Late fumble helps Signal Mountain claim first win

Football
Football

Late in Friday night's high school football game at Tyner, the Signal Mountain Eagles looked down. Then they looked out.

And then all of a sudden, a small but fierce Signal Mountain team was celebrating its first win of the season.

With less than a minute to play, a fumble recovery allowed the visitors, trailing by seven points, to set up at the Tyner 49-yard line. Signal Mountain quarterback Tom Vatter found Travion Williams over the middle and Williams took care of the rest, crossing the goal line with 16 seconds to play.

Faced with the choice to try to tie the game and force overtime or go for the two-point conversion and the win, the Eagles put their fate in the hands of force-of-nature running back Collin Weigert. As he had all night, he delivered - and then a game-ending interception sealed the 22-21 win over the Rams.

"They asked for it," Signal Mountain coach Ty Wise said. "I was going to kick it (the extra point). One of our offensive guards was confident we were going to get it, and they're the ones on the field. They have a feel for when something is going to work.

"Collin is our ironman. He never comes off the field, and he's done a great job all year. He's a warrior. That's how you sum up Collin Weigert."

The Eagles' first win came in their fourth game and dropped Tyner to 1-2.

Weigert carried the load with 205 yards on the ground and scored the game's first touchdown with 1:54 to go in the first quarter.

"Amazing," he said of his team's first win. "It's a team game, and I'm really proud of my linemen. We have a great team spirit and a mindset that we're going to get it done for four quarters."

The Rams followed Weigert's opening touchdown with three of their own to take a 21-7 lead into the fourth quarter after the teams were deadlocked at 7-all at halftime.

Ke'un Webb took a pass from Jaylen Bowens 31 yards with 39 seconds left in the second quarter to end a messy first half. The Rams then muscled up in the third quarter, with D'arius Albert punching in scores from 2 and 3 yards.

"We got our blocking schemes down that we weren't getting in the first half," Tyner coach Wayne Turner said. "We were moving the ball a lot better, but we just made some crucial mistakes at a bad time."

Among them were a penalty that ultimately forced the Rams to punt instead of scoring or running the clock out with less three minutes to play and the fumble that gave the Eagles a final breath. After the punt, Tyner actually forced a Signal Mountain fumble that appeared to close down any hope of a comeback before the Rams gave it right back.

Both lapses followed Vatter's 33-yard strike to Sam Gault, who secured the touchdown between two Tyner defenders.

"Hopefully they learned how not to lose again," Turner said. "We made mistakes there in the fourth quarter, and we have to learn from them. Signal Mountain came ready. They played with heart, with fight. They deserved to win."

Webb led Tyner's offense with 129 total yards, and the Rams rushed for 237 yards as 10 players had at least one carry.

Most of Vatter's 105 passing yards were in the fourth quarter. Williams was on the receiving end of 65 of those yards on three catches.

Upcoming Events