–Eagles strike early, hold off West Henderson’s late rally
20 October 2007By Michael Painter
HENDERSONVILLE - October 19, 2007 - With the Henderson County Championship on the line, the East Henderson Eagles had to win Friday nights game to take home the trophy. At 2-0, having already beaten North Henderson and Hendersonville, the Eagles got on top early then held off a determined Falcons’ comeback to win, 26-20.
Michael Robinson rushed for 123 yards on 14 carries and one touchdown and quarterback Chase Hill was 11-for-15 with one interception and two touchdowns to lead the Eagles’ attack.
"The County Championship means a lot," said Robinson. "We came out, played hard and got up on them early. I was able to make some plays out there tonight and help us win. Winning the County Championship is what it’s all about."
East Henderson took the opening kickoff and marched right down the field in eight plays. Mixing the pass with the run, including Robinson’s 29 yarder on the second play of the game, the drive culminated in a seven yard scamper by Hill for the touchdown with just 2:17 taken off the clock. The extra point clanged the left upright and fell away, giving the Eagles a quick 6-0 lead.
Starting on their own 26, the Falcons took 12 plays to get to the Eagles’ 38, but the drive stalled and a short punt gave East the ball at their own 25.
This time it only took seven plays for the Eagles to get into the endzone. Robinson ran twice for 41 yards and Hill was 3-for-4 on the drive, which culminated with a 19 yard strike to senior Dylan Rollins with 1:34 left in the first. A missed 2-point conversion gave the Eagles a 12-0 lead that stretched into half-time.
"I got some easy reads out there tonight," said Hill. "With Coach Ireland calling the plays, we just go out an execute them. I wasn’t harassed too much, the line played well tonight."
There was a short lived sighting of West’s Justin Allen on the kickoff. He looked good as he broke four tackles and took the ball 51 yards before he was finally dragged down at the 33 of the Eagles.
Allen, who suffered a fracture of a bone in his foot in a preseason scrimmage and was out for most of the season, was seen walking gingerly off the field after his run.
"He did get in on one more play at the end of the first half," said West’s Jeff Bailey. "but, when he came off the field, he said that his other foot was bothering him and it felt like the one that he had hurt in August. You hate to see that with Justin. He works hard and for him to practically miss his whole season, it’s tough."
West scored it’s first points of the game on the opening drive of the second half.
Starting from their own 35, it took just seven plays to reach the eight, 1st and goal. The big play was a 28 yard pass from Zach Corliss to John Darity who took it to the eight. Two plays later, the Eagles’ Justin Griffith sacked Corliss for an 11-yard loss and James Gaddy kicked a 32 yard field goal to put the score at 12-3.
West held the Eagles and started a 10-play drive on their own 37. A Corliss pass to Casey Allison for 17 and an 18-yard run by Darity quickly got them down to the East 27. From there, the Eagles held firm and Gaddy kicked his second 3-pointer and the score was now 12-6 with 2:27 left in the third.
Starting from their twenty, East proceeded on a march of their own. Hill started it off with a 20 yard jaunt. Two passes by Hill, a nine yarder to Austin Haynes and a 16 yarder to Santiago Garcia, surrounded by a couple of runs by Robinson, got the ball to the West 18. From there, two nine yard runs by Robinson, the last one a nifty little counter play that completely fooled the Falcons, allowed the Eagles to take a 19-6 lead after their PAT with 11:15 left in the 4th.
Holding the Falcons on the next three plays, East forced them to punt with the ball on their own 19. Justin McCarson, the punter for West, saw everybody from the East peeling off to block and instead of kicking the ball, decided to run the ball. He didn’t get far, as a rover was watching him and dropped him at the West 21, turning the ball over to the Eagles.
Hill hit Robinson on a 16-yard pass play that took it to the five, but two sacks, one each by Mike Manus and Tyler Moore, put the ball on the 26.
Then, what turned out to be the play of the game, gave the Eagles a commanding lead. Hill, attempting to pass, ran to his left, avoiding the rush, and threw across his body to Rakim Waters, who caught it at the seven and ran it in for the score. With the PAT, the Eagles took a 26-6 lead with 8:14 left in the game.
That’s when Corliss took over.
"We couldn’t get anything going in the red zone tonight," said Corliss. "We got down there 3 or 4 times and couldn’t put it in. We’ve got to do better than that. East was bringing the house tonight and I was fortunate to get the ball out most of the time. Our receivers made some big catches tonight."
Starting from their own 40, Corliss went 4-for-6 and took just over two minutes to find Spencer Carnes in the endzone with a 15-yard strike. The PAT reduced the deficit to 13, 26-13.
After forcing the Eagles to punt, West started on the own 19. An illegal procedure put the ball on the 14 and then a 2-yard loss on a sack by Lex Justus, gave West a second and 20. Corliss found James Tracy who ran it to the 48. Nine plays later, he found McCarson in the endzone for a 9 yard touchdown and with the PAT, made the score 26-20 with just 36 seconds to go.
An onside kick failed and East took a knee to preserve the victory.
"It was tough out there tonight," said East’s Brett Chappell. "There is parity in the county. We won the County Championship at 3-0 and we’re 8-1 over the past three years. Do you expect anything less than what happened in the fourth quarter. It’s been tight all year in the county."
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