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Scores and Photos of Friday night high school football - Sept. 25
A running back with 134 yards, a quarterback with 184 and a receiver with 139, yet East Hamilton's surprising victory over Soddy-Daisy rested on the hands and legs of Daniel Wallace.
The senior defensive back turned the game's only turnover Friday night into a 69-yard interception return and preserved the Hurricanes' 28-26 victory over the previously unbeaten Trojans.
Happy homecoming.
"Daniel Wallace - what a great kid," East Hamilton coach Ted Gatewood said. "He's been in our program since the seventh grade, and he has just worked so hard in the offseason and he's such a great young man. He loves the game and loves to play the game."
Though they were never behind, the Hurricanes (4-2) had plenty to overcome and got some help from some Soddy-Daisy miscues.
"It was a good football game. They played hard. I was pleased with some things we did early, but that second half - we've got some things to clean up," Gatewood said. "We had some kids make some big plays, but we'll be working for sure next week on our discipline."
East Hamilton was flagged 15 times for what may be a school-record 125 penalty yards. Soddy-Daisy (4-1) had a sure touchdown pass dropped by a wide-open receiver and an 80-yard TD run by Christian Bell nullified by a penalty.
East Hamilton's David Whiteside ran for 134 yards, including a 69-yard score keyed by a line-of-scrimmage brush block by quarterback Nick Woods. Woods had the 184 passing yards on a 12-of-17 night, and two of his tosses went to Jeffrey Coleman, who had touchdown receptions of 58 and 81 yards.
Those performances overshadowed a quality showing by Trojans quarterback Justin Cooke, who threw for 305 yards on 19 completions in 27 attempts. Bell finished with 88 rushing yards.
East Hamilton went up early, leading 14-0 at the end of the first quarter on the Woods-to-Coleman passes.
"I was happy, but we have to learn you can't get too happy. We have to teach them that," Gatewood said. "You have to remain happy and remain on an even keel."
Soddy-Daisy rebounded on a 54-yard pass from Cooke to Tre Carter, who finished with six catches for 182 yards, but East Hamilton countered on Whiteside's long run.
A second Carter touchdown reception from a scrambling Cooke covered 76 yards and cut East Hamilton's lead to 21-13. The Trojans cut it to two points on Cooke's 15-yard run but missed the tie when a two-point play went awry.
That set the stage for Wallace, whose 69-yard return boosted East Hamilton back into a nine-point lead with 3:49 to play. The Trojans scored once more, on Cooke's 2-yard run with 1:34 left, but East Hamilton all but ended the game by falling, finally, on Soddy-Daisy's onside kick.
"Dumb penalties, missed tackles - I think we came out expecting them to lay down for us. In the first 20 minutes we played like they were going to give it to us and we don't have to work," Soddy-Daisy coach Justin Barnes said. "In the grand scheme, if you're going to lose one this was one to lose because it isn't a region game. We had our opportunities."
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.