BLUFF CITY — Sullivan East’s Drake Fisher completed 24 of 35 passes for 246 yards and the Patriots upended visiting Pigeon Forge 35-26 at Alumni Field on Friday.
The victory took some of the sting out of last week’s disappointing season-opening loss to David Crockett.
East (1-1) took the opening kickoff and marched 65 yards to paydirt. Dawson Jones covered the final 5 yards scrambling in for the score.
The Tigers (0-2) answered with back-to-back Ayden Littles touchdown runs to go on top 12-7.
But Fisher put the Patriots up for good when he connected with Corbin Laisure on a 5-yard TD pass as time expired to end the first half. East went to the halftime break leading 14-12.
Fisher scored on a 5-yard TD run in the third quarter to extend the lead to 21-12 before East’s defense hammered a nail into the Tigers’ coffin. Nate Brown stripped the ball from a Pigeon Forge running back and raced 25 yards for a touchdown to build the advantage to 28-12.
The Tigers made things interesting in the fourth quarter, but Kaden Roberts’ 15-yard dash for a touchdown with 2:40 left in the game gave East a 35-20 cushion.
All of this was accomplished despite East accruing 14 penalties for a whopping 125 yards.
“We’ve got to eliminate all those mental mistakes,” said Patriots coach JC Simmons.
“But don’t underestimate our fight. We gave relentless effort and fought for all four quarters.
“Our guys were awesome tonight,” he added. “They made the plays on offense, and we had a total team effort on defense.”
Fisher spread the ball among seven receivers, who gave Pigeon Forge’s defensive backs fits all night.
“I’ve got so many good receivers it just gives me so many options,” Fisher said.
Gavin Patrick had eight catches for 81 yards to lead the East receiving corps.
Littles rushed 15 times for 85 yards and had scoring runs of 8 and 20 yards for the Tigers (0-2).
East travels to Grainger next week.
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