CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Host Walker Valley had the ball first in Friday night’s high school footbal game, but Polk County reversed things quickly.
The Wildcats forced a three-and-out on the first series, then ran a reverse on the ensuing punt that went for a touchdown and started them on their way to a 49-14 victory.
Alex Akins fielded the punt at Polk County’s 32, started left and handed it off to Tyler Lee heading right. Lee was able to turn the corner thanks to an emphatic crackback block by Christian Passmore and weaved his way through coverage for the score.
Polk County coach Derrick Davis said the call is something they’ve had in place for a long time but with Akins out for a while with a concussion and Lee out with turf toe he hadn’t had a chance to call for it.
“I told them in the pregame speech, ‘They’re called special teams because they’re special. Now let’s go make something happen,'” Davis said. “We figured we’d have a chance with that. It feels good when we think we can get one this week and then we do it.”
From there, everything Polk County did worked. So much so, fullback Derrick Saxe ended up with nine carries for 268 yards – seven for 192 before halftime.
“It was nice to see him have a good game,” Davis said. “A lot of times he doesn’t get many carries. I like the unselfishness we’ve shown in the last couple of weeks. Tonight was his night.”
The Wildcats’ last play of the first half was his 94-yard touchdown run. Their first of the second half, he went 71 yards for a score. Both were trap plays.
“I couldn’t have done it without the line,” Saxe said. “You could’ve drove a truck through there.”
The Wildcats’ first play from scrimmage was an incomplete pass by quarterback Jared Allen from their 17. Nine running plays later, with the aid of an offside penalty that improved a Polk County third-down situation to a yard to go, they were in the end zone.
Twice the Mustangs seemingly had Allen trapped in the backfield after he faked a handoff, but he ended up breaking free and running 34 yards for the TD. He swept left end from 19 yards on the Wildcats’ next possession and threw a 53-yard bomb to Lee down the middle of the field that made it 28-0 with 5:40 to play in the first half.
With that the only passing yards in the game, Polk County (4-1) rolled up 348 yards of offense in the first two quarters. Walker Valley (2-4) punted five times in the first half. Polk County did not punt until late in the fourth.
Not to be forgotten was the Wildcats’ defense, which did give up 204 yards to running back Kelvin Wells on 22 carries. But his first 20 netted 75.
“The young guys deserve to play, but it can be a little frustrating when they give up some yards,” Davis said. “The ones that started played well.”
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653.