Haysi claws past Covington
Haysi (35) vs. Covington (21)
Written: Nov 25, 2014
By LLOYD COMBS
for the Daily Telegraph
BIRCHLEAF, Va. -- This time of year all teams preach “survive and advance.” For Haysi, in its last season before consolidation, it’s advance and survive.
The Tigers live to play another week after a physical, 35-21 win over Covington in second round action in the Region 1A West playoffs Friday night at Sandlick Elementary School.
In a game marred by 11 turnovers and 184 yards in penalties, with several ejections in the final minute, Haysi (10-2) advances to state quarterfinal play and will host Galax for the second year in a row.
Four of the turnovers and 42 of the combined 56 points came in a wild second quarter. Two touchdowns came 20 seconds apart in one sequence and three TDs came in a span of 2:06 later in the period.
Two of Covington’s three touchdowns came on returns, one on a 77-yard kick return by Darnell Tolson in the second period and the other on a 23-yard interception return by Tyler Dressler in the third period.
The rest of the night belonged to the Tigers defense. Tristan Yates came up with 16 tackles, four of them for loss, one on a key sack on Covington’s final possession.
“They stepped up,” said Haysi coach James Colley. “Tristan Yates played an awesome ball game. He ran their quarterback down on the other side, coming across stopping a double trap, that’s just two of many plays.
“Robbie Yates played a heck of a game other guys did, too, he sacked the quarterback for a big loss. We had a lot of great plays all night long coming up with stops. I thought our defense came to play.”
After the Cougars took a 14-7 lead on a 32-yard pass from Luke Moye to Raquann Matthews Haysi scored 21 unanswered points to take a 28-14 halftime lead.
Hunter Sutherland returned a kick 74 yards for a score and later hauled in a 4-yard TD pass from Jalen Sykes. In between, Tristan Yates burst out of a crowd and raced down the left sideline 31 yards for a touchdown.
“Physical-wise that’s what we needed (a physical game), because every game from here on out is going to be physical,” Yates said. “Turnovers hurt us, but luckily our defense was awesome.
“I couldn’t be happier. They’re quick, when they get outside it’s hard to stop them. We just had to get good angles and get to the ball.”
Covington turned the ball over five times and Haysi turned it over six.
“We made more mistakes tonight than we’ve made in the last three ballgames,” said Covington coach Rodney Tenney. We had opportunities we just couldn’t capitalize on them.”
Robbie Yates added eight tackles and a key sack for the Tigers.
“My job was to try and keep everything from going outside and stay in my gap and that was all of our jobs,” he explained. “I thought everybody did a great job sticking with their gaps and keeping their cool, except right there at the end.”
Haysi had to rely on its defense to protect its second half lead and did not add to it until a 4-yard scoring run by Turner with 32.2 seconds remaining.
It was set up by a fourth-and-2 completion on a jump pass from Sykes to Gauge Hill for 37 yards to the Covington 5-yard line.
The ejections came on the extra point kick when a Covington player slammed a Haysi player to the ground. Several penalty flags ensued, with the Cougars drawing three unsportsmanlike calls and Haysi one.
Hunter Sutherland returned a kick 74 yards for a score and later hauled in a 4-yard TD pass from Jalen Sykes. In between, Tristan Yates burst out of a crowd and raced down the left sideline 31 yards for a touchdown.
“Physical-wise that’s what we needed (a physical game), because every game from here on out is going to be physical,” Yates said. “Turnovers hurt us, but luckily our defense was awesome.
“I couldn’t be happier. They’re quick, when they get outside it’s hard to stop them. We just had to get good angles and get to the ball.”
Covington turned the ball over five times and Haysi turned it over six.
“We made more mistakes tonight than we’ve made in the last three ballgames,” said Covington coach Rodney Tenney. We had opportunities we just couldn’t capitalize on them.”
Robbie Yates added eight tackles and a key sack for the Tigers.
“My job was to try and keep everything from going outside and stay in my gap and that was all of our jobs,” he explained. “I thought everybody did a great job sticking with their gaps and keeping their cool, except right there at the end.”
Haysi had to rely on its defense to protect its second half lead and did not add to it until a 4-yard scoring run by Turner with 32.2 seconds remaining.
It was set up by a fourth-and-2 completion on a jump pass from Sykes to Gauge Hill for 37 yards to the Covington 5-yard line.
The ejections came on the extra point kick when a Covington player slammed a Haysi player to the ground. Several penalty flags ensued, with the Cougars drawing three unsportsmanlike calls and Haysi one.
"When you don’t keep the game under control that’s what happens and that’s what happened here tonight. I told them about it and that’s the result,” Tenney said.
Tenney, an assistant coach and one player, Derek Dressler were ejected. Brian Duncan was ejected from Haysi.
“It wasn’t a pretty game, a lot of turnovers, a lot of penalties. We played hard and we deserved to win the ball game,” said Colley.
“Not taking anything away from our kids, not taking anything away from them they played a good ballgame, it was just one of those hard-fought games tempers flare you had penalties, and we came out on top.”
At Sandlick Elementary School
Covington...................0 14 7 0 -- 21
Haysi.....................0 28 0 7 -- 35
H-Turner 15 run (Ratliff kick)
C-Tolson 77 kick return (Elmore kick)
C-Matthews 32 pass from Moye (Elmore kick)
H-Sutherland 74 kick return (Ratliff kick)
H-T.Yates 31 run (Ratliff kick)
C-T. Dressler 23 Int. Ret. (Elmore kick)
H-Turner 4 run (Ratliff kick)
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TEAM STATISTICS
First Downs: C 10, H 21; Rushes-Yards: C 35-97, H 35-155; Passing Yards: C 107, H 179; Comp-Att-Int: C 9-17-3, H 18-36-5; Fumbles-Lost: C 5-2, H 2-1; Penalties: C 9-116, H 7-68; Punts-Average: C 5-30.4, H 5-23.4.
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