LINTON — It was almost a comeback that would have been talked about in Southmont history.
On Friday, the Mounties traveled to Linton to battle the No. 1 team in Class 2A in the Sectional 37 semi-final and trailed 35-7 at the half. Momentum was all with the home Miners, then with their season at stake the Mounties proceeded to score 22 unanswered points as they trailed just 35-29 and had the ball with a chance to take the lead.
With five minutes left, the Mounties were driving into Miners territory but a Nick Scott pass was intercepted and Linton Stockton was able to run out the clock as the Mounties historic comeback fell just short.
The final was 35-29 Miners as the Mounties season came to an end with a record of 7-4.
“The first thing that stands out is the heart, determination, and effort of our guys,” Southmont football coach Desson Hannum. “We were able to make adjustments and get some stops and get some big plays. It was an outstanding effort by a lot of kids. I’m extremely proud of each and everyone of them and I’m proud to be the coach.”
The momentum began for the Mounties as Scott threw a 48 yard touchdown pass to Kyler McCandless. That made the score 35-14 with 2:14 in the third quarter. Southmont then recovered an onside kick and senior Carson Chadd scored a short yard TD to make it 35-21 at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Another defensive stop and South got their last score on the board with another long pass play and converted the two point conversion to make the score 35-29.
“In sports you learn through disappointment sometimes,” Hannum said. “We came close tonight. Thankfully, we were able to steal some possessions and we knew that we were going to need to in order to comeback. We knew at the half we had to build upon something. We had things started to go our way and put multiple success together. There wasn’t any magic adjustment that we did, but that second half our kids believed they were going to win the game.”
Southmont with its seven wins tied the most wins since 2017.
It was a year that will be remembered because of the leadership and dedication of its eight seniors. Scott, Chadd along with Sam Line, EJ Brewer, Seth Tolliver, Kion Cornelius, Kellen Kaelin and Skyler Wood all put on the Mountie uniform for the final time in their careers. It’s a group that had led the charge and Hannum was rightfully emotional when talking about their impact they’ve had on the Southmont program the last four years.
“It’s been three years of real hard work and dedication by them to get us back to this point where we’re competing for a sectional championship,” Hannum said. “Everything they’ve given to me personally, to our program and to their teammates can’t go without saying. They were the ones leading us in our workouts this summer. The way all of them played tonight was amazing and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
In his final game Scott threw for 259 yards on 15-22 attempts. The Mounties had 385 total yards as Wyatt Woodall had 65 yards on 17 carries while Chadd had 53 yards on nine carries and a pair of touchdowns.
With the win Linton Stockton improves to 11-0 on the season and will play Sullivan next week for the sectional championship.
