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Maroon Devils Leland LeQuire (from left), Andrew Cody and Josh Collins make plays and try to keep the ball in the team’s hands during the Aug. 25 game against Smoky Mountain. The Devils won the game 14-10.
Larry Griffin
lgriffin@thesmokymountaintimes.com
The Smoky Mountain High School Maroon Devils varsity football team came back from behind and won a 14-10 game over the Smoky Mountain Mustangs on Friday, Aug. 25 in an away game.
No one scored in the first quarter for either team. The second quarter, with eight minutes left on the clock, saw the Mustangs getting a field goal and scoring three points. Then, the Mustangs carried the ball for a touchdown with five minutes remaining in the quarter, and the score was 0-10.
The Devils staged a comeback. With two minutes left on the clock, after a kick from Brendan Lanning, quarterback Reece Winchester got the ball and passed it to Keyanthae Graham, who got a complete touchdown from 38 yards. That gave the Devils seven points.
In the third quarter, another kick from Lanning got the ball to Michael Suddeth, who carried it hand-off for a touchdown from two yards. That got the Devils up to 14 points.
No one else scored for the rest of the game, and the Devils won with a 14-10 lead. Head Coach Sherman Holt, said his team could have done better, though he was happy to have two wins in a row under their belt for the season start.
Leading in tackles for the Devils were Josh Collins and Nse Uffort with seven each, while Lucas Sutton got six and Grady Lewis got five.
Uffort was the lone player to get a sack for the Devils this game.
Winchester attempted 23 passes and completed seven of them, covering in total 113 yards.
Meanwhile, Collins, Winchester, Skeet Cook and Josiah Glaspie got rushes in during the game, while Glaspie, Graham, Corey Stillwell and James Arch received passes during the game.
Next up, on Friday, Sept. 1, the team will play a home game against the Franklin Panthers. Holt said he is looking to remedy what he didn’t like about their previous performance.
Franklin, a 3A team, are 0-2 on their season, having faced Smoky Mountain Conference competitors Robbinsville and Murphy to start off their season.
“We’re just getting ready for Franklin,” Holt said on Monday, Aug. 28. “We’re just trying to get better. Our focus is on getting better at football and making a plan to be successful against Franklin.”
Asked what he wants to focus on, he said he wanted to “take better care” of the football. “We don’t want to turn over. We had three turnovers on Friday. We want to keep driving on offensive, put the ball in the end zone, and when we get there, make something happen.”
JV victory
Furthermore, the JV Maroon Devils team has been doing well, too – they beat Rosman 20 to 14 on Thursday, Aug. 17 at home, and then a week later on the 24th, beat Avery County 40 to 0 in an away game. Both were nonconference games.
JV Coach Travis Stephenson said they were proud of their progress.
“Right now it’s going well. We won our first game and then traveled to Avery. That was a long road trip, but it went well. We have a good group of kids,” he said.
Asked what his goals were for the season, Stephenson said they wanted “to get 1% better every day” and to win conference.
He said the students were doing well and getting along. “I think the strongest part is that they have a desire to get better. They have a desire to be coached and to do the best they can. They’re really close to one another, on a personal level.”