CLINTON — After a sluggish first half saw Walker Valley down by two touchdowns in the opening quarter, the Mustangs began to come alive early in the second half on their way to the program's first TSSAA State Quarterfinal victory Friday evening, in Clinton.
The Mustangs took command but then had to hold off a late rally by the host Dragons for a 24-20 victory, punching their ticket for the Class 5A semifinals on Black Friday.
Boasting a program best 11-2 mark, 12th-ranked Walker Valley will travel to Knoxville to take on defending state champion and top-ranked Knox West (12-1), which knocked off ninth-ranked Powell 31-5 Friday.
“Resilience. What a resilient game. It started out 14-0. It was a bad start, an adverse start,” said a happy and relieved Mustang wrangler Drew Akins. “Coming on the road I think we were a little sleepy getting used to the environment and trying to figure out where we were and getting our bearings.
"But, we really quickly found our bearings and our defense kept us in it. It gave us a chance offensively to make some noise in the second half."
Playing on familiar turf, the Dragons took full advantage of playing at home to put eight quick points on the board with a 12-play opening drive for the score and a two-point conversion.
Clinton opened the gap tp 14-0 on their second touch as Jawan Goins raced through the Walker Valley defense for a 60-yard score.
“I felt like we started sleepy and that's a great (Clinton) offense. There's a lot of good offensive players on that team. They've been playing great. They've been playing with a lot of energy,” said Akins.
“They beat an (seventh-ranked and Region3 champion) Oak Ridge team a lot of people had playing in the finals. I'm really proud of our defense allowing us to stay in the game and then pretty quickly our offense started coming around.”
The Mustangs showed signs of life early in the second quarter as senior quarterback Evan Schwarzl and sophomore Roman Eulo closed out a 70-yard quick march with a 45-yard touchdown pass. Senior Eli Wilson closed the margin 14-7 with the extra point.
The Walker Valley defense, which forced four turnovers in the contest, stood strong on Clinton's next possession, holding the Dragons on a fourth-and-six.
With time being kept on the field after a clock malfunction, the Mustangs moved to the Clinton 1-yard line, but could not cross the goal line before time ran out in the half and trailed by seven at the break.
“I'm really, really disappointed with those two drives in the first half not getting points,” Akins said of a missed first quarter field goal and the stop just before the half.
“If we get those we're really comfortable here at the end. I told them going in find a way to win by one and we found a way to win by four. I'm really proud of this team.”
Walker Valley drew even closer late in the third quarter as Wilson booted a 19-yard field goal through the uprights to make it a 14-10 game as the quarter came to a close.
Once again, the Mustangs defense stood tall holding the Dragons on a fourth-and-7 to take over at their own 17-yard line.
Four play later, Schwarzl found an open junior Hudson Makuch, who had a half dozen catches for 100 yards on the evening, for 48 yards and a touchdown to give the Mustangs their first lead of the night at 17-14.
Walker Valley upped the lead with a six-play short march after recovering a Clinton fumble at the Dragon 20-yard line.
Schwarzl put the cap on the drive with a 11-yard pass to sophomore Spencer Makuch. Wilson's kick made it 24-14 with just under four minutes left in the game.
“I knew early we could move the ball. We were moving the ball really well. We just had two drives where we didn't finish,” said Akins.
“But, adversity over and over and over and for us to be just so resilient is unbelievable. It is the resilient Mustangs, man. They showed a level of resiliency nobody has ever seen here. I'm s proud of them and so proud to be in this moment with them.”
However, the Dragons still had fire in their breath and pushed Walker Valley for 75 yards before closing the lead to 24-20 with a minute showing on the clock.
Clinton came right back to recover the ensuing onside kick at the Mustang 49-yard line with idea of ending Walker Valley's season.
Instead, it was Schwarzl who took matters into his own hands with a leaping interception at the Walker Valley 1-yard line with 24 seconds left in the game.
From there the Dragons gave the Mustangs the victory with double 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalties that allowed Schwarzl to take a knee to run out the clock for the win.
The Mustang gunslinger finished the night completing 18-of-23 aerials for 254 yards and three scores, plus carried the ball 21 times for 70 of the team's 76 rushing yards. He also had six solos tackles, one behind the line of scrimmage, plus his "pick."
Senior LB Jacob Hollingsworth led the WV defense with 11 solo tackles and a trio of assists, plus he broke up a pass.
Classmate Conner Phillips was in on seven takedowns, including four by himself, while Zeke Garrison and Javan Forte had a half dozen hits, also with four solos apiece.
Senior Braxton Smith had five takedowns and picked off a pass, while junior Eli Cross and Spencer Makuch made five tackles, including a TFL each.
Seniors Noah Jones also snagged a Dragon aerial, while Ashton Owens recovered a Clinton fumble.
The Mustangs will enjoy the win this weekend and get right back to work during the Thanksgiving holiday in preparation for Knox West.
“Cool, man. We're practicing on Thanksgiving. It's so cool,” said a happy Akins. “We'll go wherever. It's going to be difficult. It's going to be a great football team we'll be playing.
"The only teams left are great football teams. We'll go wherever we need to go and play wherever we need to play. I'm just excited for our kids and our community to be in this moment and be able to play in the semifinals.”
