Scots Fall on Another Late Score After Rallying From 28-7
MARYVILLE – Enough with the character building.
Maryville dropped another home heartbreaker when undefeated Shenandoah struck for the winning touchdown with 24 seconds remaining. Two weeks ago, it was Berry scoring with 16 seconds left.
But this one felt worse. Shenandoah 34, Maryville 29.
The Scots had scored 22 consecutive points after trailing 28-7 at halftime and grabbed a 29-28 lead on Bryson Rollins' 8-yard TD pass to Corey Russell with 3:18 remaining. Rollins finished the game 27-of-40 passing for 340 yards and three touchdowns against zero interceptions. He rushed for another 27 yards and a TD on 15 attempts, including three sacks.
Maryville stands 0-3 but consider the Scots well prepared for the next seven weeks of USA South play.
"What we've seen is our kids have played really hard and they care a whole lot about each other," Maryville head coach Ben Fox said. "That matters. We've seen a lot of guys make plays when we had to have them. Older guys, experienced guys, younger guys, inexperienced guys – our job is to keep preparing, work hard, practice hard and then keep performing on Saturdays."
Early Deficit
Shenandoah defeated USA South members Methodist 27-10 on the road in Week 1 and North Carolina Wesleyan 45-0 at home last week, and Saturday in the USA South/ODAC Challenge looked like more of the same. The Hornets struck for Steven Hugney TD passes of 65 and 54 yards to Ethan Bigbee inside the first 5 minutes and change for an early 14-0 lead.
Maryville answered with a 10-play, 64-yard drive that culminated in Rollins finding Danner Hill in the end zone from 7 yards out to make it 14-7 at the end of the quarter.
But the Hornets over the final 5:12 of the half scored two more touchdowns and led 28-7 at intermission.
In the Maryville locker room, Fox said the game plan was to not panic and just claw back one play at a time.
"Start with the kickoff and get them on the ground," Fox said. "Get a stop and make them punt. Then let's try to execute first downs. Obviously, we didn't do that right out of the gate; it took a second. But we were able to go back and forth and then we drove down and kicked the field goal."
Trey Hampton connected from 33 yards and Maryville's deficit was 28-10 heading to the fourth.
"When you're down by that much, how you have to play changes a little bit," Fox said. "We had backed ourselves into a corner and had little margin for error. Plus, there's another good team out there that you are playing against. We were playing a very good football team."
Fourth-Quarter Surge
But the undefeated Hornets squad that had mowed down its first two USA South opponents saw the Scots put together consecutive touchdown drives of nine plays for 80 yards, 11 plays for 62 yards and seven plays for 48 yards.
Rollins hit Kevon Samuels on a short out-route, and the first-year wideout turned and took it to the house from 35 yards to make it 28-17 with 13:10 remaining. Rollins then ran one in from 2 yards out to narrow the margin to 28-23 with 7:48 showing. The 2-point conversion attempt failed.
Maryville's defense forced a fifth consecutive punt by the Hornets and the Scots took over at the Shenandoah 48 – Maryville's best starting field position of the day.
It took the offense just seven plays to cover the 48 yards, with Rollins finding Russell on a middle slant and the senior wide receiver barreling over from 8 yards out. Again, the 2-point conversion failed but only 3:18 remained.
Yet Shenandoah answered with its best drive when the Hornets needed it most. They went 78 yards in 13 plays in just 2:49. Hugney converted a fourth-and-3 rush for 5 yards to the MC 20 and then one play later, found Andre Jackson slanting inside at the goal line for the game-winner and heartbreaker.
"You can win a lot of football games playing well," Fox said. "You can win a lot of football games playing your best, and you can win a lot of football games playing hard. It's very hard to win playing perfect, and that's what we were up against in the second half. That's just not realistic.
"I know ours was a very hurt team; very sad that we lost. They care a lot about each other, and I was proud of how they played for one another. They've faced adversity but if our guys continue to play for each other, we can play with anybody in our conference."
Conference Play Begins
Tyler Bost was Maryville's tackle leader with eight, including 1½ tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Tyler Barrett and Keshon Seay contributed sacks and Barrett added a pair of pass breakups.
Russell caught 6 for 62 yards, and Hunter Burke added 4 receptions for 75 yards. Cody Estep rushed 20 times for 71 yards.
The Scots are at Greenville (0-3) next Saturday in a noon kickoff.