Huntingdon keeps conference title hopes alive with win over Maryville

MARYVILLE, Tenn. – The Huntingdon football team kept its goal of a second straight conference championship alive with a 28-24 win over Maryville College on Saturday.

Leading 28-22 with 1:02 left in the game, junior Anthony Wood picked off a Maryville pass at the Huntingdon 1-yard line to end the Scots' final threat. The Hawks ran out the clock and took an intentional safety on the final play to end the game.

"This was a very hard fought game but we found a way to win and I'm proud of the guys. We played a good team and we were fortunate to win," Huntingdon head coach Mike Turk said. "If you look at the stats, it looks like they dominated. We turned the ball over more times than they did and they ran more plays and had more yards than we did.

"Anytime you turn the ball over three times, it's not good. You can't have that many turnovers against a good team and expect to win. Fortunately, we were able to take advantage of field position on offense and our defense made the plays we had to have in the red zone. That was the difference in the game, field position and holding them to field goals three times in the red zone."

Maryville marched inside the Huntingdon 20-yard line six times on Saturday. On two of the trips inside the red zone, the Scots scored touchdowns. But Huntingdon held Maryville to field goals on three other red zone appearances. Wood's interception ended Maryville's final trip to the red zone.

With the win, the Hawks (8-1, 5-1 USA South) move into first in the USA South standings with one conference game remaining. Maryville drops to 7-2 overall and 5-1 in the USA South. Huntingdon will travel to Averett (4-4, 3-2 USA South) on Nov. 12. If Huntingdon wins, the Hawks will claim a second straight conference title.

Huntingdon started strong on Saturday, building a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. Quarterback Luke Bailey scored on an 8-yard run on the Hawks' first possession and hooked up with Otis Porter for a 97-yard touchdown strike on Huntingdon's second possession.

The 97-yard touchdown pass is the second longest passing play in Hawks' history and is just the fourth time a Huntingdon player has scored from scrimmage on a play of 97 yards or longer.

Maryville answered with a pair of field goals in the second quarter before Vic Jerald scored on a 6-yard run to give Huntingdon a 21-6 lead. The Hawks led 21-13 at halftime.

An interception on Huntingdon's first possession of the third quarter led to a Maryville touchdown and cut the Hawks' lead to 21-19 less than two minutes into the second half. Huntingdon scored its final touchdown midway through the third quarter as Bailey found senior Brandon Mattox for 3-yard touchdown play. The touchdown was Mattox's first as a Hawk.

Maryville added a third field goal late in the third quarter to make it a 28-22 game.

Bailey finished with 244 yards, two touchdowns and an interception on 12-of-21 passing and rushed for 29 yards and a score. John Iwaniec led the Huntingdon ground game with 49 yards on 14 carries.

Porter led all receivers with 139 yards and a touchdown on four catches. Nick Haas added 77 yards on three catches. Sophomore kicker Chase Young was 4-for-4 on extra points.

Linebackers Trey Hayes and Brandon Williams and defensive back Demetrius Brown each recorded career highs in tackles. Hayes led the Hawks with 14 tackles, 1 ½ sacks and one fumble recovery. Williams had 13 tackles and one tackle for loss and Brown had 11 tackles. Wood finished with nine tackles.

Defensive linemen Heath McCray, Octavis Harris and Parker Allen combined for 2 ½ sacks. McCray also forced one fumble.