It was a record-breaking night for Hardin Valley, but one that Morristown West wanted no part in helping set. The Hawks set a new school mark for points scored in a 63-14 win over the Trojans at Burke-Toney Stadium Friday night.
For Morristown West (1-9), the loss completed a nine-game losing streak, the only time in school history that the team has recorded nine official losses in a single season. The team lost nine games in 1971, but got a victory back due to an Oak Ridge forfeit. It was a tough way to end the year on Senior Night. The 63 points ties a record for the most surrendered by the Trojans. They gave up 63 to Jefferson County in 2013 and to Knox Catholic in 2016, but that game was also forfeited due to the Fighting Irish fielding an ineligible player.
“My heart goes out to these guys (the seniors),” Morristown West coach Alvin Sanders said. “Week-in and week-out, they found a way to fight through adversity. In the long run, they’re going to well-suited and built for it. Tonight, from a football standpoint, we didn’t play very well and it showed.”
The Trojans trailed early thanks to the Hawks’ running game. Kelton Gunn trotted in from six yards out for Hardin Valley’s first score. Luke Filipkowski score from the eight and Gunn added his second TD with six minutes to go in the opening quarter.
Down 21-0, Morristown West capitalized on a Hawks’ mistake. After Hardin Valley roughed their punter, the Trojans put together a quick scoring drive capped with a 35-yard pass from Dylan Cribley to Mason Paxton.
“We felt like we had scoring opportunities,” Sanders said. “We had shots. We knew exactly what they were going to do, we just didn’t execute very well. Their defense was a tough challenge for us. We missed passes, dropped passes. We had some chances, we just have to learn to capitalize on it.”
Hardin Valley then quickly reeled off four touchdowns in the second period to take a 49-7 lead into the locker room and ensure a running clock in the second half.
Hawks quarterback Sam Simpson hit Braden Schloff for a 31-yard touchdown pass. He followed that with a 45-yard strike to Cameron York and then a 10-yard TD pass to Charles Robertson. Gunn added a third touchdown from the two.
“This game was a disappointing way to send our seniors out,” Sanders said. “We didn’t fight or compete in the fist half. We were kind of wide-eyed against some of the things that Hardin Valley was doing.”
Simpson ran it in himself from the four in the third to put Hardin Valley up 56-7. Caleb Smith scored on two-yard run.
Down 63-7, Morristown West mustered one final scoring drive to end the season on a positive not. Quarterback Noah Tripucka fired a 32-yard touchdown pass to Aquillo Romero with a little under four minutes to go in the game.
“We’ve got so many guys that are inexperienced or first-year football players,” Sanders said. “We’re battling daily to build them up, but at the same time we’re trying to compete and win games. We’ve gotten better, but we’re making mistakes at key moments. You can’t win football games doing that. The progress was made, but at the end of the day we didn’t get it done on the field. We have to do better this offseason.”
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