Mikes rally for 26-6 win at West Greene
ROGERSVILLE — With a 6-0 lead and the ball only one yard away from another score, the West Greene Pioneers had a chance to go up two scores against their Tri-County South Conference rival Carmichaels Friday night. After a false start pushed West Greene back five yards, a Pioneer ball carrier coughed up the football, turning it over to the Mikes.
Three plays later, Carmichaels sophomore quarterback David Morgan completed a 79-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Jonathan Christopher to tie the game at 6-6. Including that score, Carmichaels scored 26 unanswered points in the second half to defeat West Greene, 26-6.
“We left probably 21 points out here,” West Greene head coach Rod Huffman said. “I told them that we couldn’t do it, and we left another one out there on the fumble on the goal line on the first play. You just can’t do that against good teams.”
“We were flat, and that’s not okay. That’s on me. I have to make sure these guys are pedal to the medal from the get go,” Carmichaels head coach Ryan Krull said. “We tried to warn them what would happen if we did not come out that we were capable of doing, and when we went into halftime that exact scenario was staring us in the face. I think they found out a little bit about themselves as a team.”
The first 23 minutes of the first half saw neither team enter the end zone. On West Greene’s second drive of the game, the Pioneers approached the red zone, but a halfback pass landed in the arms of sophomore defender Charles Lowry.
After two unsuccessful drives for both teams, the Mikes took over on their own 25-yard line, but a fumble on a hand-off gave the ball to the Pioneers deep in Carmichaels territory.
West Greene (0-6, 0-6) could not take advantage of the fumble, though, as the offense turned the ball over on downs. A near-perfect third-down pass from senior quarterback Owen Main was dropped by his intended receiver only yards away from the end zone, which could have given the Pioneers the first score of the game.
Carmichaels (3-3, 3-3) took over and after getting two first downs, a short pass out to the flat was cut off and intercepted at the line of scrimmage by sophomore defensive end Connor Main.
“We can’t turn the ball over. Our guys know that. Our No. 1 goal on offense is to protect the football at all costs,” Krull said. “On the interception that is not on the quarterback. We had a breakdown on protection. That should never happen.”
West Greene took over with 1:14 left in the half in Carmichaels territory. On the fourth play of the drive, Owen Main scrambled away from pressure and cut across the field to avoid several Carmichaels defenders for a 27-yard touchdown. After a failed two-point conversion attempt, the Pioneers went into halftime ahead 6-0.
“In the locker room we were all mad that we were losing to West Greene by six points,” Morgan said. “I think that’s what caused us to come out in the second half and play our best.”
Carmichaels started the second half similarly to how they played in the first half, as a turnover on downs gave West Greene the opportunity to take a two-score lead. After back-to-back negative rushing plays, Owen Main hit wide receiver Tyler Baker for a 59-yard completion to put the Pioneers on the 1-yard line. The pass was underthrown, but Baker outjumped the Mighty Mike defender to avoid the interception, juggled the ball into his own hands and nearly ran for a score before he was narrowly pushed out of bounds only inches before scoring.
Owen Main ended the day with 139 passing yards, while adding 32 yards rushing and a touchdown.
“Unfortunately, it boils down to being a four-quarter game,” Huffman said. “They have to learn how to win. We just haven’t done that yet. It’s coming. We saw a lot of flashes tonight. We left a lot of points out here.”
The first six points came on the Morgan pass to Christopher, while the second came on the next Mighty Mike drive, as wide receiver/running back William Brown ran 30 yards for a touchdown. The score gave Carmichaels a 12-6 lead with about a minute to play in the third quarter.
Two drives later, on a third-and-3 in the red zone, Morgan took a quarterback sneak and found a hole, running nearly untouched for an 18-yard score. Carmichaels now led 18-6 with only about five minutes left in the game. Morgan finished the game with 101 yards passing and a touchdown, while adding the touchdown on the ground.
On its next drive, Carmichaels junior running back Henry Brett took his first carry of the game for a 7-yard score with about three minutes left in the game. A Hunter Davis two-point-conversion run increased the Mighty Mike lead to 26-6, which would end up to be the final score.
Senior running back Coty Allen, who did not play in the first half due to an injury, ran the ball 13 times in the second half for 74 yards. Senior running back Shawn Dulaney added 62 yards rushing on 19 carries as well to the Mighty Mike offense.
Carmichaels returns home to take on Frazier next Friday and West Greene will travel to play California. Both games are set to begin at 7 p.m.
Tri-County South Conference
Carmichaels 0-0-12-14 — 26
West Greene 0-6-0-0 — 6
Second Quarter
WG: Owen Main 27 run (kick failed), :34
Third Quarter
Car: Jonathan Christopher 79 pass from David Morgan (run failed), 7:08
Car: William Brown 30 run (run failed), 1:33
Fourth Quarter
Car: David Morgan 18 run (run failed), 5:26
Car: Henry Brett 7 run (Hunter Davis run), 2:52