Slow start drops Siegel to 0-5

JOHNSON CITY – Steve Spurrier Field was covered with athletes on Friday, and the player wearing Spurrier’s number stood out.

Malik McGue passed for four touchdowns and rushed for two TDs, helping Science Hill outlast Siegel 52-28 at Kermit Tipton Stadium.

McGue scored from a yard out and threw TD passes to Mikey White, Marcus Patton and Elijah Mathes to complete what’s become the fifth-ranked Hilltoppers’ (4-0) usual first-quarter blitz in building an early 28-0 lead.

“There’s no silver lining to it when you come out and give up 28 points,” Siegel coach Greg Wyant said. “You can’t give up 28 points in the first half and beat a good football team like that. I mean, we came out flat. We weren’t ready to play. This trip just got us distracted, and ultimately, it’s my fault for even planning it.”

But the Stars, aided by Greedy Howse’s 207 rushing yards, made a game of it. Andrew Knox’s 4-yard TD run cut Science Hill’s lead to 38-28 with 7:07 left.

McGue sealed it with a 5-yard TD with 1:54 left. Nakiya Smith’s 51-yard fumble return concluded the scoring with eight seconds remaining. He finished with 23 carries for 167 yards and 285 passing yards. He also had a 39-yard kickoff return.

“He’s a good player,” Wyant said.

Science Hill coach Stacy Carter wasn’t surprised Siegel (0-5) made it interesting.

“There are some good football players there and they’ve played some really good opponents,” Carter said. “It’s hard to stop them. And everybody was getting tired. There were a lot of plays ran, you know, with both people doing it (hurry-up).

“We knew that was gonna be a tough game, but thank the Lord we came out and hit a lot of stuff early and were able to get a little bit of a lead there. And then we came back and fought hard in the fourth quarter and … had that one big drive where we went to five wide receivers and McGue made some great plays.”

Mathes had three catches for 119 yards and recovered a fumble near midfield after White made what turned out to be a game-sealing interception with 4:56 remaining.

Patton had six catches for 51 yards and two TDs. White had five catches for 61 yards and a 9-yard TD that made it 14-0 with 8:59 left in the first quarter.

Knox rushed for two touchdowns for Siegel. Quarterback Jordan Middleton also rushed for a TD.

“It was an entertaining game with a lot of entertaining players, a lot of athletes,” McGue said. “So anything can happen in that (setting). When we were up 28-0 the coaches were telling us, you know, ‘Game’s not over.’ … No doubt, that’s the best team we’ve played. They’re an 0-5 team, but they’ve got some good players.”

Alex Rinella had a 24-yard field goal that gave the Hilltoppers a 31-14 lead with 3:40 left in the third quarter.