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Huntsville Middle comes up short in title bid

JACKSBORO — It may well have been one of Huntsville’s better performances of the season. But, in the end, it wasn’t enough to topple one of the best Class A teams Area II has seen in some time, as Coalfield captured the “East Tennessee championship” Saturday afternoon with a 14-0 win over the Bears.

Both defenses played well throughout the day, with Huntsville limiting Coalfield to 139 yards of total offense, and the Yellow Jackets limiting the Bears to 95 yards.

The game was scoreless until midway through the third period, when Coalfield scored on a 30-yard run by Ryan Hill to take an 8-0 lead.

Huntsville had an opportunity to score early, after Dalton Coker recovered a Coalfield fumble at the 50-yard-line.

After a 15-yard penalty against the Yellow Jackets for roughing the passer on a third down pass, Huntsville got big runs from Logan Pike and quarterback Jacob Phillips to set up a 1st-and-goal at the eight-yard-line.

But the drive stalled at that point, after a holding penalty backed the Bears up to the 20-yard-line. A fourth down conversion attempt came up short when Kaleb Byrge was tackled at the 11-yard-line after a pass reception from Phillips.

Coalfield drove the ball to Huntsville’s 42-yard-line, thanks in part to a 32-yard run by Brady Walls, but the Bears’ defense forced a punt, which was downed at Huntsville’s two-yard-line.

The field position enabled Coalfield to start its next drive at the 13-yard-line after forcing Huntsville into a three-and-out. But a holding penalty of their own crippled the Yellow Jackets’ scoring threat, and Phillips forced the ball over on downs when he sacked quarterback Brett Keener on fourth down.

After a three-and-out by Huntsville to start the second half, Coalfield scored on a 30-yard run by Hill, and led 8-0 after Walls added the two-point conversion.

Huntsville responded with a couple of big passes from Phillips, the first of which went to Byrge and covered 29 yards. But on a 2nd-and-one at Coalfield’s 36-yard-line, Phillips was sacked for a loss of 10, and the ball went over on downs two plays later.

The Bears got new life as the fourth quarter began, when Taylor West recovered a fumble at the Huntsville 31-yard-line with 6:54 remaining.
But Keener stepped in front of a Phillips pass on the next play, and Coalfield would score on fourth-and-goal from a yard out with 2:04 remaining to put the game out of reach.

Phillips finished five of seven through the air for 65 yards. Pike was the Bears’ leading rusher, with 13 yards on three carries.