Road to the BlueCross Bowl… Highlanders see season come to an end after tough loss to Bobcats, 29-0
Published 12:49 am Saturday, November 16, 2019
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Star Photo/Cameron Jensen Highlander Wyatt Julian stops a Bobcat running back from getting a first down.
Star Photo/Cameron Jensen Cloudland's Hunter Shell splits through the defense for a first down.
Star Photo/Cameron Jensen Hunter Shell charges through the Bobcat's defense for a good gain.
Star Photo/Cameron Jensen At the end of the first half, Seth Birchfield gets an important first down for the Highlanders.
Star Photo/Cameron Jensen The 'Landers Triston Lacy attempts to pull in a 30-yard pass near the end zone.
Star Photo/Cameron Jensen Cloudland's Triston Lacy snatches the football from a Bobcat offensive player in the Friday night's contest in Roan Mountain.
BY NIC MILLER
STAR CORRESPONDENT
ROAN MOUNTAIN – It was evident that round two of the TSSAA playoffs for the Cloudland Highlanders were being played in Roan Mountain as temperatures throughout the hard-fought contest against the Oliver Springs Bobcats peaked at around thirty-six degrees.
Although the Highlanders had home-field advantage, misfortune struck time and time again for the home team resulting in the end of a great season.
It was the visitors from Oliver Springs who would take possession first and after a slow methodical drive running back Trey Boswell would cross the goal line from twelve yards out to give the Bobcats an early 7-0 edge.
On the ensuing kickoff, Triston Lacy would get out to the 30-yard line before the ball was knocked loose and Oliver Springs would take over once more.
And it didn’t take long for the visitors to capitalize as Boswell would score once more, this time from six yards out.
On their first drive, Cloudland began doing what they do best – running it up the gut. The Highlanders running game, mixed with a costly penalty by the Bobcats, resulted in Cloudland knocking on the door to start the second quarter.
However, misfortune struck the Highlanders once again as a pass from Hunter Shell was tipped and intercepted at the line of scrimmage giving the Bobcats the ball once more.
But early into the Oliver Springs drive it was now Cloudland’s turn to force a turnover as a fumble would give the Highlanders a shot at redemption near midfield.
After yet another costly penalty from the Bobcats, Cloudland would have the ball inside the ten. But after being backed up by a holding call, Oliver Springs would take over once more.
This time the Bobcats would capitalize in the throwing game as quarterback Blake Crass would find Landon Galyon for fifty yards to set up the same connection for a nine-yard touchdown to put Oliver Springs up 22-0 at halftime.
It wasn’t long into the second half before the turnover monster struck Cloudland again resulting in yet another score for Boswell from one yard out giving the visitors a four-score lead, 29-0.
The rest of the contest was just a matter of the Bobcats running the clock down to secure their victory, as they would go on to win 29-0.
Saying goodbye to a group of seniors is never a thing a head coach looks forward to, and this game was no exception.
Head coach Scott Potter said, “These guys had a lot of grit, they stayed with us even when things didn’t look the brightest. They fought as hard as they could all season long but unfortunately, we ran into a good crew tonight.”
After stepping in as interim head coach midway through the season, Potter made sure his team knew that they were still the same team as before.
“It helped that these guys knew me already,” Potter added. “They knew that I loved them and in turn, they were ready to fight for me. I didn’t do anything, these kids just bought in and were ready to do whatever it takes.”
