Meigs County rolls past Happy Valley to reach 12-0
DECATUR, Tenn. — Happy Valley came into Friday’s TSSAA football playoff game at Meigs County having given up the fewest points in Class 2A this season. The Tigers had allowed the second-fewest.
Now that the teams have played, the Warriors have still allowed fewer points than Meigs County. However, their season is over, and the Tigers are still playing.
Meigs will host Rockwood in next week’s quarterfinal round after defeating Happy Valley 38-6. The kickoff against Rockwood (9-3) will be at 7 p.m.
So with the highly touted defenses going against each other, each team scored a touchdown on its first possession. Will Tittle’s 44-yard run to the 5 set up Brayden Sams’ eventual quarterback sneak from the 1 for the Warriors (12-0), but their second-longest run of the night was a 14-yarder in the third quarter by Dakota Cochran.
“All year we’ve tried to not give up the big play,” Meigs quarterback and safety Aaron Swafford said. “They did that on that first drive, but that was it.”
Although the Warriors threatened
on other occasions, driving the ball to the Tigers’ 1 in the third quarter and to their 11 in the fourth quarter, both times they were denied on fourth down. A tackle for loss on the first play of the fourth quarter stuffed the first of those possessions, and Martin Smith ran 90 yards for the game’s final points on the first play after the other denial.
“We talk all the time about how we know some teams are going to move the football on us,” Meigs coach Jason Fitzgerald said. “We’ve just got to get
a stop before they get it in the end zone. I was really proud of our goal-line stand with us up 32-6. We could’ve taken the attitude that we’re going to win this game, so if we let them score it doesn’t matter. But we didn’t look at it that way. The kids took it as a challenge. That was a pride thing.”
Fitzgerald said his team wasn’t sure what his team’s offense might do against Happy Valley’s touted defense, noting the teams did not have much in the way of common opponents. He just knew from watching video the Warriors were good at pursuing to the ball.
With a couple of new wrinkles added on offense, Meigs managed 336 yards from scrimmage and six touchdowns. Swafford, who ran for 97 yards and three touchdowns and passed for 75 and two touchdowns, seemed ready for the confrontation.
“We heard all week they had the best defensive team in this side of the state,” Swafford said.
Thanks to the long run, Smith was Meigs’ leading rusher with 164 yards on 11 carries.
Happy Valley (8-4) ended up giving up 121 points this season, with the previous high in a game 27. Meigs has now allowed 125, still with a high of 27. That happened to be in a 21-point victory at Rockwood on Sept. 15.
“We’ve just got to be ready to go,” Fitzgerald said. “Just because we beat them early in the season doesn’t mean a whole lot. It’s a new game. Our motto all year has been ‘next.’ That’s next team, next play, next practice. That’s how we’ve approached it for 12 straight weeks. Now that we’re in week 13, it’s just next up.”
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.