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Scores and Photos of Friday night high school football - Sept. 18
Good thing Friday's Region 3-4A high school football game at East Hamilton wasn't being judged on beauty. There probably wouldn't have been a winner.
But since it was a football game, East Hamilton did enough on the field to come away with a 20-13 victory over Hixson.
The first half ended with the Hurricanes leading 6-0 on a touchdown that came 1:13 before the break. It came on a shotgun snap over the head of Wildcats quarterback LaDaquis Word, when linebacker Kevin Siniard scooped the ball inside Hixson's 10 and took into the end zone.
It was Hixson's fourth lost fumble of the half. For good measure, East Hamilton, which before that had two goal-to-go situations and failed to score and also missed a 42-yard field goal, failed to make the extra point.
"We killed ourselves," East Hamilton coach Ted Gatewood said. "I think the kids played hard, but we've got to quit making mistakes. At one point in the first half, I almost thought about stopping the game and giving the money back to the people that came."
The Hurricanes got a 40-yard scoring run from David Whiteside early in the third quarter to extend their lead to 13-0. Then the Wildcats went to work with their power running game.
Spearheaded by the work of fullback Myles Ratliff, Hixson proceeded to march 80 yards on 12 plays with Ratliff scoring from the 1 at the 3:49 mark of the third quarter.
But all of that work was erased in a matter of seconds when Jeffrey Coleman returned the ensuing kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown.
"Offense, defense and special teams," Gatewood said. "There are three phases to the game. You've got to win two of the three to win."
Hixson added another long scoring possession in the fourth quarter, moving the ball 70 yards and scoring on the 15th play, a 1-yard sneak by Word.
"We drove the ball great," Hixson coach Dan Duff said. "That's who we are."
Peter Brower of East Hamilton (3-2, 2-0) recovered Hixson's onside kick with 1:36 to play. The 'Canes got one first down but ended up turning it over on downs at Hixson's 16 with 13 seconds left and managed to hold on.
"Our defense has played hard every game," Gatewood said. "The thing we've got to do offensively is help them out. We've got to keep our offense out there more. We can't play behind the chains."
Duff noted that this was the best game his team's defense has played all season, giving up one of the three touchdowns.
"There were a lot of positives from this game, even though we didn't win," said Duff, whose team falls to 0-4, 0-2 in the region. "We just need to get a win."
Whiteside led the 'Canes with 99 yards on 17 carries. Ratliff ran 23 times for 106 yards for Hixson.
Contact Kelley Smiddie at sports@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/KelleySmiddie.