No worries at ACHS
Despite loss at Powell, Mavs have lots of positives
Anderson County’s Daylen Cole (10) and Cody Miller (15) combine to stop Powell’s Conner Wheeler after a short gain Friday night. (photo:Zack Williams )
Early Friday night, it looked like the magic would continue as the Mavericks scored first against Powell after Panthers’ all-state kicker Dylan Stooksbury missed a 41-yard field goal.
But it didn’t.
Powell overcame the deficit and notched a 35-21 comeback victory in front of a packed and spirited house at Powell High’s Scarbro Stadium in the season opener for both schools.
The Panthers had a chance to take the lead in the first quarter, but saw their second drive of the contest come up empty after Stooksbury’s field goal attempt went awry with 1 minute, 44 seconds remaining in the opening frame.
The Mavs then engineered a drive that produced the game’s first points when running back Nick Moog scored on a one-yard plunge with 11:55 remaining in the second stanza. Josh Valero added the extra point to make the score 7-0.
The Mavericks continued to hold the momentum as their defense forced the Panthers to go three-and-out on their next possession. Things, however, would go south in a hurry as Powell’s defense would knot the game as its defense found the end zone. Panthers defensive lineman Charvon Thomas recovered an Anderson County fumble and rumbled 20 yards for a touchdown.
Stooksbury tied the game with the PAT with 9:58 left in the first half.
The Mavs would recover from that miscue and retake the lead on Moog’s second rushing score of the game midway through second quarter to make it 14-7.
But the mistakes would eventually pile up for Anderson County. Powell rallied to tie the game by halftime.
Oh, what might have been.
“I thought we controlled the game early,” Anderson County Coach Davey Gillum said. “We should have been up 14-0 or 21-0 at halftime, but a lot of mistakes on our part turned it into a ball game.”
The Mavericks committed three turnovers before the break and made another costly error early in the third quarter when quarterback Zae Hall, who transferred from Jefferson County during the offseason, threw an interception. He was picked off by Powell’s Abu Keefer.
Powell would later cash in when Panthers sophomore quarterback Deuce Rodgers scored on a two-yard run to make it 21-14.
From there, the Panthers would wrest away control of the game as Connor Wheeler had a pair of three-yard scoring runs to make it 35-14 early in the final frame.
Powell made mistakes of its own, but Panthers Coach Matt Lowe said he was happy to see his team prevail against a formidable foe.
“I’m very pleased,” he said. “This is always a big game for us, and that is a good football team over there and they have a great coaching staff and they will win ball games.”
The Mavericks would add a fourth-quarter touchdown when Hall connected with Daylen Cole on a 14-yard pass.
Hall was 22-for-36, amassing 278 yards through the air. He had a touchdown pass and lofted two interceptions.
Despite the season-opening loss, Gillum remained upbeat.
“It isn’t the end of the road,” he said. “We’ve got nine new starters on both sides of the ball.
“We’re still not jelling on offense right now, but we’ll continue to get better every week and these mistakes are easy to fix,”n he said.
Next up for the Mavericks: Anderson County will host Science Hill Friday night. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.
The Hilltoppers dropped their season opener to Elizabethton, 27-7.
The Mavericks won last year’s meeting with Science Hill in Johnson City, posting a 48-6 victory.
