Mitchell vs Mountain Heritage

Cougars beat Mountaineers in Ledger
The Mountaineers struck first against
Mountain Heritage, but the Cougars
controlled the final three quarters to
send Mitchell to a 28-6 defeat in Ledger
on Friday.
Mitchell got the good early start Head
Coach Russell Barnett said he was looking for. They moved the ball to midfield
on the opening drive before punting it
away. On the sixth play of Mountain
Heritage’s drive, Logan Garland recovered a Trevor Robinson fumble at the
Cougar 41-yard-line.
The Mountaineers capitalized on the
takeaway. Quarterback Turner Pitman
put Mitchell in scoring position at the
Mountain Heritage 13 with a five-yard
carry and a face-mask penalty tacked
onto the end of the run. Pitman followed
up a pair of Britt Burleson runs with a
six-yard plunge to take the 6-0 lead. The
two-point attempt failed.
The Mountaineers’ momentum and
their lead would be short-lived. The
Cougars went from their own 32 to the
Mitchell 35 in two plays.
A critical offsides penalty against the
Mountaineers turned a second-andlong situation into second-and-short,
then the Cougars might have gotten
a break of their own on fourth-andfour. Trevor Robinson’s five-yard pass
to Jake McClellen was ruled complete
despite Mitchell protests that it hit the
ground.
Mountain Heritage turned the first
down into a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Three plays later, Austin Meadows rumbled 18 yards up the gut for the
score. The extra point was good, and the
Cougars closed the first quarter with a
7-6 advantage.
Another Meadows scoring run made it
13-6 less than five minutes later. Meanwhile, Mitchell’s offense ground to a halt
in the second quarter. They went threeand-out on their final three drives of the
half, gaining a total of just 19 yards.
They had one last shot to tie the game
at the break. Mitchell recovered Meadows’ fumble at midfield with just over
three minutes remaining. Facing fourthand-three from the Cougar 41 with a
minute left in the half, the Mountaineers elected to punt it away.
The Cougars added to their lead with
a 20-yard scoring strike from Trevor
Robinson to McClellen to open the third
quarter. Mitchell answered with their
last sustained drive of the contest, but
a turnover prevented them from cutting
the lead back to a single score.
On that drive, the Mountaineers had
two fourth-down conversions to keep the
chains moving. The second pick-up by
Burleson gave Mitchell a first down at
the Cougar 28. On the very next play,
Burleson’s fumble was recovered by
Mountain Heritage.
The Mountaineers’ wouldn’t threaten
again. Their final two offensive possessions in the fourth quarter were quick
three-and-outs. The Cougars added a
late touchdown, capping a five-minute
scoring march with a 24-yard pass from
Trevor Robinson to Daulton Buchanan
on fourth-and-22.
The Cougars out-gained Mitchell
371-106, had a 17-6 edge in first downs,
and converted nearly half of their thirddown conversions. Trevor Robinson led
the way by running for 71 yards and
throwing for 106 more. Dalton Robinson ran for a game-high 81 yards on 22
attempts.
Beaver and Jeremiah Dowell paced
the defense with 10 tackles each. In
Beaver’s first rivalry game with the
Cougars, he had five solo tackles and
five assists. Dowell closed his career
against Mountain Heritage with two
solo tackles, and he was in on eight
other stops.
All but one of Mitchell’s 106 yards
came on the ground. Dalton Beaver and
Pitman each rushed for 43 yards on 14
and 10 carries respectively. Burleson
had 19 yards.
The Mountaineers close out their
2012 campaign on the road. They travel
to Marshall to face a resurgent Madison
squad this week, then close the season
against Avery in Newland on Oct. 26