CLEVELAND, Tenn. - The Signal Mountain Eagles encountered an insurmountable Hill inside Benny Monroe Stadium Friday night.
Cleveland junior quarterback JaShawn Hill not only accounted for the Blue Raiders' first five touchdowns, but his performance in the final two minutes prior to the festivities shifted the momentum of the game and could have gotten him elected to this year's homecoming court.
Just how sharp was Hill's game in the Blue Raiders' 44-13 victory?
He threw two touchdown passes in the final two minutes of the first half and ran for two scores in the second half. His 15-yard pass to Skyler Davis opened the scoring and set the offensive tone on a night when the junior went 8-for-18 for 174 yards and added 70 yards running.
Most of his ground work took place in the second half when he scored on runs of 10 and 9 yards, but his dual-threat abilities kept the hustling Eagles off balance and keyed the momentum-shifting drives before the break.
"We've learned so much in these first games, and we were confident when we came out tonight and the whole team played well," Hill said.
After hitting Taddarius Brown with a 36-yard score with 2:04 left in the second quarter, Hill was driving the Raiders (3-3) down the field in the final seconds when the ball slipped from his hands before a pass attempt. The ball bounced right back to him and he quickly found Davis, who hauled down a 19-yard scoring strike.
"The ball slipped and I was able to get it back, and then I found Skyler," Hill said. "That was big for us right before the half."
"That was huge for momentum going into halftime," coach Scott Cummings said. "We were able to use our timeouts effectively and get the ball back with some time on the clock. We threw the ball very effectively tonight.
"But we'll watch the film," added Cummings, noting that he's looking for Hill and his team to continue to improve. "We'll critique JaShawn and keep working on the little things that are going to make him a champion. We know he can throw the rock."
The Class 3A Eagles stood toe-to-toe with the Raiders for much of the first half. In fact, the Eagles had a strong response to the Raiders' opening scoring drive as they kept the ball for over six minutes and took a 7-6 lead on a 15-yard Nathan Johnson scoring run and extra point.
But the Class 5A hosts used their depth and kept pounding away with Hill at the controls. The Raiders finished with 495 yards of total offense, while the Eagles gained 277 yards. Cleveland enjoyed a huge advantage in the air with 208 yards to the Eagles' 22.
Signal Mountain mounted a 74-yard drive that brought it within nine points in the third quarter. A 5-yard TD run by Collin Weigert highlighted his game-leading 181 yards on the ground.
Micaleous Elder powered Cleveland's rushing efforts with 132 yards on 12 carries.
"We were able to wear them down some because we knew their depth would be an issue," Cummings said. "I want to give a lot of credit to those Signal Mountain kids. They've got all these kids playing both ways. The kids on that team are fighters. They played hard."
Contact Greg Thompson at sports@timesfreepress.com