CHARLESTON, Tenn. — Walker Valley coach Drew Akins called a timeout with 5.9 seconds to play in the first half and his Mustangs at the Campbell County 5-yard line.
The plan was for quarterback Evan Schwarzl to take a three-step drop and get the ball out of his hand quickly, giving the home team an opportunity to kick a field goal if the pass fell incomplete.
Schwarzl instead took the snap, scrambled to his right and bought time before finding Hudson Makuch wide open in the end zone. Akins stared at Schwarzl coming off the field, with the quarterback giving him a quick embrace and pointing to the scoreboard, which read Walker Valley 41, Campbell County 27.
"I was just like, 'Man, coach, I'm sorry. I know what you told me, but I've got to do my thing, man,'" Schwarzl said of the second of his five touchdown passes in a 74-33 win for Walker Valley in the first round of the TSSAA Class 5A playoffs Friday night.
(READ MORE: Final scores and photos from Friday night's Chattanooga-area prep football games)
"He said some mean words back," Schwarz added, "but it's all love."
It was that kind of night for the Mustangs (9-2), the Region 4 champions who used their speed advantage at the skill positions to pile up 462 yards on 42 plays against the Cougars (4-7), the No. 4 seed from Region 3. It gave the offense a chance to carry a Walker Valley defense — the team's strength this season — that struggled against the Campbell County passing attack.
Despite those struggles, the Mustangs' Jacob Hollingsworth and Braxton Smith both returned interceptions for touchdowns.
Walker Valley advances to next week's second round and will host Region 3 runner-up Lenoir City (7-4), which beat Rhea County 31-13 on Friday to end the Golden Eagles' season at 5-6. The Mustangs beat Rhea County 42-12 in September.
Schwarzl completed 15 of 18 passes for 313 yards while rushing for 51 yards and another score against Campbell County.
"Evan's our guy," Akins said. "We're going to put the ball in his hands and we're going to trust that he's going to make plays. Obviously he did tonight, had a special career night for him.
"I shook my head at him at that play, but we scored, so I'm going to trust him enough to make that call and know that even if he doesn't do it exactly how I say, he's going to make a play."
Three of Schwarzl's touchdown passes went to Makuch, who had 94 yards receiving, while Roman Eulo and Brady Stack also had touchdown grabs. Tanner Whittenbarger added two touchdowns on the ground, and Malachi Martin had one.
Walker Valley's defense held Tennessee Titans Mr. Football semifinalist Gavin Owens to 55 yards of total offense, but the Mustangs were torched for 359 passing yards and three touchdowns by Landen Hensley.
"Our defense has been unbelievable throughout the season," Akins said, "so for us to come out and carry them for a night where they're struggling and not playing their best game, that's still a great job by us and our kids offensively, and it's nice to see a team victory.
"That's a huge thing to give us confidence as a team, to know we can win multiple ways."
Leundre Hinton led the Mustangs with nine tackles and Conner Phillips had a pair of sacks.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.