Scott County’s defense shuts down Great Crossing in ‘Battle of the Birds’
While it took only three years for Great Crossing to surpass sister school Scott County in a couple of high school football ratings after a 5-0 start this season, the Cardinals’ 14-6 win over the Warhawks on Friday night in front of a massive crowd at Birds Nest Stadium proved there’s still plenty of fight left in the old school at 1080 Cardinal Drive.
The first two Battle of the Birds were Scott County blowouts. Class 5A’s No. 9 Warhawks stayed in this year’s District 6 contest until the end despite some costly turnovers.
“Great Crossing, they surprised me a little bit this week. We thought we were going to roll them over but we didn’t,” said Scott County two-way standout Jeremy Hamilton, who scored a third-quarter touchdown and secured an important first down late in the fourth quarter to assure the win. “We had to fight a little bit, but it was a fun game for me, and I’m happy to say I got to play against some of my brothers that I grew up with on the other team.”
Great Crossing turned the ball over via fumbles on its first two possessions of the game, both stopping drives inside the Cardinals’ 20-yard line. And then the Warhawks turned the ball over again on their opening drive of the second half when Scott County’s Paul Garner intercepted a pass inside the Cards’ 5-yard line.
“It was awesome. Getting that pick and just seeing all my coaches and the players over on the sideline going crazy for me — my adrenaline was going crazy,” Garner said. “I was just happy to be in that situation and make that play.”
The red-zone turnovers proved devastating, as did two failed drives in the fourth quarter.
“They kept pushing us back, and we just couldn’t execute when we needed to,” Great Crossing Coach Ricky Bowling said. “We’ve just got to bounce back. It was a great football team we played against, a very tough physical game.”
Great Crossing escaped damage from its first fumble of the night, but it ceded the lead after its second turnover as Scott County embarked on a seven play, 91-yard drive capped by quarterback Andrew Hickey’s stunning 43-yard touchdown pass to Taylor Luttrull. Scott County doesn’t throw often, but when it does it’s usually for a big play. Scott County led 7-0 going into halftime.
The Warhawks opened the second half with another drive deep into Cardinals’ territory only to see Garner’s interception at the Scott County 4-yard line spoil the threat.
“Our defense has gotten better every game,” Scott County Coach Jim McKee said. “We got pressure when we needed to. We played coverage when we needed to. We were able to stop the run, and we kept on stopping it.”
Scott County held Great Crossing to 79 yards rushing and only eight first downs. The Warhawks had been averaging more than 141 yards rushing and 32 points per game.
“We just made sure we read our keys on defense and did what we had to do on offense,” Hamilton said.
After the interception, which was returned to the Scott County 24, the Cardinals put together another long drive that included a fourth-down conversion in their own territory and Hamilton’s touchdown from 3 yards out. The drive went 17 plays, burned more than seven minutes off the clock and staked Scott County to a 14-0 lead late in the third quarter.
It took a fake punt to keep Great Crossing’s hopes alive. Kalib Perry, the Warhawks’ Tennessee commit, lines up at punter in addition to his linebacking and offensive playmaking roles. With Great Crossing facing a fourth-and-5 at its own 37, he pulled the ball down and swept right for 27 yards and a first down.
Seven plays later, Gabe Nichols found Zackarrey Kelley in the corner of the end zone for a 5-yard TD to cut the Scott County lead to 14-6 with 9:26 left in the game. The extra point was blocked.
Great Crossing then needed a stop on defense and got one when Peyton Harris intercepted Hickey in Scott County territory. Nichols’ 29-yard pass to Perry got Great Crossing to the Scott County 20-yard line again, but the Warhawks couldn’t convert a fourth-and-7 and turned the ball over on downs midway through the fourth quarter.
Scott County ran three more minutes off the clock on its next drive before punting. When the Warhawks got the ball back, a holding penalty made them need 25 yards for their next first down. They couldn’t convert and gave the ball back to Scott County on downs for the second time in the fourth quarter.
The win evened Scott County’s record at 3-3, with their only losses coming to ranked teams, including Class 5A No. 1 Frederick Douglass. Montago Jones led Scott County in rushing with 101 of its 270 yards on the ground.
“I look over the (Class) 5A stuff and I feel good about playing everybody in that list other than Frederick Douglass,” McKee said. “We’ve got to get better on offense and the kicking game to give ourselves a chance against them if we can get back to them.”
Getting a rematch with Douglass might mean another game in the first round of the district playoffs against Great Crossing. The Warhawks probably will need wins over both Montgomery County and Grant County in the coming weeks to make that happen.
“We’re OK. We’ve got Montgomery County next week,” Bowling said. “How do we bounce back? We’ve got to continue to work, stay together, come back with a little chip on our shoulder with a little humble pie right there tonight. Now, let’s go finish up the season how we need to and hopefully see (Scott County) again here in about five weeks.”
This story was originally published October 2, 2021 at 8:42 AM.
