CHAMPIONS

Senators are back-to-back TVAC titleist

October 10, 2018 by Conner McCarty

Thursday, the Norris Middle School Senators traveled to Christian Academy of Knoxville to battle the Warriors in the Tennessee Valley Athletic Conference Championship game.

For Norris, the matchup was not only a chance at a title, but also a chance for revenge. The two teams met back in early September at Anderson County High School, and CAK would cruise to a 40-16 victory. Fast-forward less than a month’s time, and they would meet again—but this time it was different.

This time, the gold ball was at stake.

Norris, sporting the all black uniforms, would not be denied. The Senators got their revenge, and defeated the Warriors 36-28.

Again, the Norris Senators lifted the gold ball, and are TVAC back-to-back Champions.

Norris was unstoppable offensively, putting up 462 total yards on the Warriors. Running back Gavin Noe would get the Senators’ offense moving early. On their first possession, Noe racked up 87 yards on the ground, and capped off their opening drive with a 39-yard touchdown run.

Norris led 6-0 with 5:34 left in the first quarter. CAK failed to answer, and it did not take long for the Senators to add to their lead.

The highlight of the quarter happened when Norris gunslinger Tate Russell took a snap from the 21-yardline. Out of the shotgun formation, with trips wide to his left, Russell faked a draw, and then hit his favorite target Byson Vowell on a quick out into the left flat.

Vowell, who had taken a step backwards and waited for the play to develop, caught Russell’s pass and went to work.

The CAK corner attempted to make a play on Vowell behind the line of scrimmage, but Vowell greeted him with a juke and a stiff-arm, which left the corner lying on the turf. Vowell then split two Warriors, and ran through an attempted arm tackle by the CAK safety, which grabbed on to Vowell and was dragged for a few yards before losing his grip.

Vowell hit opened field and took it to the house for a 79-yard Senators’ touchdown. A successful two-point conversion stretched the Norris lead to 14-0, with 45.4 left in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, both teams would trade scores, and Bryson Vowell would haul in his second touchdown of the game. From the left hash, on the CAK three-yardline, Russell took a snap out of the shotgun formation with Vowell lined up spread out to his right. From the numbers, Vowell would run a slant route to his left.

Russell fired a pass out towards the right hash, and into the chest of Vowell, who shielded off his defender perfectly. The second Russell to Vowell touchdown connection put the Senators up 22-8, with 1:39 to go in the second quarter, and would remain the score at the halftime break.

The Senators would begin to pull away from CAK in the third quarter. Gavin Noe would find the endzone for his second rushing touchdown of the game, and Norris took a commanding 28-8 lead. Yet, Norris put on more steam, and found paydirt once more when Russell would find Vowell in the endzone, for the third time. From the Warriors’ 26-yardline, Russell took the snap out of the shotgun formation, with a single wideout on each side. Russell took a three-step drop, and set his feet. Throughout his entire progression, Russell was looking to the right and knew where he was going to throw it. The gunslinger let it fly and by pylon was Vowell, who rose above the CAK cornerback, who never turned his head back towards the play. Vowell brought in his third touchdown of the ballgame, and Norris led by a big 36-8 advantage, with 3:49 left in the third quarter. CAK would punch one in for six and was successful on the two-point conversion, but the Senators’ took a 36-14 lead into the final period of play. The Warriors gave their best effort at a comeback, adding two touchdowns, slimming the Norris lead down to eight points, 36-28 with less than two minutes remaining in the ballgame. However, the hole was too big for CAK to climb out of, and the Norris Senators were able to hold on for a consecutive TVAC Championship Title.