Brian Hobson
sports@mitchellnews.com
The night belonged to Kaj Pittman and the Mitchell Mountaineers.
In front of hundreds of fans at Alleghany High School, Pittman scored three touchdowns and Mitchell held on to defeat Alleghany 21-14.
Mitchell started the scoring with a 12-yard run by Kaj Pittman to make the game 7-0. Disaster almost struck on the ensuing kickoff with the Trojans returning the kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, eerily reminiscent of last week’s game against McDowell. Fortunately, the return was negated due to a block in the back by Alleghany.
In contrast, last week’s long return was saved when the Mountaineers forced the McDowell returner to fumble.
Mitchell increased their lead to 14-0 after yet another Kaj Pittman touchdown, but the Trojans answered with 2:37 remaining before halftime, making the score 14-7 as they headed into the locker room.
Scoring went quiet until the fourth quarter, when Kaj Pittman scored his third touchdown of the night on a 33-yard touchdown pass from Caleb Cook, increasing Mitchell’s lead to 21-7. Alleghany scored again with 8:51 left in the fourth quarter, but wasn’t able to score again, and the game ended with Mitchell on top, 21-14.
This week, Mitchell is back at home with a game against 2-0 Andrews, who defeated Hayesville 7-2 on Friday night.
Kick-off is at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13, and it will also be youth night for the recreational league football teams, with flag football games occurring at halftime.