Sevier County pulls away from Halls, 49-13
By Steve Williams
The song “Purple Rain” was played as the Sevier County football team and its fans celebrated a win over Halls Friday night. Unfortunately, Halls’ tune could have been “Heartaches by the Number, trouble by the score.”
Wearing their Purple and White, the Smoky Bears handed Halls a 49-13 loss and will seek a second straight state championship this week, while the Red Devils’ season ended with an 8-5 record in the TSSAA Class 5A semifinals.
Sevier County (13-1) will go against Page High, which is hoping to put an end to a string of state runner-up losses.
Halls was in the game, trailing only 14-13 in the second quarter, but the Smoky Bears scored 21 straight points, including a touchdown in the closing seconds of the first half to go into the dressing room with a comfortable 35-13 command on a freezing night at Bill “Chief” Robertson Field.
“Too many mistakes,” said Halls Coach Brent Hughes when asked what the difference on the field was. He added that when you play a team that is “really good and talented,” you can’t make errors.
“We backed ourselves in a corner and couldn’t get out of it. Kudos to them.”
Brothers Cooper and Parker Newman put Sevier County on the scoreboard first with a 9-yard pass play over the middle midway into the first quarter and Aiden Ottolini added the first of his seven PATs.
Halls answered immediately as wide receiver Cooper Faust took a pass from Amari Lethgo and zig zagged 51 yards to the end zone to tie the score.
Sophomore Nathan Patterson then went to work for the Bears as he had runs of 10, 16 and 13 yards on a 57-yard drive that was capped by Bryson Headrick’s 5-yard run behind the right side of the line for a 14-7 lead.
On the Devils’ first possession of the second quarter, Coach Hughes pulled a trick play out of his pocket – a backward pass from Lethgo to Tyrene Culp followed by a halfback pass to a wide-open Faust – that covered 57 yards and pulled Halls within one (14-13) after the PAT failed.
Sevier County then, however, went on its 21-point surge that Halls never recovered from. It just got worse.
Cooper Newman started the onslaught with a beautiful 25-yard pass to Headrick in the back of the end zone.
After Halls’ next possession stalled at the SC 38, Cooper Newman scored on a 4-yard keeper following a pass interference penalty on the Red Devils.
Lethgo started Halls’ next possession with a 15-yard pass to Faust, but Sevier County intercepted a pass three plays later and had the ball deep in its own territory. But a 14-yard run by Patterson and a 52-yard pass from Cooper to Parker Newman put the ball at the Halls’ 17 with under a minute left in the half.
Four plays later, Newman hit tight end Jaxson Perry with a 4-yard TD toss and five seconds left.
Halls went three and out on its first second-half possession and made only one first down in its second possession.
A roughing the kicker penalty on the Red Devils allowed Sevier County to keep the ball and Cooper made Halls pay when Wyatt Maples got behind the coverage and caught a 42-yard TD pass. That boosted the score to 42-13 late in the third quarter.
Alexis Martinez had a pair of 26-yard runs in the fourth quarter and tacked on a 1-yard TD run with 8:17 to go. That started the Mercy Rule clock.
Two long passes by Lethgo to Brody Rogers (43 yards) and Dom Culp (32 yards) gave Halls a first-and-goal at the 5, but Lethgo was sacked twice and an offensive pass interference call nullified a TD pass. On third-and-goal at the 26, Lethgo’s pass was intercepted.
Cooper Newman took a knee three plays later.
“Unselfish, 100 percent,” said Sevier County Coach Todd Loveday after the game. “These guys just play together. Coach (Steve) Brewer, he used to coach here, and he talked to the team today and he talked about brotherhood. The thicker you are as a teammate, the harder it is to beat. We just turned these guys loose and you can kind of see it coming through.”
