By Gary Corsair
Staff Writer
The undefeated Hayesville Yellow Jackets will learn how good they are this Friday when unbeaten Tuscola, a Class 3-A power, lumbers into Frank R. Long Memorial Stadium.
Yes, “lumbers.” The Mountaineers’ roster features several boys big enough to eat hay and sleep in a barn.
Yes, the prospect of doing battle with a 3-0 team sporting college-size linemen does concern Hayesville Head Coach Chad McClure.
“Their linemen are kind of big and they are able to platoon them,” Coach McClure said. Kind of big? Six Tuscola players stand 6’ 3” or taller and weigh at least 230 pounds. That includes a pair of Goliaths (6’ 4” 290 pounds and 6’5” 320 pounds).Makes you wonder what’s in the water over Waynesville way.
Hayesville, by contrast, is on the small side, but hold a 4-0 record. The Yellow Jackets are also talented, quick, scrappy and fearless. An upset by the Yellow Jackets is definitely possible. You know what they say about the bigger they are, the harder they fall.
“Tuscola is a really good team, but our kids are tough and they’re getting more confident,” Coach McClure said. “It’s going to be a good test for us, but I’m confident our kids are ready.”
Hayesville didn’t look ready Friday night at Lookout Valley. Not at first. “Maybe it was the long bus ride to Chattanooga, but we didn’t come out looking sharp,” Coach McClure said.
The Yellow Jackets fumbled the ball away on their first play from scrimmage and quickly found their backs against the proverbial way as Lookout Valley pushed the ball to the 1 yard-line.
The hosts got no closer. Hayesville’s defense answered the alarm on second-and-goal when Seth Leek shot the gap and joined Lane “The Train” O’Dell in dumping the quarterback for a 4 yard-loss.
On the next play, Lookout Valley fumbled the snap and Hayesville’s Kyle Lunsford pounced on the pigskin. “Our kids really responded. If they (Lookout Valley) go in and score they would have had the momentum,” Coach McClure said.
Crisis averted, assuming the Yellow Jackets could climb out of the hole. Forget climbing, starting on its own 7 yard-line, Hayesville catapulted out of danger as Logan Caldwell displayed the coolness of a Carlotta’s shaved ice snowball.
Hayesville’s “Scramblin’ Man” dissected the home team with 4 third-down pass completions: a 14-yard side-line rope to sure handed Avery Leatherwood; an 8-yard toss to Lunsford, who lowered his head and punished would-be tacklers for an additional 3 yards that secured a first down; a short lob to Tate Roberts, who made a leaping catch and fell forward for another first; and a 12-yard to Taylor McClure that moved Hayesville inside the 10 yard-line.
That beautiful first scoring drive, which culminated with “Automatic” Isaac Chandler kicking a 29-yard field-goal, set the tone for the night.
“On third-down conversions we were 60 percent. Lookout Valley were 0-7. That was a huge stat in the game,” Coach McClure said.
Here’s another note worthy number: 73. That’s the percentage of passes Caldwell completed (11-of-15) throwing 135 yards. The Scramblin’ Man also gained 45 yards on the ground. “He’s a great quarterback,” Coach McClure added. “He’s very experienced and he’s been in a bunch of battles.”
Caldwell’s greatness was obvious on Hayesville’s second scoring drive, which began with a second-quarter interception by Roberts. On 1st-and-10 at Lookout Valley’s 15 yard-line, Caldwell rolled right, reversed field and scampered left, then threw across field to the back corner of the end-zone while backpedaling and being smacked by a tackler. On the receiving end, Lunsford gathered the ball in for Hayesville’s first touchdown.
“Logan did a great job to extend the play,” Coach McClure said. “And Kyle did a good job of changing his route to get open.”
Chandler’s boot increased the lead 10-0 with 4:35 remaining in the half.
Lookout Valley answered by moving 17 yards on its first two plays. Then Hayesville’s D shut the door. First, Ethan McGuffee and Cameron Payne overwhelmed quarterback Blake Ferguson in the backfield. Three plays later, on 4th-and-10, Jeremy Graves smacked Ferguson as he threw and McGuffee grabbed the errant pass.
Hayesville ate up 22 yards on a 17-yard roll-out by Caldwell followed by a 5-yard touchdown by Dawson DeVane for a 16-0 lead 1:28 before intermission.
Ferguson answered a minute later when he rain-bowed a Hail Mary into the end-zone that Lookout Valley’s Jackson Marsh and Caldwell both claimed. The men in stripes signaled touchdown and the hosts ran a 2-point conversion that trimmed the lead to 16-8.
Hayesville’s coaches used the intermission to fine tune. “We were having trouble with the back-side blocking so we had to make some adjustments,” Coach McClure said. “We decided to spread things out and get the running game going. We weren’t moving the ball consistently.”
Hayesville came out in the shotgun, with DeVane the only back alongside Caldwell and running backs Taylor McClure and Lunsford lined up in the slot as receivers. The formation forced the defense to spread since wide-outs Leatherwood and Michael Mauney also warranted attention.
DeVane was up for the challenge, as his coaches knew he would be. “DeVane’s going to give you everything he’s got every play,” Coach McClure said.
Pinpoint passes from Caldwell to McClure (15 yards) and Leatherwood (13 yards) set up Caldwell’s 1-yard plunge that increased the lead to 22-8.
Lookout Valley was clearly in trouble. And Hayesville’s No. 60 was a big reason why.
“Lane O’Dell had a great game. He probably had double digit pancake blocks. They kept sending in fresh nose guards,” Coach McClure said.
The coach also praised Jeremy Graves for a good showing in the trenches, also nothing that Payne and McCaslin showed improvement.
With the line performing, Hayesville ended the third quarter with a 3-play, 60-yard scoring drive that featured a 10-yard run by DeVane and a 30-yard zigzag carry by McClure that would make an accomplished seamstress proud. Six defenders had a shot at grabbing McClure — and one briefly got a handful of shirt – but Taylor high-stepped to paydirt. Chandler made it 29-8.
DeVane reclaimed the spotlight on Lookout Valley’s first play from scrimmage after the kickoff. Ferguson pitched wildly and Dawson happily pocketed the rock. Two plays later, Caldwell offered a short pass to Leatherwood, who broke two tackles to reach the endzone. Chandler split the upright. Hayesville 36-8.
Lookout Valley answered with a scoring drive, but Hayesville had time for an exclamation point with Roberts at quarterback. Tate promptly boogied 23 yards and Mauney finished the statement with runs of 4, 10 and 4, the latter producing 6 points.
McClure led Hayesville in rushing with 73 on just 14 carries. He also led all tacklers with 11 takedowns. Leatherwood was the top receiver with 5 catches.
For the fourth time in as many games, the Hayesville D allowed two touchdowns. A year ago, the Yellow Jackets allowed 134 points in the first four games.
“Our defense is playing very solid football,” Coach McClure said. “I’m so proud of the kids,” Coach McClure said. “We’re off to a great start.”
The defense will need to be super solid this Friday night. Tuscola is averaging 38 points per game. The chief threats are quarterback Jeff Benson (322 yards rushing in three games) and running back Dez Rodriguez, who rolled for 194 yards on 21 carries in a 33-12 win over Erwin last week.
Hayesville hopes to avenge a 46-21 loss to Tuscola in 2021.
Honey from the Hive
• Logan Caldwell has put the ball in the air 55 times and still hasn’t been intercepted.
• Lookout Valley was the first game Hayesville played on a real grass this season.
• 27 years ago this week, Hayesville made a 4-hour trip to Landmark Christian and prevailed 28-14 on touchdowns by Jake Davies, Mark Mercer and Brian Trout.
Box Score
Hayesville 0-16-13-15 – 44
Lookout Val. 0-8-0-6 – 14
Hayesville Scoring
Q2 – Isaac Chandler, 29-yard field goal.
Q2 – Kyle Lunsford, 15-yard pass from Logan Caldwell. Chandler kick.
Q2 – Dawson DeVane, 5-yard run. Kick failed.
Q3 – Caldwell, 1-yard run. Kick failed.
Q3 – Taylor McClure, 31-yard run. Chandler kick.
Q4 – Leatherwood, 9-yard pass from Caldwell. Chandler kick.
Q4 – Mike Mauney, 5-yard run. Chandler kick.
Hayesville Passing
Caldwell 11-of-15, 135 yards, 2 touchdowns, 0 int.
Hayesville Rushing
McClure 14/73, Caldwell 10/45, DeVane 6/33, Tate Roberts 1/23, Mauney 5/17, Lunsford 3/1. Total: 39/191
Hayesville Receiving
Leatherwood 5/56, Lunsford 4/54, McClure 1/16, Roberts 1/9
Hayesville Punting
Leatherwood 1/44
Hayesville Leading Tacklers
McClure 10, Bryan Davenport 5, Lane O’Dell 5, Mauney 4, Roberts 4