The Mitchell Mountaineers traveled to Burnsville Friday night to take on Mtn. Heritage on a near perfect weather night for high school football in mid-October. The Mountaineers last win in Burnsville was a 31-28 victory in 2011. A look back at that game 10 years ago was a quarterback led victory by Justin Hughes who gained 158 yards rushing on 23 carries and he scored 4 touchdowns.
The Mountaineers took the opening kick-off and went to work offensively. They set the tone for the night right out of the gate. They moved the ball 67 yards in 5 plays and the first drive of the night was capped by a 43-yard scoring run by Ty Turbyfill at the 9:10 mark of the first quarter. Ben Wessinger added the P.A.T. and the Mountaineer offense was in gear for a good night of work to come.
After the first kick-off for the Mountaineers of the night, the defense limited the Heritage offense to (-15) yards on 3 plays. The first defensive effort of the night was highlighted by a 12-yard tackle for lost yardage by Chandler Horney. After the punt, the Mountaineer offense put together another good drive and moved the ball to the Heritage 22-yard line. A couple of penalties; an illegal procedure/false start and an unsportsmanlike conduct, stalled the drive and the ball was turned over on downs. Neither Mitchell nor Mtn. Heritage could sustain a drive for the remainder of the first quarter.
At the conclusion of the first drive of the second quarter, Heritage found themselves backed up in Mountaineer territory at the 10-yard line. Senior Gabe Brandt broke through the line and blocked a punt attempt by Gabe Silvers. Brandt continued with the play and recovered the ball in the end zone at the 8:29 mark of the second quarter. The P.A.T. failed. After the kick-off, Heritage put together their best drive of the game. They put together a 9-play drive and moved the ball to the Mountaineer 43-yard line before their drive stalled. The Mountaineer offense went back to work and got back on track moving the ball 37 yards in 7 plays before their final drive of the second quarter ended at the 10-yard line with :14 left before the half. Mitchell went to the locker room with a 13-0 lead.
Mtn. Heritage received the opening kick-off of the second half. They took over at the 28-yard line and were able to gain only 6 yards on 3 plays and were forced to punt. The Mountaineer offense went right back to work. They put together a classic 9 play drive that covered 60 yards and took 5:19 off of the clock. Turbyfill capped this drive with an 8-yard run. The 2-point conversion attempt failed and the Mountaineers had a 19-0 advantage.
On the ensuing kick-off, Mtn. Heritage fumbled the kick-off and Mountaineer kicker Wessinger recovered the ball. The offense took the field again and took only :41 and 3 plays to go 41 yards to put another touchdown on the scoreboard on a 5-yard run by Turbyfill. Wessinger added the P.A.T. to bring the score to 26-0 for the Mountaineers with 4:06 remaining in the third quarter. The unthinkable happened again, Heritage fumbled the kick-off and the Mountaineers recovered the ball once more. The offense took the field and began another drive. With this possession, the offense became more methodical and executed a ball control drive that began in the third quarter and continued into the fourth. The offense’s final score came at the 10:56 mark of the fourth quarter and Turbyfill sealed the scoring column on a 1-yard run. Wessinger added the P.A.T. and brought the score to 33-0 and that became the final score.
The Mountaineer offense amassed 316 total yards, while the defense limited Mtn. Heritage to 43 yards. Turbyfill gained 202 yards rushing and scored 4 touchdowns. Carter Hoyle added 73 yards on 14 carries. Defensively, Gabe Brandt had his best performance as a varsity player. He had 12 tackles, two pass deflections and a blocked punt that he recovered for a touchdown. Dalton Hollifield, Chandler Horney, Xander Gardner, and Enrique Huaroco all had solid performances for the defense. This was a great win for the Mountaineers and should give them the inside track of winning or tying for the conference championship. Friday the Mountaineers travel to Rosman for a conference game at 7:30 p.m.