ERWIN—For 18 minutes, the Cloudland Highlanders played tough with the Unicoi County Blue Devils, but with football legs still under 75 percent of the players, there wasn’t enough bounce in the legs late as the Highlanders fell 56-46 to the Blue Devils.

“We just haven’t had enough practice as eight of our 13 played football,” said Harrison. “We are just hoping to steal a couple of wins before Christmas.

“Unicoi’s post players are tough as they come. Our guys just ran out of gas down the stretch.”

Unicoi Co. came out of the gate as the aggressors pumping in 21 points in the first quarter to only seven for the Highlanders.

However, Coach Gary Harrison’s team didn’t tuck their tails as they continued to scrap with the Blue Devils to narrow the gap to 29-17 at the break.

Josh Blair led the early charge with eight points coming on the inside against the tough post players of Unicoi Co.

Trevor Hensley helped to establish the early lead for the Blue Devils with 10 points in the half. Dylan Putman buried two long-range treys as well for Coach Michael Smith’s squad.

Cloudland outplayed the Blue Devils in the third quarter outscoring the home team 20-18 and had narrowed the lead to six points with 4:46 left to play in the final quarter.

The Highlanders had several close-range shots roll in and out of the cylinder down the stretch as the Blue Devils were able to extend the advantage to 10 points and held on to win.

Preston Benfield seeing his first significant action since a football injury led the Highlander charge with 12 points for the contest.

Benfield was joined in double figures by Blair who finished with 11. Brinkley Mull fired in eight points and Jason Potter contributed six points.

Shelton led three Blue Devils in double digits with 19. Putman finished with 14 while Jacob Smith collected 10.

The road doesn’t get easier as the Highlanders will face Coach Chuck Babb’s 4-1 Warriors tonight on Warrior Hill at 8 pm.

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Boys

Unicoi Co., 56-46

Cloudland (46)

Brinkley Mull 8, Josh Blair 11, Malachi Benfield 2, Preston Benfield 12, Robert Leeper 4, Jason Potter 6, Dillion Johnson 3.

Unicoi Co. (56)

Dylan Putman 14, Trevor Hensley 19, Chase McNabb 2, Troy Podvin 5, Clay Simpson 6, Jacob Smith 10.

Cloudland……7   10   20   9—46

Unicoi Co…..21     8   18   9—56

3-PT Goals: Cloudland 4 (Josh Blair, Jason Potter, Dillion Johnson, Brinkley Mull). Unicoi Co. 4 (Dylan Putman 3, Troy Podvin).