JV Yellow Jackets make big plays, but turnovers prove costly

  • Gary Corsair • Clay County Progress Hayesville's Braiden Tanner, No. 25, puts the clamps on a Cherokee ball carrier.
    Gary Corsair • Clay County Progress Hayesville's Braiden Tanner, No. 25, puts the clamps on a Cherokee ball carrier.
  • Gary Corsair • Clay County Progress Hayesville's Silas Lovingood, No. 7, leads Rylan Graves, No. 1, around left end.
    Gary Corsair • Clay County Progress Hayesville's Silas Lovingood, No. 7, leads Rylan Graves, No. 1, around left end.
  • Gary Corsair • Clay County Progress Johan Webb, No. 2, puts the pedal to metal on the way to a Hayesville first down while teammate Jonathan Godinez-Diaz looks for a Brave to block.
    Gary Corsair • Clay County Progress Johan Webb, No. 2, puts the pedal to metal on the way to a Hayesville first down while teammate Jonathan Godinez-Diaz looks for a Brave to block.
  • Gary Corsair • Clay County Progress Hayesville quarterback Lance Coker, No. 9, gallops around the end for a gain against Cherokee.
    Gary Corsair • Clay County Progress Hayesville quarterback Lance Coker, No. 9, gallops around the end for a gain against Cherokee.

    By Gary Corsair

    Sports Writer

     

    What started with great promise for Hayesville’s JV football team ended in deep disappointment at Cherokee Thursday night.

    Hayesville began the game with a resounding uppercut when Silas Lovingood returned the opening kickoff 59 yards and the Yellow Jackets scored four plays later, but the Braves got off the mat and pounded the visitors, 62-22.

    Hayesville’s initial drive, which included a 7-yard run by Johan Webb, Kaden Ledford’s 2-yard pick-up, and quarterback Lance Coker’s 4-yard touchdown keeper, was beautifully efficient.

    Then things turned ugly after Coker added a two-point run for an 8-0 Hayesville lead.

    After Cherokee, 4-1, evened the score at 8 with a 7-play, 51-yard drive, Hayesville, 1-3, fumbled the ball away at the Yellow Jackets’ 25-yardline. Five plays later, Cherokee cashed in.

    Hayesville then fumbled the ensuing kickoff, once again giving the Braves excellent field position. Cherokee again capitalized, putting the Jackets in a 24-8 hole with just 10:04 into the game.

    The Black-and-Gold responded impressively with Landon Cheeks hauling a squib kickoff 9 yards, Ledford picking up 7 yards on a sweep and Coker taking Hayesville into Cherokee territory with a 9-yard keeper. Then the offense stalled. After two short runs, an illegal procedure call and an incomplete pass, Hayesville went for broke on fourth-and-13 but the pass fell incomplete and Cherokee took over at it’s 46. Five plays later, Cherokee scored again.

    The Braves were cruising, 38-8, when Hayesville struck again with a little under a minute left in the third period when Webb made one of the biggest plays of the night. Webb turned a boo-boo into a bouquet on an errant pitch out that had “big loss” written all over it. Webb scooped up the ball at Hayesville’s 17, 9 yards behind the line of scrimmage, hightailed it toward the guest’s sideline and outran the entire Braves team for a spectacular 87-yard touchdown.

    The score was 62-14 when Hayesville scored again, this time with less than a minute remaining in the game when Coker passed to Webb for a 50-yard touchdown strike. Coker than added a two-pointer run.

    Webb led the Yellow Jackets with 109 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Cheeks was Hayesville’s leading tackler with six. He also fielded two short kickoffs for 21 yards.

    Hayesville Coach Brett Graves is now focused on this week’s meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday at Frank R. Long Memorial Stadium with visiting Robbinsville.

    “We have to establish a running game first and we have to put points on the board,” Graves said. “If we’re going to win, it starts with the offensive line.”