#2 Maryville takes down #3 Alcoa 30-27 in 93rd Battle of Pistol Creek

BY BRIAN HAMILTON ALCOA – It was the 93rd edition of the Battle of Pistol Creek and boy, was it a good one. Maryville jumped out to an early 17-0 lead, but had to hang on late, as Alcoa fought back in the second half, only to fall 30-27. “You’ve got to put yourself in positions like this to learn about your team,” Maryville head coach Derek Hunt said. “It’s really hard to get our guys up for big game after big game. When you play a team that is good enough to beat you every week and you’re not …

Northview Academy shuts down Claiborne 35-0

BY BRIAN HAMILTON NEW TAZEWELL – Northview Academy traveled to New Tazewell on Friday night to take on Claiborne in a non-region contest. After getting blown out by Alcoa last week, the Cougars responded with a dominant 35-0 win over the Bulldogs. “Cruz-Mendoza had some good runs and we moved the ball around — it wasn’t just one guy,” Northview Academy head coach Heath Woods said. “We are looking forward to building off this.” Northview jumped out to a 22-0 halftime lead, en route to a 35-0 win. Cougars quarterback Alex Cruz-Mendoza ran for 138 yards and three touchdowns on …

Seymour

Seymour dominates Cocke County 49-7

BY BRIAN HAMILTON NEWPORT – Seymour responded to its first loss of the season with a dominant 49-7 win over Cocke County on Friday night. The Eagles rolled up 459 yards of total offense, while holding the Fighting Cocks to just 154 total yards. “Offensively, we played really well,” Seymour head coach Scott Branton said. “We got out of our own way. The kids came out and executed really well early on. We kept our foot on the gas and finished.” Brendon Harris got the Eagles on the board first with a 6-yard touchdown run to make the score 7-0 …

TKA wins thriller over Grace Christian on Homecoming

BY BRIAN HAMILTON SEYMOUR – The King’s Academy finally was able to play their first home game of the season on Friday night, which was homecoming, and defeated Grace Christian by a score of 22-20. “We needed some positive momentum,” TKA head coach Jonathan Sellers said. “We start region play next week. We’re excited and I think this is going to carry over to next week and show that these guys’ hard work is paying off.” The Lions were originally supposed to play their first home game on Week 2, but COVID-19 forced Meigs County to forfeit the game. Of …

Jefferson County loses a thriller to Halls 34-33

BY BRIAN HAMILTON KNOXVILLE – Jefferson County lost a heartbreaker at Halls Friday night, as the Patriots allowed a de-facto game winning kick return for a score and missed a potential game-winning field goal in the waning minutes of a 34-33 loss to the Red Devils. Halls got on the board first when Cameron Bates found the end zone for a 3-yard touchdown run for a 7-0 lead with 5:45 left in the first quarter. The Red Devils’ D.J. Hunt broke off several solid runs later in the first, followed by a 54-yard touchdown pass from Connor Cummings to Camden …