NEW MARKET — The benefit of playing a 3A-4A schedule paid off in a big way for Southmont as the Mounties opened up the Class 2A Sectional 37 tournament on Friday as they hosted North Knox. From the opening kickoff the game was all Mounties as they cruised a 31-0 win as they dominated the game in all three phases. The story of the game however was senior quarterback Nick Scott who threw for 207 yards and three touchdowns (all three TD’s in the first half) to help lead his team to a dominating sectional victory.
“We saw some things that we thought we could take advantage of in the passing game,” Southmont coach Desson Hannum said. “Nick threw a great ball and got lots of people involved. For him it started with him having a good week of practice. He was really settled into what we were trying to do and that was really important to get him feeling comfortable.”
Southmont tallied 454 total yards as along with Scott’s 207 yards through the air, the Mounties were them typical selves with 247 yards on the ground led by Wyatt Woodall’s 97 and Carson Chadd’s 65. South go on the board on their opening drive as they marched the ball 89 yards as Scott found Sam Line for a 25 yard score. EJ Brewer caught a 29 yard touchdown from Scott late in the second quarter. Southmont got the ball back one final time and arguably the play of the game came when Woodall caught a screen pass and made the Warrior defense miss and turned on the jets at the end for a 75 yard touchdown with just 31.8 seconds left in the first half.
On the flip side the Mountie defense was back to its normal self as well holding the Warriors to just 177 total yards with many of that coming late in the fourth quarter. North Knox came in averaging 276 yards on the ground and the Southmont defense was more than up for the challenge as they kept the Warriors off the scoreboard.
“Their running game was the one thing we were worried about all week,” Hannum said. “They simply just line up and try and run it down your throat. We knew it was going to be a very physical game. Those guys on our front seven were up to the task in picking up the shutout tonight.”
Hannum also noted how his team did learn a lot about themselves over the last 3-4 weeks after playing their ‘gauntlet schedule of Sagamore Conference teams in Danville, Western Boone, Lebanon and Tri-West all in order. Playing in the always tough SAC allowed the Mounties to come out and be more than prepared to handle teams their size.
“The last few weeks we saw a ton of different styles that really prepared us for any situation,” he said. “Those teams loved to spread us out and throw the ball all over the place and tonight was the exact opposite. We had to adapt and be able to prepare ourselves for this point. We’ve done a good job staying sharp and it showed out there tonight.”
With the win the Mounties improve their record to 7-3 on the season, their most wins in a year since 2017 (also seven). Next up on the docket will be a trip to take on the No. 1 team in Class 2A in Linton-Stockton. The Miners defeated South Vermillion 47-21 and will now host the Mounties next Friday night.
“We were able to scrimmage them this summer so it’s not a totally unfamiliar team for us,” Hannum said of the undefeated Miners. “We’ll be ready to go take them on.”
