Walker Valley's chances of hosting a playoff game quite possibly faded into the mist on a fog shrouded Larry Henry Stadium Field Friday with a Region 4-5A loss to East Hamilton.
The now 6-2 Mustangs, 3-1 in region football, continually stopped themselves on potential scoring drives with penalties and turnovers in a 17-10 loss to the Hurricanes (6-2, 3-1).
The loss puts even greater importance on their season ending Oct. 26 matchup against McMinn County. With the Mustangs and Hurricanes tied at 3-1and the Cherokees siting in the driver's seat with a perfect 4-0 mark.
“We've got to go beat McMinn County. If we beat McMinn County we can look and see where we are. But, we've got to spend this off week getting healthy,” said a disappointed Mustangs head coach Drew Akins afterward.
If the Mustangs pull off a win over McMinn County there will be a three-way tie and it will come down to a tiebreaker.
“Hopefully, we can go do that and find out what happens from there. There's still a chance to host, but not if we don't beat McMinn County. If we don't beat McMinn County we've lost that chance. It all kind of revolves around that game at this point. We'll see what happens,” said the coach. “That game does become a focus of a chance of a region championship with a tiebreaker, but it we've got to go win that game to give ourselves a chance to host.”
The Mustangs started strong after forcing an opening drive punt from East Hamilton.
Led by senior quarterback Evab Schwarzl, Walker Valley moved 94 yards in 15 plays to score on a Schwarzl to Tate Rountree 10-yard touchdown.
Without his two top receivers, Schwarzl threw for 121 yards on 26 attempts.
“I was concerned going in without our two big-time receivers with (Roman) Eulo being down and Zeke (Garrison) being down still we lost a piece of our passing game we typically have. I think tht showed up,” said Akins.
East Hamilton tied the game on a Vanzale Hinton 8-yard run and took a 10-7 lead into halftime with a 38-yard Ethan Hixson field goal.
Walker Valley responded with a 13-play, 84-yard drive that stalled on the Easat Hamilton 16. Walker Valley's Eli Wilson tied th score at 10-10 with a 33 yard field goal.
The 'Canes put an end to a potential go-ahead Walker Valley drive with an interception at their own 26. Three play later Jaden Haywood broke loose for a 55 yard run that proved to be the winning margin for East Hamilton.
“We just made so many undisciplined errors tonight. There were so many things that cost us. We gave them the first two drives. It was just discipline issues. Their first two scoring drives were just two discipline things where we just didn't handle our business. When you don't handle your business with your discipline it always comes back to bite you,” said Akins.
“That starts with me. In the end discipline is a coaching staff thing. Me as the head of the coaching staff, I've got to be more disciplined and I've got to make our kids be more disciplined,” he continued.” We just weren't tonight. A fourth down where we got a penalty and gave the a first down that ended up in a score. They had second and 40 and in two runs we gave them a first down. And missed tackles, that's a discipline thing. It just comes down to that. It's not an excuse, but we needed a break and the break I think came one week too late. That's frustrating, but that's part of it. We've got to regroup and we've got to make a decision about what we're going to do from here.”
SUMMARY
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WALKER VALLEY
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7
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0
|
3
|
0
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-- 10
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|
EAST HAMILTON
|
0
|
10
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0
|
7
|
-- 17
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First Quarter
WV — Tate Rountree 10 pass from Evan Schwarzl (Eli Wilson kick), 2:10
Second Quarter
EH — Vanzale Hinton 8 run (Ethan Hixson kick), 7:32
EH — Hixson 38 field goal, 0:35
Third Quarter
WV — Wilson 33 field goal, 6:05
Fourth Quarter
EH — Haywood 55 run (Hixson kick), 6;25
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STATS
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WV
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EH
|
|
First Downs
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18
|
14
|
|
Rushes-Yards
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46-235
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43-309
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|
Passing Yards
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121
|
-7
|
|
Total yards
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356
|
302
|
|
Passing (Comp-Att-Int)
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7-16-0
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2-5-0
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|
Penalties-Yards
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9-98
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12-125
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Punts-Average
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2-24.0
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0-0
|
|
Fumbles-Lost
|
0-0
|
0-0
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Individual Leaders
Rushing: Tanner Whittenbarger 19-85, Schwarzl 12-74, Malachi Martin 9-46, Tyran Forte 3-29 (WV); Michael Hinton 20-93, Jaden Haywood 8-97 TD, Vanzale Hinton 5-58 TD, Trey Crawford 6-16 (EH).
Passing: Shcwarzl 7-16,121 TD (WV); Trey Crawford 2-5, -7 (EH).
Receiving: Hudson Makuch 8- 58, Spencer Makuch 4-40, Rountree 2-13 TD, Brady Stack 2-10 (WV).
Records: Walker Valley 6-2 (3-1 region 4-5A); East Hamilton 6-2 (3-1 Region 4-5A)
(Contact Richard Robets at richardvol55@yahoo.com)