Senators win TVAC Championship
The Norris Senators won the 2017 TVAC Championship on Thursday in Clinton.
The Senators dominated the Hawks in nearly every phase of the game en route to the 28-0 win.
Norris won the toss and deferred to the second half. With Clinton back to receive, the Senators recovered an on-side kick and essentially stole a possession to open the game.
Two plays later, Anthony White raced to the right off tackle and down the sidelines 40 yards for the touchdown.
Quarterback Tate Russell completed the two-point conversion pass to Bryson Vowell and Norris led 8-0 with 7:00 left in the first quarter.
On the ensuing possession, Clinton was held to a three and out.
The Senators took over on their own 29-yard line. Using the dual ground attack of White and Gavin Noe, the big Norris offensive line of Steven Beaty, Jaxon Noe, Sully Sexton, Matt Johnson, and Austin Colborn controlled the trenches and moved the ball down to the Clinton 22-yard line. On the second play of the second quarter, the Hawks’ Connor Moody intercepted a pass to give Clinton the ball on its own 14-yard line.
The Norris defense held tough as they sealed off the Hawks’ rushing attack and forced another three and out.
Following the punt, the Senators took over on the Hawks’ 31-yard line.
Seven plays later, Vowell took the ball on an end around and raced 10 yards for the touchdown.
The two-point conversion attempt failed but Norris led 14-0 with 2:22 remaining in the half.
Following the kick-off, the Hawks took possession on their own 29-yard line. Once again, they were held to a three and out and the Senators took possession on the Clinton 41-yard line with 45.2 seconds left in the first half.
Vowell ran for four yards and Garrison Terry ran for 15 yards. Russell then completed a 20-yard pass to Terry to bring up first and goal from the Clinton 10-yard line.
On the next play, Russell threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Vowell.
The two-point conversion attempt failed but Norris led 20-0 at halftime.
After the Senators took the second half kick-off they appeared to be putting together another scoring drive when Logan Woodard forced a fumble and Kaleb Livingston recovered it to give the Hawks the ball on their own 15-yard line.
Again, the Clinton offense was stymied and forced to punt the ball away from its own 17-yard line.
The Senators took possession on the Hawks’ 42-yard line but the Clinton defense stiffened. Norris turned the ball over on downs when Tyler Morgan registered a quarterback sack on fourth down to give the Hawks the ball near midfield.
Following an encroachment penalty, Clinton moved into Norris territory at the 47-yard line. An illegal procedure penalty and bad snap later, the Hawks were forced to punt from their own 46-yard line to end the quarter.
The Senators opened the fourth with a six-play, 76-yard drive that took three minutes off of the clock. The drive was capped by a 49-yard touchdown pass from Russell to Vowell.
Russell threw completed the two-point conversion pass to Nick McCall to give Norris a 28-0 lead with 5:37 remaining in the game.
The Clinton offense was unable to get on track and fumbled the ball on its own 39-yard line.
With time winding down, Moody intercepted his second pass of the game but the Hawks had no answer offensively.
“Offensively, we struggled. Defense carried us all year and tonight we just couldn’t get Anthony White on the ground. He’s the best player in the conference by leaps and bounds. He’s the best player on that team and we knew it. We just couldn’t stop him,” said Eric Woodard, head coach of the Hawks.
“Anthony White is special. The offensive line was fantastic. They set the tone pushing bodies around. Tate [Russell] threw the ball great and Bryson Vowell is as quick as a cat. And Nick McCall — we put a lot of eggs in his blocking basket and he really came through for us. It was a good night,” said Richie Noe, head coach of the Senators.
“The defensive line has played well all year. There’s only been three of them — Conrad Donlan, Koby Hamilton, and we subbed a bunch of guys in at the other end spot. Those guys have played three-man lines against wing-T’s and all kinds of things,” he said.
White led the Senators with 152 yards rushing and a touchdown on 14 carries.
Russell was 4-8 passing for 77 yards and two touchdowns.
Vowell had three receptions for 69 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed three times for 27 yards and a touchdown.
The offensive numbers for the Hawks were few. They were held to 0 net yards rushing.
Thackerson finished 4-9 for 34 yards.
Defensively, Livingston led Norris with five tackles, including a sack, a fumble recovery, and a break-up of a pass.
Conrad Donlan had three tackles, including two for a loss.
For Clinton, Mood led the team with seven tackles and two interceptions.
Morgan had six tackles, including a sack.
Game Stats
NMS CMS
First downs 13 2
Rushing yds. 245 0
Passing yds. 77 34
Comp/att/int 4-9-2 4-9-0
Total yds. 322 34
Turnovers 3 2
Penalties 7-36 3-24
Time of poss. 20:45 11:15