–Defense, defense, defense-Falcons stop Smoky Mt with defense
27 October 2007By Michael Painter
MILLS RIVER - October 26, 2007 - It was a defensive game on both sides of the ball on Friday night in Mills River. There was only 305 yards of total offense for the game. Smoky Mt had 149 yards, with 67 coming on one play. The Falcons weren’t much better as they only had 156 yards, but it was enough as they scored twice in the first half, then held off the Mustangs in the second half, to take a 14-7 win.
It has been an emotional roller-coaster in the past ten days for the Mustangs as head coach Dale Galloway’s son passed away and there was thought of postponing last Friday nights game. They ended up playing it and Smoky Mt won by 45 points. It could have been a letdown after last week’s game or the Falcon’s defense that finally showed it’s grit, but in the end, it was the defense of the Falcons that won the game.
It was the best game that the Falcon defense had played all year, giving up just 131 yards on the ground against a team that didn’t throw a pass until the 4th quarter. They also had only 19 yards in the air.
The local radio station, WHKP, gives a defensive player of the game recognition after the game and this week they chose the entire defensive team as they stopped a team that last week scored 45 points.
"We thought we would have to out-score them to be able to win," said head coach Jeff Daniels. "Our defense played great. They played with a lot of heart of there. We challenged the seniors to step it up tonight and make their last home game one to remember."
West took advantage of a Smoky Mt fumble at the Falcons’ 30 that was recovered by Austin Davis. With Corliss throwing pin-point passes, it took only seven plays to cover the 70 yards. He hit Brandon Sawyer with a 12-yarder at the 2:09 mark and with the missed extra point, the Falcons held a 6-0 lead.
The Mustangs countered in the second quarter from their own 24. Logan Buchanan took a handoff from quarterback, Colton Hunt, ran to his right, and broke a couple of tackles before heading for the sideline. 67 yards later he was finally run down by Spencer Carnes, who made a shoestring tackle at the nine. Two plays later Jesse Brooks scored from two yards out. Matt Dougherty’s point after gave Smoky Mt the lead, 7-6 with 5:53 left in the half.
The Falcons didn’t waste time on their next possession. Starting from their own 30, they moved down to the Mustang 35 where Corliss found Spencer Carnes in the end zone. A pass from Corliss to James Johnson scored two and West went ahead 14-7.
A missed 16-yard field goal by West as the second half ended kept the score at 14-7
The score probably would have been more if West had not shot themselves in the foot a couple of times.
The first one was with 43 seconds in the 1st quarter. With West on their own 39, Corliss hit Sawyer in stride and he covered 61 yards for the score, but it was called back for a 5-yard penalty because the split end was not on the line of scrimmage.
The second was near the halftime. The Falcons got the ball at their own 42 with 1:42 left and Corliss hit seven straight passes to put the ball on the Mustangs one with 6 seconds left. Instead of going for the touchdown, Bailey sent James Gaddy in to kick a field goal from 16 yards out which he missed as time ran out.
The second half was a defensive contest in which Smoky Mt had the only two sustained drives and West’s offense was saved by their defense.
After the Falcons downed a punt at the Mustangs’ seven yard line, Smoky Mt started a 14 play drive that burnt almost seven minutes off the clock. Unfortunately, they only got to their own 43 before turning it over on downs.
The other one was after Jared Jones intercepted a Corliss pass at the West 41. The Mustangs drove it down to the 26, including Hunt’s first pass and completion of the game. From there, Smoky Mt went backwards. A sack by John Darity and another by Kevin Thomas put the ball back on the 45 and the Mustangs decided to punt. The ball was snapped over the punters head and went all the way to the 21, a loss of 34 yards.
From there, West got down to the six and then Corliss took a knee, ending the game.
Corliss was 18-29 for 134 yards passing and ran the ball 12 times for 26 yards, including a 23-yarder on the third play of the game.
Eight players caught at least one pass from Corliss with McCarson leading the pack with 4 catches for 62 yards.
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