Welch – Turnovers have been an early plague for Summers County this season.
It’s one they haven’t yet found a cure for.
The Bobcats turned the ball over four more times Friday evening, bringing their season total to 14 as they fell 28-14 in Welch against Mount View.
“We’ve had 14 turnovers in three weeks,” Evans said. “We’re not going to win football games as long as we’re doing that. We’re in every game we play and when we turn the ball over – we turned it over four times tonight, four times last week and a bunch against PikeView. We’re in every one of those games but we’ve got to get that fixed. We thought we had it fixed this week but apparently not. It seems like when the lights come on it doesn’t go good for us at times, but that’s our youth.”
The Bobcats weren’t alone in their turnover struggles.
After Mount View marched down the field late in the first quarter, Duke Dodson picked off a Ryan Long pass on third-and-19 returning it to the Mount View 19. The Golden Knights were fortunate as Summers returned the favor on the very next play, fumbling it.
They quickly took advantage.
Justin Haggerty found a seam on the right side and raced 69 yards down the sideline, staking the hosts to a 6-0 advantage.
It took until the 4:57 mark of the second quarter for the Bobcats to respond but the did on the back of Andre Merriam-Harshaw, who powered in from a yard out to tie the game.
It stayed that way until the fourth quarter with three more turnovers along the way, including another pair on consecutive plays with both team trading fumbles in the final two minutes of the first half.
When the tie was broken it was Merriam-Harshaw again.
On third-and-10 from the Mount View 15, he powered in to give the Bobcats a 14-6 advantage, but the tide quickly turned.
Haggerty caught a pass in the flat on the next drive, breaking two tackles to stay on his feet as he scored from 34 yards out to tie the game.
Next came the gut punch.
Summers committed its third turnover, fumbling the ball at the 40 and two plays later Tony Bailey scooted into the end zone on a 26-yard dash, staking the Golden Knights to a 22-14 lead. As an encore Bailey put the nail in the coffin with a 42-yard scoring jaunt at the 3:43 mark, making it a 28-14 game.
Bailey finished the game with four rushes for 65 yards, scoring on two of them, but also impacted the game as a receiver. He caught six passes for 85 yards, sparking the offense.
“When you’ve got four across the board that can just explode at any time, it’s tough,” Mount View head coach Maurice Gravely said. “You kind of spread the love. (Tony) was telling me ‘coach, I need some touches,’ and I told him we had to tighten it up on defense. Sometimes when you put the ball in his hands he tries to make too many plays but he played smart. If they give you the outlet get up in there and get in the end zone. But the kid’s got tremendous potential. Across the board we’ve got good players. Justin Haggerty is something special as well.”
“Hats off to them,” Evans said. “Coach Gravely does a great job and they’ve got great athletes. You give them a little bit of space and they’re gonna go. And I’d love to have a few of them, but hats off to them.”
With its final gasp, Summers fumbled the ball away again with 1:53 left, sealing its fate.
“They’re a good young team,” Gravely said of Summers. “I remember when that was us. My kids that are seniors now struggled at times when they were younger too. They’re going to be a team that wins a lot of games.”
Merriam-Harshaw led Summers with 24 carries for 125 and two scores. Ryan Long completed nine of his 12 passing attempts for the Golden Knights, throwing for 129 yards. His nine completions came after starting the game 0-for-3 with two interceptions.
Mount View will host Man on Tuesday, Sept. 21 in a makeup of a rescheduled game while Summers County will host Midland Trail next Friday.