Box Score Complete Team Effort Sparks Second-Half Surge
MARYVILLE – A September of toil and tension finally turned into a bountiful October harvest of points, as Maryville lit up the scoreboard in a 38-17 win over Southern Virginia at Honaker Field.
The Scots going into Saturday were averaging 16.5 points; they scored 38. They were averaging 242.2 yards; they put up 513. They were averaging just 36.0 yards rushing; they bulldozed for 185.
And remember those second-half struggles? Forget 'em. Maryville scored touchdowns on its first four drives after halftime. The last of those four was the clincher when the Scots covered 76 yards in 15 plays and took 10:08 off the fourth-quarter clock, culminating in Braden Dunson's 2-yard TD run.
"We've spent a lot of time the last two weeks of structuring breaks in practice," MC head coach Ben Fox said. "We had played so poorly in the second half, and today I was happy to see our guys finish the first half on a pretty positive note and then come right back with four straight touchdowns drives in the second half.
"We played very physical football on both sides of the ball. I was thrilled for Braden Dunson for the game he had today, and happy for Cam Malone. He's a hard-nosed runner for a freshman."
Dunson led all ball-carriers with 90 yards on 15 attempts. Malone added 40 yards on 13 tries and scored Maryville's initial touchdown of the game to kickstart the comeback from an early 10-0 deficit.
Two-Quarterback Attack
The Scots deployed a two-quarterback offense, with both Nelson Smith and Trevor Thomas finding success. Smith finished 16-of-19 for 222 yards and two passing touchdowns to go with one on the ground, while Thomas was 6-of-12 passing for 106 yards and a TD, rushed eight times for 34 yards and punted twice for a 39-yard average.
"We both went out there and executed," Smith said. "Coach Fox has pounded and pounded and pounded that we need to do what the defense is telling us to do. I tried to do a good job of that today and the receivers did a great job of getting open."
Fox praised his two QBs for their buy-in of the game plan.
"They both have earned the right to play, and they have very different games," Fox said. "They can handle the same types of plays, but some of the results of those plays can be very different. I'm happiest with how they stayed together and communicated with each other. They had no let-up."
Jacob Cortez, Mykel Santos and Danner Hill were on the receiving end of TD tosses. Cortez caught seven balls for a team season-high 128 yards, including a 26-yard TD strike from Smith late in the third quarter.
Santos scored his touchdown just before halftime to put the Scots in front 13-10. It was a 39-yard catch and run from Thomas for Santos' fourth touchdown of the season.
Hill hauled in a 3-yard score on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it 32-10.
Defense Brings It Home
The Maryville defense wasn't called on to do a lot of defending – Maryville held a 37:05 to 22:55 time of possession gap – but they were needed to slow down Southern Virginia after the Knights raced to that 10-0 lead.
Jamarcus Dunn paced a stingy Scots defense with eight tackles, including a TFL. Colby Manis added five stops and a TFL, while Nico Starcher picked off a late pass to snuff out any final Trojan hopes.
Maryville allowed just seven points over Southern Virginia's last eight drives.
"Our team is finally starting to put the puzzle pieces together," linebacker Bo Hering said. "We've come together and everybody is working toward the common goal, and that's to get better as a whole. We didn't get down on ourselves early, we kept picking each other up, and it showed."
Big Points for Coach to Cure MD
Maryville coaches wore patches honoring Coach to Cure MD Presented by Werner Ladder.
The goal was to raise awareness and funding for Duchenne muscular dystrophy while demonstrating the coaching community's support and commitment to the betterment of young men and the core academic research missions of their universities. Fans were invited to donate either $25 or, perhaps, $1 per point scored in the game. That would make for a $38 donation.
Fox said he would match the amount raised by the Maryville football family.
Fox and the team welcomed Maryville resident Seth Cate to Saturday's game, and Seth participated in the Scots Walk and the pregame coin toss before settling in and watching the best game of the season.
Donate here to support Coach to Cure MD Presented by Werner Ladder.
