Published: September 06, 2008 01:33 am            

Somerset stings Hornets 57-30

Somerset — After last week’s loss to Southwestern, it was a point of concern whether Somerset could avoid another early season losing streak and get its young squad in gear before traveling to Taylor County in week 3 for a tough district game. But the “Sophomore-set” Briar Jumpers gave the first glimpse of how dangerous they could be Friday night as they thumped a respectable Metcalfe County squad 57-30.

“We needed this kind of performance for our confidence,” said Somerset Head Coach Jay Cobb. “These kids needed to see that they could play at this level and that they could find a way to win. We’ve tried to stay positive with them, and hopefully it will pay off.”

Somerset was able to use a balanced attack on offense and take advantage of several special team blunders on the part of the visiting Hornets to put the game out of reach late. The Briar Jumpers rode the arm of Scott Spears for over 200 yards through the air, and the legs of Derrick Jackson and Thomas Boyle for over 200 more.

Defensively, Metcalfe County was a one horse show, as Daniel Deleon carried 26 times for 223 yards. But he couldn’t do it all by himself.

“Deleon is an incredible runner,” said Cobb. “He did a great job of attacking us on the weak side. But we made some halftime adjustments and were able to slow him down a little better in the second half.”

The first half of the first quarter was uneventful. But in Metcalfe’s second possession the Briar Jumpers forced a Hornet fumble and recovered it at Metcalfe’s 39-yard line. Somerset then put it in the hands of Derrick Jackson. The sophomore tailback carried five times for 38 yards, including the TD scamper from 11 yards out that put the Jumpers in front 7-0.

The Hornets answered right back though. With a third and six from their own 44, Metcalfe quarterback Zach Morgan hit Michael Bennett with a perfectly thrown 47-yard pass down to the nine. Deleon then ran it in on the next play, carrying several tacklers along the way. The two-point conversion run failed and the Jumpers clung to a 7-6 lead.

After punting back and forth a few times, the game really opened up for the Jumpers with about nine minutes to go in the half. On a fourth and nine from their own 26, Metcalfe dropped backed to punt. The snap, however, sailed over punter Lonnie Thompson’s head. The ball bounded all the way into the end zone where Thompson recovered and was immediately tackled for a safety.

“That helped us at a really big time,” said Cobb. “And the way we took advantage of it was a huge confidence builder for us.”

The Jumpers then received the free kick and moved it into Hornet territory where they finally broke out the big guns. Senior QB Scott Spears hit freshman Storm Wilson with a beautiful 38-yard TD pass, the first of the season for Somerset, to push the lead out to ten, 16-6.

But that was just the beginning of the turnaround.

On the ensuing “pooch” kickoff, Metcalfe fumbled the ball back to Somerset, who responded immediately with a 29-yard TD pass to J. P. Henderlight on the first play of the drive. In just over two minutes they scored 16 unanswered points to go up 23-6.

But one thing Somerset couldn’t do on the night was hold down Deleon. He answered with a 59-yard sprint to make it a 23-12 game. Metcalfe again failed on the two-point try, as they would on each of their five attempts on the night.

This time it was Somerset’s turn to cough it back up, as they too fumbled a kickoff return. Metcalfe County methodically moved it 31 yards on eight plays, with Deleon going in from the 11 to make it a 23-18 game.

But just when it seemed the young Jumpers had squandered another good start, the big arm of Scott Spears struck again, though Storm Wilson did most of the work. Wilson took a wide receiver screen pass and took it the distance—56 yards for the third big passing TD of the quarter. The PAT was missed this time, and Somerset took a 29-18 lead into the locker room.

For Spears, it ended up being a 4TD passing performance, putting to bed any doubts after a shaky first week.

“Once Scott settled down some we were able to take advantage of some things we thought we might be able to do this week, “ said Cobb. “It helped that we did a batter job of protecting him too. Once he gets real comfortable with what he’s doing out there he’s going to do good things for us this season.”

The halftime did nothing to stifle Somerset’s momentum. They took the opening kickoff and drove it 63 on 10 plays, with Spears sneaking it into the end zone from the one to make it a 36-18 game.

But Morgan answered back with another big pass to Bennett, this one for 21 yards down to the SHS 30. But this drive epitomized the way the evening went for the Hornets. J.P. Henderlight picked off a fourth and nine pass at the end zone and sprinted up the sideline for an incredible 99-yard interception return for TD.

Then to make things worse, Metcalfe had another snap sail over their punter’s head for a 23-yard loss on fourth down. Four plays later Spears hit Derrick Jackson for a 30-yard TD pass, and before the end of the third quarter Somerset had blasted out to a 50-18 lead.

By the fourth quarter the matter had already been settled. Deleon added TD runs of 22 yards by Deleon and 53 yards by Colton Satterly. Sandwiched in between was a 43-yard TD run by Somerset’s Derrick Jackson, who rushed 19 times for 141 yards on the game with two TD’s, and a third touchdown receiving.

Thomas Boyle also did a good job helping alleviate the loss of starter Josh Troxtle in the backfield. Boyle rushed seven times for 66 yards in the game.

“Thomas is a good back,” said Cobb. “The reason we don’t use him more is that we try to keep him fresh because he plays linebacker for us too. But Josh (Troxtle) was out this week and we needed to use him a little more. He’s a tough, hard-nosed runner and he’s our best blocker out of the backfield. After tonight we may use him a little more back their.”

It was also a break out game for Storm Wilson, who caught for balls for 114 yards and 2TDs.

“I thought Storm Wilson and J.P. Henderlight both played well,” said Cobb. “I thought our running backs played well too. I was happy with the quarterback play, and the line did a great job up front. Overall, I thought we played very well offensively this week.”

Cobb hopes his team can build on the confidence they earned in this win. Next week they go on the road to play their toughest district opponent—Taylor County.



MC 6 12 0 12 — 30

SHS 7 22 21 7 — 57



Somerset—Jackson 11 yd. run (Ortiz PAT). 7-0.

Metcalfe—Deleon 9 yd. run (run failed). 7-6.

Somerset—Safety after bad snap. 9-6.

Somerset—38 yd. pass Spears to Wilson. (Ortiz PAT) 16-6.

Somerset---29 yd. pass Spears to Henderlight. (Ortiz PAT) 23-6.

Metcalfe—Deleon 59 yd. run. (run failed) 23-12.

Metcalfe—Deleon 11 yd. run. (run failed) 23-18

Somerset—56 yd. pass Spears to Wilson. (kick failed) 29-18.

Somerset—Spears 1 yd. run. (Ortiz PAT) 36-18.

Somerset—Henderlight 99-yard interception return. (Ortiz PAT) 43-18.

Somerset—30 yd. pass Spears to Jackson. (Ortiz PAT) 50-18.

Metcalfe—Deleon 22 yd. run. (run failed) 50-24.

Somerset—Jackson 43 yd. run. (Ortiz PAT) 57-24.

Metcalfe—Satterly 53 yard run. (run failed) 57-30.





Rushing — Somerset—Jackson 19-141, Boyle 7-66, Slaughter 2-25, E. Manning 1-15, Coleman 1-4, V. Stephens 1- -1, Carr 2- -2, Spears 5- -18. Metcalfe--Deleon 26-223, Satterly 10-96, Saunders 1-11, Morgan 3-4, Bennett 1- -3, Thompson 4- -27.



Receiving — Somerset—Wilison 4-114, Henderlight 4-60, Jackson 1-30. Metcalfe—Bennett 2-68, Deleon 1-12.



Passing — Somerset—Spears 9-16-204-4. Metcalfe—Morgan 3-12-80-0.

        

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