By Gary Corsair
Senior Sports Writer
A regular season that began with great promise should end with promise fulfilled Friday night when Hayesville’s 5-4 varsity football team hosts 1-8 Andrews.
A Yellow Jackets victory on “Senior Night” will give the Clay County commandos a coveted sixth win and should ensure home field for the first round of the playoffs.
That’s not to say that Hayesville is looking past Andrews, a team that’s been shutout five times and allowed more than 40 points on six occasions.
Expect the Wildcats to be hungry after being outscored 106-0 in their last two outings.
The Yellow Jackets should also be salivating for victory after an embarrassing 50-7 loss Friday to host Murphy, a squad with 18 seniors, three times as many players as Hayesville and decidedly bad manners.
Hayesville fans, players and coaches received at least eight more reasons to despise Murphy during a first half that got uglier by the minute.
The Bulldogs’ first crime was an onside kick late in the first quarter with Murphy already leading 14-0. Really, an onside kick when you’re dominating a team that has no chance of winning?
Murphy recovered the squib kick and immediately scored on a 55-yard touchdown pass play in which Hayesville’s Braden Thompson gave his all in sprinting after the receiver. Following the two-point conversion and ensuing kickoff, Murphy intercepted a Hayesville pass and promptly scored again, adding a point-after-kick to extend the lead to 29-0 at the end of one quarter.
Murphy added injury to insult with an assortment of penalties in the second quarter: an illegal block, roughing the kicker, a personal foul, two unsportsmanlike conduct calls and a facemask in which Yellow Jacket quarterback Peyton McGaha had his helmet yanked off. There was also an unnecessary vicious hit on Hayesville’s Elio Murillo as he was being tackled (no flag thrown).
The Bad Dogs were flagged 14 times for 128 yards on the night.
The Jackets, they weren’t as naughty as Murphy but the Black-and-Gold was flagged six times, including penalties for roughing the passer and a personal foul before the intermission.
The Yellow Jackets’ frustration was understandable. Murphy outgained Hayesville by 102 yards (285 to 102) even though the Jackets ran seven more plays than their hosts (42 to 35).
Murillo was one of Hayesville’s bright spots. The 5’ 10”, 150-lb. seniors made his first two pass receptions of the season (for 32 yards)
and gained 74 yards on 4 kickoff returns.
Sure-handed Ben Bethel also sparkled with 5 catches for 54 yards, Hayesville’s lone touchdown (with :09.4 left in the first half and Murphy on top 44-0) and a 17-yard kick return.
Lineman extraordinaire Will “The Thrill” Brown also excelled on both sides of the ball during an evening of repeatedly slamming into 6’ 5”. 290-lb. Janthony Gooden, a behemoth who dwarfs Brown by 7 inches and 85 lbs. Brown led Hayesville with 5 tackles.
Gooden wasn’t the only king-sized impediment to Hayesville. Jackets sophomore defensive end EJ Mapasua had to tussle with 6’ 5”, 290-lb. Braden Gaither on the other end of the line.
Overall, Hayesville’s offensive output was downright disappointing, largely because star running back Tre Graves was unavailable for the game. Jackets quarterbacks Peyton McGaha and Lance Coker combined for a modest 84 yards on 7-of-16 flinging but Hayesville managed just 18 yards on 26 carries rushing.
Hayesville’s only score came on the ugliest scoring drive since Walter Camp lined the first football field. The Jackets took possession near midfield thanks to a superb 28-yard kickoff return by Murillo placed the ball near midfield.
The first two plays lost 13 yards, but McGaha and Bethel came through with an 18-yard pass play on third-and-23 that ended with an unsportsmanslike conduct penalty on Murphy, first down at the 29.
The Jackets gained another first when Kaden Ledford rushed for 9 yards on two carries. Hayesville then stalled with a 4-yard loss and two incompletions. With :54 left in the half, Josue Salas came on to kick a field goal, but the attempt was waived off when Murphy players committed the rare faux pas of roughing, not only the kicker, but his holder Colton Bruggers to give Hayesville new life at the 11.
On first down, Murphy sacked McGaha for a 9-yard loss. The Baddogs got to McGaha again on the next play, chasing him out of the pocket and ripping his helmet off as they sacked him for another 9-yard loss. The facemask penalty advanced the ball to the 6-yardline. McGaha then connected with Bethel, who dove for the pass in the front corner of the endzone. Salas’ point-after kick cut the score to 44-7.
Hayesville opened the second half with a razzle dazzle misdirection pass play from Coker to Bethel that caught Murphy completely off guard but the Jackets were unable to get near the endzone in the final two quarters.