Eagles Overwhelmed by Hurricanes

By: Lee Ramsey
lee@seymourherald.com
It’s really hard to find a silver lining for this one unless it’s the fact that Seymour only turned the ball over 2 times which is a relatively low figure in relation to most other games this season. Other than that, the Morristown East Hurricanes pretty much dominated the Seymour Eagle football team last Friday night by a score of 48-21.
The game was all but over at the half as the Hurricanes led at that point 35-7. It was evident from the start that if the Seymour defense didn’t stop the Hurricanes running game it would be a very long night and it was as ME piled up 361 yards rushing as opposed to Seymour’s 163. That was basically the difference in the game.
Seymour is now 0-4 in the IMAC and 1-6 overall while the Hurricanes are 3-1 in the IMAC and 3-4 overall.
The Hurricanes were bigger, stronger, faster and more skilled than the Eagles and it was reflected in the score. ME just came out and played ‘smash mouth football’ – run it right at you and see if you can stop us and Seymour couldn’t.
There were two bright spots. The first quarter Seymour did some things well on offense; and they didn’t’ give up even in the fourth quarter which they won 14-0.
Head Seymour Eagle Coach Jim Moore talked to his team after the game about it, “You’re banged up, beat up, but you never gave up.”
Seymour won the toss and deferred as things went downhill from there.
The Hurricanes opened the game with a relentless drive of all runs marching 65 yards in 11 plays to take the lead 7-0 at the 6:46 mark. The drive consumed almost half the first quarter. As Coach Pat Dye of the Auburn Tigers once said, after Tennessee ran on them all day, “That’s how you get it done.”
Seymour answered on a 76 yard scoring drive led by Corbin Ogle and topped off with a 7 yard TD run by Corey Todd. The PAT was good and the score was locked at 7-7. It looked at that point like it might be a ballgame but that wasn’t the case.
With 2:01 to go in the first quarter, ME scored again on a 16 yard scamper. The PAT was good and it was 14-7 Hurricanes.
There was no more scoring until ME mounted a 70 yard drive and scoring a TD with 5:02 remaining in the half. The drive consumed over 4 minutes of the clock and gave the Hurricanes a 21-7 lead. The Seymour fans could feel the game slipping away at this point’ not only by the score but the dominance of Morristown East over the Eagles.
The Seymour offense sputtered again and the Hurricanes mounted another scoring drive of 61 yards making it 28-7 with 3:23 to go in the half.
Next, the Eagles committed one of their two turnovers as ME got a pick six interception and that put them up 35-7 at the half.
Seymour won the second half 14-13 as the Hurricanes scored 13 more in the third quarter and Seymour 14 in the fourth.
Next the Eagles will travel to South-Doyle to face the Cherokees who are a much improved team under the guidance of Coach Clark Duncan.
Also, the game will be in honor of ‘Breast Cancer Awareness’ month in October. It will be a “paint it pink” game with both schools wearing pink; cheerleaders, football players, coaches and fans will be wearing something pink.
At halftime, breast cancer survivors will be honored from both schools in the middle of the field. Fans coming to the game are asked to wear something pink to show support.