Eagles Fall to Patriots

By: Lee Ramsey
lee@seymourherald.com
The Jefferson County Patriots defeated the Seymour Eagles in football 30-7 last Friday night at Jefferson City.
The score did not actually tell the entire story. One would assume the game was a blowout but that was not the case as the score stood 16-7 midway through the third quarter.
Seymour’s defense was quite a bit improved over the past couple of games but this time the offense which has been the upside of this team had a mistake prone night with 4 interceptions and only 204 total yards.
Head Seymour Football Coach Jim Moore gave his analysis – “Our defense played a lot better than the score indicated.
“Our offense kept us in trouble all night. We decided to play defense well tonight. We just decided to leave the offense on the shelf.
“Our offense made mistake after mistake after mistake. We did things we haven’t done in a long time.”
The score stood 16-7 at the half and the Eagles were still very much in the game. The second half however was a somewhat different story as the Eagle defense seemed to wear down.
Many times a school that is only half the size of their opponent as far as student enrollment can play for a while toe to toe but will wear down eventually due to lack of depth in comparison to the larger school. That was the case Friday night.
The game started with Seymour kicking off to Jefferson County. The Patriots drove the ball deep into Seymour territory but stalled at the 17 yard line and they had to settle for a field goal.
Corbin Ogle started the game for the Eagles but went three and out.
Again the Patriots drove deep into Eagle territory but Seymour’s defense again stiffened at the nine yard line forcing Jeff County to kick another field goal.
Trailing 6-0, Seymour put together a nice drive to the Patriot 34 yard line but it ended with an interception.
Again, the Eagle defense rose to the occasion and shut down the Patriots.
Nick Sexton came in at quarterback but had no better results than Ogle going three and out.
On the first play from scrimmage, the Patriots running back busted up the middle for a 47 yard touchdown romp. The PAT was good and the score stood 13-0.
Jeff County kicked off and senior Corey Todd returned the kick all the way to the Patriots 45.
This time Sexton wasted no time as he hooked up with D. J. Griffin on a 30 yard bullet. Taylor Overton cashed in on a short touchdown scamper. J. J. Jerman converted the PAT and the score stood 13-7.
Jefferson County drove the ball deep into Eagle territory again but again because of Seymour’s tough defense could not get the ball into the end zone having to settle for another field goal making it 16-7 going into the break.
The Patriots added two more touchdowns and PATs the second half and the game was in the history books.
The 1 and 3 Eagles (0-2 in district) will have the week off and then will fact the Sevier County Smoky Bears at Sevierville where they will probably face their biggest challenge of the season.
If the Eagles can put together their best offensive and best defensive performance of the season they could have a chance. Sevier County is having an outstanding year so far.