East Henderson Comeback Defeats Mustangs

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     The Smoky Mountain High School Football team played an excellent first half of football Friday night.  Unfortunately in the second half the Mustangs were outplayed as East Henderson defeated the Mustangs 43 - 17.

     The East Henderson Eagles scored first on a 14 yard touchdown run by Shack Davis on the Eagles opening drive.  The extra point put East ahead 7 to 0.  The Mustangs responded on the next drive covering 62 yards on 12 plays.  Key plays included a 19 yard run on fourth down by Jesse Blanton as the Mustangs successfully converted on a fake punt from the East Henderson 47 yard line.  Later in the drive the Mustang quarterback Drew Londo connected with Rusty Mau for seven yards to convert on fourth and four from the East 22 yard line.  Three plays later, Dakota Meadow scored from one yard out and Jarrod Couch's extra point tied the game with two minutes to go in the first quarter.

     The Mustang's defense did their part by forcing a punt on East's next drive.  The Smoky Mountain offense started their next drive on their own 49 yard line.  The Mustangs covered the 51 yards in 3 minutes and 26 seconds of game clock.  Key plays included a 10 yard run by Ryan Milkey and two Drew Londo passes.  One of the passes was a 22 yard reception by Al DeGraffenreid and a 16 yard touchdown to Kameron Buchanan.

     The Mustang defense did their part again stopping East Henderson when Rusty Mau intercepted an East Henderson pass at the Eagles 15 yard line.  The Mustang offense converted the short field into 3 points when Jarrod Couch connected on a 32 yard field goal with 3:28 left in the first half giving the Mustangs a 17 - 7 halftime lead.

     The second half saw East Henderson's Shack Davis lead to the Eagles to 36 unanswered points.  Davis rushed for over 150 yards in the second half.  For the game Davis had 216 rushing yards and two touchdowns.  The Smoky Mountain offense was able to generate only 46 yards of offense after intermission as East rolled to the final score 43 - 17.

     Offensive leaders for the Mustangs included Dakota Meadow who rushed for 31 yards and Kameron Buchanan who caught 4 passes for 66 yards and a touchdown.  Drew Londo completed 7 of 14 passes for 107 yards and one touchdown.

     Defensive leaders included Rusty Mau who was credited with 9.5 tackles (9 unassisted and 1 assist), intercepted a pass and blocked and extra point, Gene Howanitz  with 6 tackles (6 unassisted)  and Kameron Buchanan with 5.5 tackles (4 unassisted and 3 assists).

     For Stats go HERE!!