Mavs continue their ‘region roll’ with win at Carter, 49-0
The winning streak reached three games for Anderson County High School’s football team last week.
The Mavericks notched their third-consecutive Region 2-4A victory as they defeated Carter 49-0 Friday night at Hornets Field in Strawberry Plains.
After opening the season with three consecutive non-region losses to Powell, Science Hill, and Bearden, ACHS (3-3 overall, 3-0 in the region), has routed Fulton, Seymour, and Carter in consecutive weeks, outscoring the Falcons, Eagles and Hornets 150-21 as things appear to be trending upward.
With the win, the Mavericks also continued their dominance in league tilts.
The Mavs haven’t dropped a region game since 2016 and are now in the midst of a 37-game winning streak against region foes.
“This was a big win for us,” Anderson County Coach Davey Gillum said. “Everything’s headed in the right direction.
“We just have to keep making progress and not have any setbacks as far as being lax. That’s really been the biggest thing for us. We knew it was going to be a work in progress, but in those first three games, we could have easily won all of them.”
In Friday’s game, the Mavericks left little doubt they were going to prevail against Carter (3-3, 1-1).
Anderson County scored on all seven of its possessions before Gillum pulled his starters in the third quarter with the clock running due to the TSSAA mercy rule.
ACHS darted out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter as senior running back Nick Moog had a pair of touchdown runs and quarterback Zae Hall hurled a 16-yard scoring strike to Xavian James.
The Mavericks continued the onslaught in the second stanza as Waylon LaRue had a 10-yard touchdown dash and Moog caught a 5-yard pass from Hall,0 before closing out the first-half scoring with a 41-yard scamper just before halftime to make the score 42-0.
Moog finished the evening’s scoring with a 2-yard plunge after the break.
He posted another stellar performance on the ground as he had 110 rushing yards on just nine carries.
Through the air, Hall was 15-for-19 with 341 yards and two touchdowns. Strickland had four receptions for 160 yards and caught a touchdown pass. James also had four catches and a score, while amassing 78 yards.
Defensively, the Mavericks posted their first shutout of the 2023 season, limiting the Hornets to just 57 rushing yards and forcing a pair of turnovers.
Eli Nelson was the Mavericks’ leading tackler as he made eight stops, including two tackles for loss.
This week, the Mavericks will return to action Thursday night as they make the short trip to Clinton to face the Dragons.
Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. and the game will be a regionally televised Rivalry Thursday showdown.
It will be the first meeting between the two crosstown rivals since 2020, when the Mavericks prevailed 41-6.