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to halt winning streak
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Roane County’s Nathan Reynolds defends against Herbert Hoover receiver Robbie Kidd during Friday’s game at Falling Rock. |
Sports Editor - Friday’s football game at Falling Rock between Herbert Hoover and Roane County went the full four quarters.
Determining the outcome, however, didn’t take nearly that long.
“It was over early,” Raider head coach Tom Hardman said after seeing his team get blasted 56-24. It was the first loss in five games for the Raiders, who had entered the game tied for 16th in Class AA, and dropped them to 4-4 on the season.
The No. 11 Huskies, now 6-3, wasted little time in taking all the suspense out of the battle between teams in neighboring counties.
Hoover intercepted a Rhett Atkinson pass – its first of three picks on the evening – and took advantage with a 24-yard touchdown pass from Jamie Hurd to Storm Robinson.
Robinson added a 78-yard TD burst for another TD and then blocked a Raider punt, which was plucked out of the air and returned 16 yards for a score by Robbie Kidd.
The score was 20-0 at the end of a first quarter that saw Roane’s only sign of life, Dylan Cottrell’s kickoff return for an apparent score, called back by a penalty.
“Once they got it going, their guys were super aggressive and our guys were wondering a bit,” Hardman said. “We did not play well enough to compete.”
The Huskies opened the second quarter with a 60-yard scoring pass from Hurd to Kidd before the Raiders finally got on the board. Atkinson found Alex Mace for 40 yards down to the Huskies’ 1-yard-line and Nathan Reynolds later took it in from there.
Hoover tacked on two more scores to build a 42-6 halftime advantage. Patrick Ryan connected with Steve Thaxton from 16 yards and Kidd added a nine-yard scamper to add to the onslaught.
The teams traded TDs in the second half. The Huskies scored on a 1-yard pass from Hurd to Cane Daugherty and on a 25-yard Tyler Cassilas interception return. Roane’s three TDs were all of the long distance variety – a 53-yard run by Cottrell, a 58-yard Atkinson to Mace pass and a 60-yard Atkinson to Josh Wine connection in the waning seconds.
Robinson finished with 111 yards on 11 carries for Hoover. Cottrell was the top rusher for the Raiders with 75 yards on nine carries and Atkinson, despite the three picks, was 8-for-20 for 186 yards, 99 going to Mace on two receptions.
Hardman minced no words in describing his team’s performance in a game that could have locked up a playoff spot.
“I just think we flat got beat,” he said. “They were the better team and deserved to win. The score indicated that. We made a multitude of errors that really snowballed on us, but we’ve got to move on and get ready for the next team.”
The Raiders host Philip Barbour (1-7) Friday for Senior Night.
See complete stats in Oct. 29 print edition.
