Box Score Huntingdon Takes USA South Crown 52-33
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Huntingdon clinched the USA South championship with a 52-33 victory over Maryville on Saturday.
It was Huntingdon's seventh consecutive conference victory after the Hawks (7-2) opened the 2021 season with a pair of nonleague losses. They scored at least 30 points in each of their last six games, topped by today's 52-point outburst.
Maryville played its best football over the game's final 20 minutes, scoring 26 points and accumulating most of its yards. But a 38-7 halftime deficit was too much to overcome.
"We played a very good football team today," Scots head coach Ben Fox said. "They are champions for a reason. They are well coached and just a very tough football team. They jumped on us early and we never could really recover.
"I was glad to see us continue to fight in the second half. We need to take that effort, have a great week of practice and get ready for Greensboro next Saturday."
Huntingdon on its first six possessions scored five touchdowns and made a field goal for a 38-0 lead with 7:05 showing on the second-quarter clock. Maryville finally dented the scoreboard 47 seconds before halftime when Trevor Thomas hit T.J. Coleman with a 36-yard touchdown pass to close it to 38-7 at intermission.
Maryville forced a punt on Huntingdon's first possession of the third quarter but then the Hawks stopped the Scots and marched 49 yards in four plays to up the score to 45-7.
Big Day for No. 7
Mykal Santos turned in a career performance for the Scots, accounting for eight catches and 164 receiving yards. The junior wide receiver caught a 28-yard touchdown pass from Nelson Smith for his team-leading fifth of the season to make it a 45-14 game.
Smith followed with a 1-yard run and then Cody Estep did the same to close the gap to 45-27 with 5:06 remaining. The Hawks scored on a quick 90-yard drive and then Estep scored again, this time on a 2-yard pass from Smith to close out the scoring.
Thomas was 9-of-20 for 136 yards and the one passing TD, while Smith finished 8-of-20 for 133 yards and two TDs. Estep carried 12 times for 52 yards, with Cam Malone adding 11 rushes for 43 yards. Santos added 74 kickoff return yards to finish with 238 all-purpose yards.
Grant Agnew was the Maryville tackle leader with nine to go with a pass breakup. Caden Harbin and Colby Manis added seven tackles apiece.
The Scots ran 80 plays in the game to Huntingdon's 58, but the hometown Hawks outgained Maryville 570-406. Maryville had the ball for 33:07 to Huntingdon's 26:53.
The Scots are 3-6 overall and 3-4 in the USA South. They host Greensboro (0-9) next Saturday in a 1 p.m. kickoff.
