Highlanders conquest in Mountain City ends in a victory, 46-0
Published 1:21 am Saturday, October 26, 2019
- File Photo/Ivan Sanders Cloudland's Bentley Gilbert hauled in two touchdown receptions against Johnson County Friday night in the Highlanders 46-0 rout.
BY NIC MILLER
STAR CORRESPONDENT
MOUNTAIN CITY – As October comes to a close, you could definitely feel the change in temperature in Mountain City as the Cloudland Highlanders traveled to Johnson County High School to take on the Longhorns Friday night.
In a game where the rain came down for the majority of the contest, the Highlanders were not phased as they emerged from Mountain City with an impressive 46-0 victory over the Longhorns.
Cloudland started the game off explosively as Wyatt Julian took the opening kickoff across midfield to the Longhorn 47-yard line.
Cloudland continued to do what they do best on the opening drive – running the football through the teeth of the defense.
Hunter Blair capped off the drive with a 15-yard rushing touchdown followed by a Seth Birchfield conversion to give the Highlanders an early 8-0 lead.
For a while, it seemed like the Longhorns were going to be able to even the score but a costly penalty forced a punt and another Cloudland possession.
Tristain Lacey kept the momentum going on the second drive carrying the ball 24 yards just inside the ten-yard line to set up a one-yard touchdown run by Birchfield to give the Highlanders a 14-0 lead to start the second quarter.
Things couldn’t get worse for Johnson County as on the ensuing drive, Stacy Greer’s pass was picked off by Lacey who returned the ball to midfield before gaining another 15 yards as the result of a late hit by the Longhorns.
On the very next play, Hunter Shell was able to find a wide-open Bentley Gilbert for a 33-yard touchdown grab followed by a Lacey conversion to increase the score to 22-0 in favor of the Highlanders.
After ten minutes of no scoring, the Cloudland defense stepped up once again as it was Colin Morgan leaping to intercept another Greer pass to give the Highlanders the ball once more.
Just as the half came to a close the Highlanders were able to strike again as Shell found Gilbert from 22 yards to increase the score to 30-0 at the half following another Lacey conversion.
The Highlanders came out in the second half with the same intensity that they had in the first as Lacey would carry the ball from 30 yards out for a touchdown followed by yet another successful conversion by Blair to give Cloudland a running clock and increase the lead to 38-0 midway through the third quarter.
Even with the time winding down rapidly, Lacey had time to work his magic one more time with another TD carry, this time from 13 yards out to make the score 46- 0 after yet another successful conversion.
It couldn’t get better for Cloudland after the defense was able to force a fumble and their third turnover of the game to give them excellent field position late in the game.
As time expired rapidly, the Longhorns were not able to get anything going as Cloudland walked away from Johnson County the victors by a score of 46-0 in a terrific showcase on both sides of the ball.
The Highlanders will cap off the regular season next week as they travel to Thunder Valley to take on the Sullivan North Raiders.
