Walker Valley Ends Season In Overtime Thriller

Mustangs Fall To Lenoir City, 41-35

Saturday, November 9, 2024
Richard Roberts

LENOIR CITY, Tenn. -- After trailing by two touchdowns in the third quarter, the Walker Valley Mustangs came to life scoring three touchdowns to take a 21-14 lead over Lenoir City only to see the Panthers knot the with less than a minute left in the game. It took three overtimes, but it was Lenoir City coming out on top to end the season for Walker Valley with a 41-35 win.

The victory sends the Panthers (7-4) to Round 2 of the 5A playoffs, while the Mustangs, who ended a solid season with a 7-4 record, must wait until 2025 to make another run at a state title.

“It's disappointing to go out like that. I'm super proud of the guys.They fought back. It could have been really easy at the end of the third when we were down 14 to just lay down and let it end,” said Mustangs head coach Drew Akins. “We got some momentum and you question whether or not to go for two and end the game. But, we felt like we had so much momentum that we needed to take advantage of that momentum, but we just weren't able to. There are going to be questions about some of the decisions we made throughout. But, our kids put us in a position to go win a game. Over and over we failed them as coaches in finding something to get stops and score consistently. As coaches we had to do better and we didn't do it.”

Lenoir City took an early 7-0 lead that stood until halftime. The Panthers took a 14-0 lead early in the third quarter.

Then the Mustangs came to life.

Roman Eulo capped a seven play Walker Valley drive with a 2-yard run from the Wildcat formation that cut the deficit by half.

After a blocked punt by Cooper Godsey, Eulo again found the end zone from 2-yards out to help knot the score at 14-14 midway through the fourth quarter.

The Mustangs took their first lead of the night as junior quarterback Dosen Stum connected with Hudson Makuch — who ended the night with 117 receiving yards — for a 21-yard TD strike. After back-to-back-to-back flags on the Panthers, all of which were declined, Noah Campbell tied the game at 21-14 with 1:05 left on the clock.

But, the Panthers were not ready to call it a night.

After a large kick return, Lenior City opened from it's own 28-yard line and hit a 43 yard completion on the first play to the Walker Valley six. Two plays later, the Panthers sent the game to overtime with a 4-yard TD run.

Starting at the 10-yard line, overtime one saw Lenior City score first. The Mustangs retaliated with Eulo's third TD of the game put Walker Valley out front 35-28. Lenoir City knotted the score on its next possession.

The Panthers took over for round four after alternation possessions and took just one play to take a 41-35 lead after a failed PAT attempt.

Dosen completed a 4-yard pass to Javan Hall with Walker Valley needing a final score to advance. But, three incomplete passes, the last one on a fourth-and-6 ended the season for the Mustangs.

“We did some really good things throughout the year. Seven wins and back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in school history. All of those things are big milestones. I know it's disappointing ending this way,” said a subdued Akins.

“We've got 25 seniors that have meant a lot to this program. They did a lot of stuff to make sure this program keeps moving forward. They fought all the way, literally to the very end. I'm really proud of this group of seniors and what they have done over the last four years for us. I believe being part of this program will help them grow into good husbands, fathers and employees,” he continued. “I hope they will take that away and leave here as better men and can look back at this program and give credit to this program for building them into this program. I love this group. Ending any season is very difficult, this group especially because of the amount of work I've watched them put in. It's something you don't don't see a whole lot of anymore.”

SCORING SUMMARY

WALKER VALLEY	0	0	0	21	14	--35
LENOIR CITY	7	0	0	14	20	-- 41

First Quarter

LC — Gabe Cannon 2 run (Riley Pickett kick), 3:09

Third Quarter

LC — Cannon 4 run (Pickett kick), 10:01

WV — Roman Eulo 2 run (Noah Campbell kick), 8:07

Fourth Quarter

WV — Eulo 2 run (Campbell kick), 4:49

WV — Hudson Makuch 21 pass from Dosen Stum (Campbell kick), 1:05

LC — Luke Chadwick 4 run (Pickett kick), 0:18

Overtime

LC — Cannon 4 run (Pickett kick)

WV — Eulo 1 run (Campbell kick)

LC — Channing McCord 4 run (Pickett kick)

LC — Chadwick 10 run (run failed)

TEAM STATS	Walker Valley	Lenoir City
First Downs	15	18
Rushes-Yards	23-35	14-204
Passing Yards	212	64
Total yards	247	266
Passing (Comp-Att-Int)	22-35-2	7-11-1
Fumbles-Lost	0-0	1-1
Penalties-Yards	2-15	9-66
Punts-Avg,.	3-56.0	3=24.0