SODDY-DAISY - After a tough Region 4-5A loss last week to Lenoir City, Soddy-Daisy football coach Justin Barnes preached all this week about handling adversity and finishing games.
The Trojans responded, beating rival Hixson 42-7 on homecoming Friday night behind junior running back Hayden Maynor's 124 yards on 17 carries and three touchdowns.
"We showed a little bit of maturity this week taking care of business and playing like we should," Barnes said. "We started clicking offensively, got our run game going. It was a good win for us."
Soddy-Daisy (2-1) caught Hixson (0-3) off guard by recovering an onside kick to start the game, but the Wildcats stopped the Trojans on four downs, took over on their own 39 yard-line and put together a 10-play touchdown drive capped by Landon Wallace's quarterback sneak.
Then the Trojans found their offensive rhythm. After converting on fourth-and-2 from Hixson's 41 by the nose of the ball, they pulled even just before the end of the quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run by Hayden Maynor.
"As soon as we got things figured out (in the running game), we just started rolling downhill from there," Maynor said. "We've just got to get a good start and then finish games."
It didn't take long for the Trojans to seize momentum for good. Another Maynor touchdown just more than a minute into the second quarter gave Soddy-Daisy a 14-7 lead. Senior quarterback Gavin Chambers extended the margin to 14 points with a 6-yard touchdown run minutes later.
The Trojans held the Wildcats to just 66 yards of offense in the first half, with 46 of those on the first drive. Soddy-Daisy scored two more touchdowns on drives of 8 and 21 yards and took a 35-7 lead into halftime.
"Defense is definitely our strong suit right now; we're pretty dominant on that side," Barnes said. "It was really good to come out in that first quarter, see a little bit of adversity and deal with it in an appropriate manner instead of imploding. That's what it's about, us staying poised."
On the opening drive of the second half, Soddy-Daisy drove the length of the field in just more than two minutes. Maynor scored his third touchdown on a nifty 8-yard run that started a running clock.
Contact Kevin Llewallyn at sports@timesfreepress.com.