Eagles use big plays to get past Blue Devils

Will have open date before conference tilt with Pigeon Forge What a difference a week made for the Seymour Eagles. Coming off of a humbling loss at state ranked Fulton last week, Seymour (3-2, 2-0) went on the road to region 1-3A rival Claiborne County Friday night and used big plays and a bend-but-don’t break defense to get a 35-6 conference win against the scrappy Blue Devils. The Eagles gained 280 total yards compared to 256 for Claiborne County. The game was closer than the score would indicate you might think. But not really, as Claiborne County grinded out 252 yards on 51 rushing attempts, effectively shortening the game to give themselves a better chance against the more talented Eagles. It was a crafty game plan. It just didn’t work. The Blue Devils run an offense that relies on a misdirection handoff on virtually every play. It resembles a watered down version of the system used by the Oklahoma Sooners in the mid 1980’s. But instead of the option pitches that exploit the corner of the defense, the Claiborne County offense features reverses, fake reverses, traps, counters and quarterback sweeps that just keep the defense off balanced. Rarely did they run a conventional hand-off, yet they most always gained positive yardage. “They do a good job of running that offense,” said Seymour Coach Gary Householder. “Their offensive line is very well disciplined. We have worked on it in practice but it is hard to emulate. Overall, I thought offensively they played pretty well. They had a lot of yards rushing. We had guys in the right place, they just didn’t always make the play. “I’m happy to get the region win though,” Householder added. “ I hope the week off will help us get Chad Isbill and Victor Wagner back. The guys who have stepped in for them have done a good job but we’d like to get those guys back. They’re both good football players.” The Eagles will be idle this Friday before getting back into action next week against Pigeon Forge. Householder said after the Claiborne County game that the Pigeon Forge club attends the same pre-season camp as the Blue Devils and run a very similar type of offense. Seymour quarterback Kris O’Barr finished 7-12 for 184 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions against the Blue Devils. O’Barr also averaged 35 yards on four punts and connected on four of the five extra points. Daniel Miles added the final extra point. Shane Pollard led the Eagles’ ground game with 72-yards on four carries. Pollard would have easily been over the century mark had he not had a long touchdown called back because of a holding penalty in the first half. Adam Gossett had a dominating performance from his middle linebacker position. In the first two quarters Claiborne County ran 28 offensive plays–not counting incomplete passes or punts. Gossett was involved in 50% (14 of 28) of the tackles that occurred on the plays. Gossett finished the game with 17 tackles and an interception. He didn’t play in the fourth quarter after Eagles’ coaches had started substituting to get some key playing time for some of the reserves. Ryan Brewer and Justin Johnson also had stellar defensive outings with eight tackles each. Gossett also was the recipient of O’Barr’s first touchdown pass with 5:31 left in the third quarter. On the first play of the first Seymour drive of the second half, O’Barr dropped back and threw a strike to his tight end, Gossett, who was running across field left to right. Gossett caught the ball in stride and pulled away from a covering linebacker and into open field for a 70-yard scoring strike. The Gossett touchdown reception made the score 28-6 with 8:16 left in the third and turned the momentum back in favor of the Eagles. Claiborne County had taken the second half kickoff and put together a six-play, 68-yard drive that was capped by a four-yard Jason Reynolds scoring plunge. The two-point conversion failed but the drive had given the Blue Devils a boost of confidence as they had trimmed the halftime lead down to 21-6. Claiborne County executed a perfect on-side kick following the score and had the ball around mid-field with the chance to cut the Seymour lead down to one touchdown with 9:00 left in the third. The ensuing Blue Devil drive used seven plays but Chase Tippens stopped Blue Devil quarterback Tony Brogan on a fourth down conversion attempt to put the Eagles back into control. After the Gossett score, neither team had any luck substaining a drive until an O’Barr to Eric Hickman touchdown pass capped a four-play 62-yard drive to make it 35-6. O’Barr tossed a perfect strike just out of the safety’s reach and in step with Hickman, who had made a move to the inside of the defender at the five and caught the ball at the one before reaching pay dirt. Hickman’s touchdown catch came at the 10:32 mark and the teams traded possessions from that point, as the Eagles took advantage of the opportunity to get some younger players in the action. Seymour lit the scoreboard first when a 62-yard O’Barr to Nathan Disney pass put the ball at the Blue devil four-yard line. B.J. Everett then got the call and dragged a defensive lineman into the end zone on a four-yard scoring plunge with 8:37 left in the first. After a long Claiborne County drive came up empty, Seymour was helped by a pass interference in the end zone to set up another Evertt touchdown run. With a first and goal inside the 10, O’barr stepped back into the shotgun and handed the ball to Everett on the draw. Everett fired past the initial wall of defenders and weaved his way in for the 10-yard touchdown with 33 seconds left in the first quarter. Seymour scored their third touchdown after Gossett intercepted a Blue Devil pass to set up an Eagles drive at their own 42. On the first play Pollard took a handoff out of the shotgun formation and sidestepped a small pile just past the line of scrimmage that was caused when offensive lineman Jeremiah Morris pancaked a defender. The block gave Pollard just enough daylight to get to the sideline and race in for a 58-yard touchdown.