Soddy-Daisy senior running back Hayden Maynor had all of getting punched in the mouth he wanted last week when the Trojans opened their season by getting hammered by Red Bank.
More than enough.
Maynor put his team on his back Friday night at East Hamilton as he rushed for 156 yards, caught four passes for 83 yards and scored three touchdowns as Soddy-Daisy handed coach Grant Reynolds his first loss with the Hurricanes, 28-26.
"We came out tonight and you could tell we had a different mindset," said Maynor, who caught two touchdown passes in the third quarter as the Trojans (1-1) turned a 17-14 halftime deficit into a 28-17 lead. "It showed tonight."
Soddy-Daisy quarterback Isaac Barnes, nephew of the Soddy-Daisy head coach, hit Maynor with touchdown passes of 1 and 31 yards in the third quarter. Barnes completed 11 of 33 passes for 100 yards in the game.
"I wasn't real sure how we were going to play tonight after last week," coach Justin Barnes said. "I told them we got punched in the mouth on the field last week and challenged them to respond the right way. Credit goes to our seniors."
Maynor also was involved in the first two East Hamilton scores - as a punter. On Soddy-Daisy's first possession, East Hamilton's Benjamin Holmes Hoppe blocked a Maynor punt and returned it 28 yards for the game's first score.
On the ensuing series, Maynor again dropped back to punt, barely got the kick away and hit a Hurricanes player in the back with it. The Hurricanes took over at the Trojans' 28-yard-line but settled for an Allen Karajic 37-yard field goal to make the score 10-0.
Maynor scored Soddy-Daisy's first touchdown with 3:14 left in the first quarter on an 80-yard drive that included Maynor faking a punt and running 11 yards for a first down.
"He did a little bit of everything," Barnes said of Maynor. "What an effort."
Soddy-Daisy turned the tables in the kicking game on East Hamilton late in the third quarter when Will Ackerman picked up a blocked Trojans punt and returned it 26 yards to the 1-yard line. Two plays later, Isaac Barnes hit Maynor with a 1-yard touchdown pass that would prove to be the game winner.
Maynor carried the ball 22 times, caught four passes and punted six times for the Trojans. His coach said it was one of his finest games, but Maynor was having none of that.
"It can never be a great game when I fumble three times," Maynor said.
Both teams open region play next week. Soddy-Daisy, the defending Region 4-5A champion, travels to Lenoir City while East Hamilton hosts East Ridge in a Region 2-4A contest.
Contact Davis Lundy at sports@timesfreepress.com.