38-Year-Old Mark Falls in Hard-Fought Setback at Huntingdon
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Huntingdon's Tyler England returned a punt 35 yards for a touchdown with just over 4 minutes remaining to lift the host Hawks to a 28-21 win over Maryville here Saturday.
The Scots looked like they might have a late answer when Jermaine Abner returned the ensuing kickoff 47 yards into Hawks territory. But a sack and a holding call left Maryville facing fourth-and-17, and Bryson Rollins' final completion to Braden Dunson netted just 12 yards and that was that.
Rollins during the game broke the Maryville all-time passing yardage record, a mark that had stood for 38 years. The sophomore quarterback in his 16th game boosted his career total to 4,358 yards, surpassing the 4,252 yards set by Pat Moyer in 1985.
The Elizabethton product completed 27-of-42 for 357 yards and one touchdown against two interceptions. Rollins also rushed for a 12-yard TD that gave Maryville its last lead at 21-14 late in the third quarter.
"They have a really good team, and we have a good football team," Maryville head coach Ben Fox said. "They made a couple more plays there at the end than we did, and it got us.
"Winning is very hard. You have to execute at a high level. When you play teams that are used to playing championship-caliber football games, and do it every week, you have to play the entirety of the game at a championship level, and that's just hard. We're still in the process of learning how to do that, but I was proud of our effort."
Credit Huntingdon for picking up the defensive intensity in the fourth quarter. The Hawks over the final 15 minutes allowed Rollins just 50 yards passing and sacked him four times. Huntingdon registered seven sacks in the game, accounting for minus-36 yards.
That limited Maryville's rushing total to 52 yards on 31 attempts.
Huntingdon quarterback Carson Daniel completed just 11 passes in 24 attempts, but those 11 completions went for 274 yards – a 24.9-yard average per completion.
Back and Forth
It was a game that featured three ties and three lead changes as these Southern rivals duked it out for 60 minutes.
Maryville took the opening kickoff and marched 63 yards in nine plays, culminating in a Dunson 1-yard run for the TD. The score was 7-7 at halftime.
After Huntingdon took the lead on its first possession of the second half, Maryville answered with a drive that lasted just 1:42 and saw Rollins find Nick Dagel for 34 yards and a 14-14 tie. Rollins scored from 12 yards out with 3:56 remaining in the third, but the Hawks answered quickly and sent the game to the fourth quarter tied 21-21.
A tough offensive pass interference penalty against the Scots cost them a scoring opportunity, and then Huntingdon flipped the field and punted the Scots back to their own 10-yard line with 5:13 remaining. Two sacks sandwiched around a pass incompletion had Maryville punting from its own 1, and England caught the Bryce Collins boot on the run and zigzagged his way to paydirt with 4:14 on the clock.
Abner gave the Scots a boost with his sparkling kickoff return, but the Huntingdon defense stiffened and Maryville lost for the fifth straight time and 15th time in the last 16 meetings in this series.
Big Day for Bost
Tyler Bost led all Maryville tacklers with 14, including two sacks to go with three quarterback pressures. Devon White added seven tackles and Kial Cottingham and Taylor Thomas chipped in with six apiece. White had a pass breakup and Cottingham a 1-yard sack.
Corey Russell was the leading Maryville receiver with nine catches for 96 yards. Dagel had three for 68 yards to go with his TD, and Jackson Noble added three for 45. Chris Cooper caught two balls for 52 yards, including a 51-yard catch and run that was Maryville's longest play from scrimmage.
The Scots fall to 4-2 overall and 1-2 in the USA South, while Huntingdon is now 5-2 and 3-1. Maryville is home to LaGrange for Homecoming next Saturday in a 1 p.m. kick.
"We are definitely making strides," Fox said. "I was proud of how hard our kids played. You've got to get to the point where we play both really hard and really well. When we get to that point, it will be exactly what everyone involved in the program wants it to be."