Football - East vs Tn High 9/5/08
September 7, 2008 By Rick Waller of Sullivan East High School
Sullivan East traveled up Weaver Pike to face their biggest rival in Tennessee High Friday night, the first conference game for each team in the 2008 season. The weather was perfect and the crowd was huge and neither team disappointed this night at the Stone Castle.
Tennessee High took control of the game early, dominating both on offense and defense for the first quarter and first half of the second. The defense didn\'t allow an East first down until midway through the second quarter, but more on that in a minute. The Viking offense looked like it was going to score at will the entire game, as they took their first three possessions down the fields for scores, opening with a field goal and then punching it in for touchdowns the next two times. All of a sudden, the Patriots felt themselves on the wrong side of a 17-0 score.
Back to that first down. That was a 25+ yard run by Patriot running back Chris Rosenbaum that got the Patriots to midfield. Right after that, quarterback Tyler Gaby hit receiver Zane Campbell with two straight completions. That second pass got the Patriots on the score board, and East went into the locker room trailing 17-7 but feeling a whole lot more confident about themselves.
The Patriots started the second half on defense and forced the Vikings to punt without much to show for their first possession. The Patriot offense picked up where they left off at the end of the first half and marched down the field where Gaby found receiver John Ryan this time for another score, cutting the Viking lead to 17-14 once kicker Kole Bishop added on the extra point.
Tennessee High reacted to that second score and once again looked like their first quarter selves and went right down the field. The East defense buckled but didn\'t break as the Vikings had to settle for a field goal, putting the score at 20-14 Vikings. East still had their chance. On the following kickoff, the Patriot fans were on their feet encouraging their team to score just one more time. It wouldn\'t happen on this possesion as East could only manage one first down before having to punt the ball back to Tn High.
The Vikings took that punt and their offense converted on huge third and long plays that would have given the ball back to East. The Patriots ran out of time outs and couldn\'t stop the clock as the Vikings ran out the final minutes sealing the win. Final score : Tn High 20 Sullivan East 14.
Congratulations to the East players on giving it their all. You played a great game! Thanks to all the Patriot faithful who were their cheering their team on! The Patriots next game will be at home this Friday night as they will host the David Crockett Pioneers. Game time is 7:30. Come out and support your Patriots!!!
Link to stats at TriCitiesSports.com : http://www.tricitiessports.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=177&twindow=Default&mad=No&sdetail=28405&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1131&hn=tricitiessports&he=.com |
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