PREP FOOTBALL: Hutton's field goal lifts Tennessee High Vikings past West Ridge

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. — The icing on this cake was extra sweet.

Thatcher Hutton connected on a 22-yard field goal with 6 seconds left to lift Tennessee High to a hard-fought 17-14 non-conference victory at West Ridge on Thursday night.

Carter Keesee forced a fumble by West Ridge’s Chase Gill that was recovered by Jacob Rhea at the Wolves’ 14-yard line with 2:14 left to play. Three plays and two West Ridge timeouts later, Hutton calmly kick the ball through the uprights from the right hash mark to provide Tennessee High (6-3, 2-2) its first win over the Wolves in three tries.

“They were trying to ice me, but I put the icing on the cake. A little pun right there,” said Hutton, with a laugh. “I think since I played here it has been 0-2 [against them] and now we just changed that up. That is a great feeling to put the icing on the cake right there.”

West Ridge (4-4, 1-3) had forced Tennessee High to punt, taking over at their own 17. Gill got the football on the second play of the possession and Keesee brought him down and stripped loose the football, with Rhea waiting to pounce on it.

“I didn’t expect it at all,” Rhea said. “The first thing I thought was go lay on it, I didn’t want to take the chance of someone coming along and picking it up. The last minute, it was a great play right there.”

Tennessee High ran three run plays to set up Hutton up for the kick. Everything worked like it should, starting with long snapper Jacob Van Valkenburg and Hutton’s cousin, Braden Howard, who also happens to be his holder.

“The angle was a little bit tricky, but I have got a great holder down there holding for me and we practice that all the time and that is just consistency and working our tails off,” Hutton said.

“I had no doubt, he has kicked that kick a hundred, a thousand times in the [Stone] Castle and that is all we did,” added Holt. “We made sure we blocked and made sure everybody knew what they were doing up front, a great snap, a great hold, a great kick.”

It was a heartbreaker for West Ridge, which rallied from 7-0 and 14-0 deficits in what could grow into one of the better rivalries in the region.

“That was a good high school football game,” West Ridge head coach Justin Hilton said. “I hate we had to lose it, but you hate anybody has to lose it. I have just got a lot of respect for those guys...That kicker made a big kick at the end. High school kid making plays, that is what it is all about. They made plays.”

It began with Jimmy Phipps, who put Tennessee High on the board in the second quarter by faking a handoff to Trent Dowdell and then running outside where only one defender waited. He was able to pull away from him and ran the rest of 68 yards for the touchdown.

“Jimmy is good with that. He is slick with that, he is good, he reads the ball well...,” Holt said. “He steps up. Jimmy is a leader, he is a leader in the classroom and the hallways, he is great for us.”

With regular starting quarterback Trey Frazier on the sidelines after having wrist surgery, the Wolves tried to get ball in the hands of senior Sawyer Tate, who does a little bit of everything for the Wolves. His 28-yard quarterback keeper straight up the middle tied the score at 7-7 in the second quarter.

“Give Sawyer Tate the ball,” said Hilton, of what he learned from the game. “He is a good player. We have to figure out a way to be a little bit more balanced.”

It appeared Tate had given West Ridge the lead on the final play of the first half, snagging a Phipps pass near the goal line and running nearly 100 yards to the other end zone for an apparent touchdown that was nullified by a backside block.

“I didn’t see so I didn’t argue about it because I am assuming it is probably the right call, but the stop was huge,” Hilton said. “Just getting the stop there was big, but that would have been big-time momentum if that touchdown gone in and had given us a little different look there.”

Tennessee High, which got a boost from Donnie Thomas on the ground and in the return game after the break, went back up in the third quarter on a 7-yard scoring pass from Phipps to Peyton Feagins, who had six receptions for 74 yards. West Ridge tied it up again at 14 in the fourth when Gill got lose for a 38-yard touchdown run.

West Ridge, which got two fumble recoveries from Sam Perry in addition to Tate’s interception, dropped its third game in a row, and faces a must-win contest with Morristown East next Thursday, with the winner getting the fourth and final Region 1-6A playoff position.

“We had some opportunities. We made some mistakes. We were our own worst enemy tonight, but Tennessee High played really good up front defensively,” Hilton said. “Every time we would think we would find something they would make a nice adjustment. They have good coaches and have good players.

“One [Thomas], he is an explosive kid. It made a difference when he went in. He can run.”

Tennessee High, which got first quarter blocked field goal by Turner Elliott, will visit Daniel Boone next week, with the third and fourth seeds in the Region 1-5A playoffs up for grabs. The Vikings will travel to Gray having won five straight games.

Hutton is active on social media, posting statistics from his various games. This could be his best one yet.

“I don’t know, I am more of a punter so punting in my main thing, but this is definitely going to my greatest moment of my life right now,” he said. “This is freaking awesome.”

***

Tennessee High 0 7 7 3 — 17

West Ridge 0 7 0 7 — 14

Scoring summary

TH-Phipps 68 run (Hutton kick)

WR-Tate 28 run (Whisnant kick)

TH-Feagins 7 pass from Phipps (Hutton kick)

WR-Gill 38 run (Whisnant kick)

TH-Hutton 22 field goal

***

Team Stats

First Downs: TH 13; WR 13. Rush-Yards: TH 31-232; WR 35-171. Pass Yards: TH 91; WR 64. Comp-Att-Int: TH 8-12-1; WR 10-12-0. Fumbles-Lost: TH 2-2; WR 3-1. Penalty-Yards: TH 4-25; WR 3-25. Punts-Avg: TH 4-28.8; WR 3-28.3.