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Muddy Smithville outruns rival Hatley
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SMITHVILLE - Only mud and muck could have made this Monroe County rivalry any more interesting.
That and maybe a scoreless game with less than 90 seconds to play on a Saturday afternoon.
Smithville, ranked No. 4 in the Daily Journal Small School Poll, scored when it had to, scoring on Antwune Freeman's 9 yard run with 1:28 to play in a 12-0 win against visiting Hatley on Saturday.
On Hatley's ensuing possession, Kody Hathcock picked off Cody Woods' pass before Freeman tacked on one more touchdown on the first play, a 25 yard run with 36.1 seconds left in the game.
“It's very simple. I knew it was going to be a hard fought game,” Smithville coach Bubba Tacker said, “It's a rivalry game. (Hatley) played a heck of a game.”
Hatley (3-2) tried to take the first lead when Caleb Walters lined up for a 38 yard field goal with 6 minutes, 17 seconds to play. The kick was short.
The field goal attempt wasn't the first near score for either team. Smithville had the ball on the Hatley 6 yard line with 5.7 seconds left in the first half. After a delay of game, Freeman was sacked by West Warren and Sawyer Weaver and the game remained scoreless.
Hatley's best look at the end zone came on its lone shot inside the Smithville 10 yard line. After recovering a mishandled punt snap at the Smithville 29, Hatley fullback Colby Ling took a fourth-and-3 carry 17 yards to the 5 yard line. An incompletion, a hold and two recovered fumbles later though, and Caleb Walters was short on the try.
Smithville then drove 11 plays in 4 minutes, 49 seconds to take the lead. With receiver Tyler Jackson under center, starting quarterback Freeman carried the ball five times for 52 yards, including the winner.
“The only difference in that drive than our others drives is we hung on to the football,” Tacker said.
Hatley coach Sam Wilson, Smithville's high school principal last year, was confident that without the hold inside the 10, his Tigers would have gone on top.
“We didn't execute. You can blame part of it on the field and part of it was just lack of execution,” Wilson said. “They played the same field we did. They managed to get one in and we didn't. Oh, we'd have put it in. We'd have put it in. It's no question. That was a back breaker for us.”
Short punts and slippery miscues never led to points through most of the game. Hatley won the fumble battle, hanging on to the ones it lost handle of. Smithville lost five, but its defense held tough.
“Both teams had a lot of trouble holding on to the football,” Tacker said. “It was a real sloppy game. My boys stepped up and just took charge there in the last part. We did what we had to do to win the ball game and that's all there is to it.”
Freeman ran the ball 22 times for 122 yards for the game. His brother, Datrune, carried the first half load, picking 112 yards on 16 carries. He finished with 143 yards on 27 carries.
That and maybe a scoreless game with less than 90 seconds to play on a Saturday afternoon.
Smithville, ranked No. 4 in the Daily Journal Small School Poll, scored when it had to, scoring on Antwune Freeman's 9 yard run with 1:28 to play in a 12-0 win against visiting Hatley on Saturday.
On Hatley's ensuing possession, Kody Hathcock picked off Cody Woods' pass before Freeman tacked on one more touchdown on the first play, a 25 yard run with 36.1 seconds left in the game.
“It's very simple. I knew it was going to be a hard fought game,” Smithville coach Bubba Tacker said, “It's a rivalry game. (Hatley) played a heck of a game.”
Hatley (3-2) tried to take the first lead when Caleb Walters lined up for a 38 yard field goal with 6 minutes, 17 seconds to play. The kick was short.
The field goal attempt wasn't the first near score for either team. Smithville had the ball on the Hatley 6 yard line with 5.7 seconds left in the first half. After a delay of game, Freeman was sacked by West Warren and Sawyer Weaver and the game remained scoreless.
Hatley's best look at the end zone came on its lone shot inside the Smithville 10 yard line. After recovering a mishandled punt snap at the Smithville 29, Hatley fullback Colby Ling took a fourth-and-3 carry 17 yards to the 5 yard line. An incompletion, a hold and two recovered fumbles later though, and Caleb Walters was short on the try.
Smithville then drove 11 plays in 4 minutes, 49 seconds to take the lead. With receiver Tyler Jackson under center, starting quarterback Freeman carried the ball five times for 52 yards, including the winner.
“The only difference in that drive than our others drives is we hung on to the football,” Tacker said.
Hatley coach Sam Wilson, Smithville's high school principal last year, was confident that without the hold inside the 10, his Tigers would have gone on top.
“We didn't execute. You can blame part of it on the field and part of it was just lack of execution,” Wilson said. “They played the same field we did. They managed to get one in and we didn't. Oh, we'd have put it in. We'd have put it in. It's no question. That was a back breaker for us.”
Short punts and slippery miscues never led to points through most of the game. Hatley won the fumble battle, hanging on to the ones it lost handle of. Smithville lost five, but its defense held tough.
“Both teams had a lot of trouble holding on to the football,” Tacker said. “It was a real sloppy game. My boys stepped up and just took charge there in the last part. We did what we had to do to win the ball game and that's all there is to it.”
Freeman ran the ball 22 times for 122 yards for the game. His brother, Datrune, carried the first half load, picking 112 yards on 16 carries. He finished with 143 yards on 27 carries.
and Joseph Neal was the injured Hatley player. He's fine. We ran an update on him on Saturday or Sunday. Slight vertebrae tear, but from a previous injury.
Besides that story was good in detail reporting, but you missed one thing. What was the final score? I see Hatley almost pulled out a close one against Smithville. I see Smithville scored twice in the last minutes, I assume it was 14 to 0. But the score is a vital part of a football story. And I never saw another update on the Hatley player that was airlifted a few weeks back, was he okay??