We've got three weeks to prepare for that. I'm so happy for our guys to be back in a position where we can win a game to win a region championship.”
SCORING SUMMARY
EAST HAMILTON
|
7
|
3
|
7
|
0
|
--17
|
WALKER VALLEY
|
7
|
7
|
14
|
0
|
-- 28
|
First Quarter
EH — Wyatt Miller 41 run (Spencer Payne kick), 8:39
WV — Roman Eulo 65 run (Noah Campbell kick), 5:45
Second Quarter
EH — Payne 33 field goal, 3:33
WV — Eulo 12 pass from Stum (Campbell kick), 0:34
Third Quarter
WV — Hudson Makuch 48 pass from Stum (Campbell kick), 8:18
WV — Eulo 65 run (Campbell kick), 5:45
EH — Ben Spangler 47 pass from Miller (Payne kick), 0:14
STATS
|
EH
|
WV
|
First Downs
|
18
|
17
|
Rushes-Yards
|
39-188
|
34-231
|
Passing Yards
|
152
|
114
|
Total yards
|
340
|
345
|
Passing (Comp-Att-Int)
|
7-11-0
|
12-24-1
|
Punts-Average
|
2-41.5
|
2-36.0
|
Fumbles-Lost
|
2-0
|
2-0
|
Penalties-Yards
|
12-116
|
5-52
|
HIGHLIGHTS
Rushing: Miller 9-58, Jaden Heywood 13-55, Jermaine Heathington 8-50 (EH); Javan Hall 25-133, Eulo 8-108 (WV).
Passing: Miller 12-24-152 (EH); Stum 7-11-114 (WV).
Receiving: Spangler 3-68, Zane James 5-51, Jayden Heywood 2-33 (EH); H. Makuch 2-54, Tate Rountree 3-38, Eulo 3-22 (WV).
Records: East Hamilton 6-2, 3-1 Region 4-5A; Walker Valley 6-2, 3-1.
(Contact Richard Roberts at richardvol55@yahoo.com)