Once again the turnover bug bit Happy Valley on Friday night atop Warrior Hill.
The Warriors fell into a 20-0 second quarter hole to conference foe Sullivan North. North accumulated 344 rushing yards and scored after two HV fumbles in a 28-21 victory over the Warriors.
The loss dropped the Warriors to 0-2 (0-1 conference) while Sullivan North remained unbeaten at 3-0 (1-0 conference). Running backs Christian Arnold and Darius Peterson were twin terrors for North as Peterson rushed for 136 yards and Arnold chipped in with 133. Both did their damage on 23 carries.
Senior running back Mookie Madison led a HV touchdown drive before the end of the half to close it to 20-7. Madison rushed for 73 of his 90 yards in the first half to give the Warriors a big lift.
“First off my hat’s off to Happy Valley,” commented Raiders head coach Robbie Norris. “I have a lot of respect for them. They showed a lot of character. A team with lesser character would have folded, but they didn’t.
“Last week we had 400 yards rushing, and we prefer to run the ball and we thought we had a good chance to run the ball,” Norris said. “These kids have a knack for winning.”
Happy Valley’s first drive took them from the 20 to the Raiders 42 yard line before turning it over on downs. The HV defense forced a turnover on downs from North taking over at the 18 yard line.
A penalty pushed them back and on third and eight, junior quarterback Sage Haun lost the handle and Tanner Arnold recovered for the Raiders. It took the Raiders just two plays for Peterson to take it in from 10 yards out and give North a 6-0 lead after the two point pass fell incomplete.
Junior running back Dylan Street fumbled on HV’s second play from scrimmage and Justin Cross recovered for North at the 45-yard line. Nine plays later Arnold scored from 11 yards out and the point after kick by Elijah Maness made it 13-0.
HV’s next series was a nine play drive that ended with a completed pass from Haun to senior wideout Josh Hammonds that fell three yards short on fourth and 18. It looked like the Warriors’ defense would hold with North backed up at the four yard line after a penalty, but a major penalty by HV gave the Raiders a first down at the 27 yard line.
From there North went nine plays with Peterson scoring from eight yards out and the Raiders led 20-0.
In the third period HV once again was its own worst enemy as they had North in punt formation only to have an offside penalty give the Raiders a first down. Thirty more yards were tacked on due to a pair of personal foul penalties to set North up at the 24 yard line.
Peterson scored his third touchdown of the night on a 24 yard scamper with Mikey deBriel tacking on the deuce for a 28-7 Raiders lead.
“We lost our composure,” Warriors head coach Jason Jarrett said. “That’s my fault. All night penalties hurt us and that is something we have to fix. We made some great adjustments at halftime, coach Hyder did and our kids played their hearts out.”
The Warriors scored before the end of the third period on a 14 yard touchdown pass from Haun to Hammonds to make it a 28-14 game and after forcing a Raider punt the Warriors took over at the 30 yard line.
Five plays later Haun once again found Hammonds for six, this time from 33 yards out to close to 28-21 with 9:57remaining.
North then went on a time consuming drive that ended at the HV 13 yard line with :42 seconds left in the contest. Haun completed a 30 yard pass to Hammonds who caught five passes for 102 yards and two scores.
Haun completed seven of 16 for 123 yards and threw no interceptions.
Happy Valley takes to the road next week at Unicoi County.
“It was rewarding to see our kids play so hard,” Jarrett said. “Good things are going to happen for us. We work too hard and care too much for it not to.”
Sullivan North 28-21
Sullivan North 6 14 8 0 – 28
Happy Valley 0 7 7 7 – 21
First Quarter
SN – Peterson 10 run (pass failed)1:56
Second Quarter
SN – Arnold 11 run (Maness kick)10:19
SN – Peterson 8 run (Maness kick)1:14
HV – Madison 5 run (Morefield kick) :14
Third Quarter
SN – Peterson 24 run (deBriel run)6:01
HV – Haun 14 pass to Hammonds (Morefield kick) 3:27
Fourth Quarter
HV – Haun 33 pass to Hammonds (Morefield kick) 9:57