CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The Rossview Hawks traveled back to “The Coyote Den” at West Creek High School for resumed action Monday after a lightning delay on Friday. The Hawks stormed out to a big lead, but the Coyotes wouldn’t quit, making it a close game late. But Rossview pulled away in the fourth quarter, capped off by two pick-sixes from Jordan Culp, to give Hawks head coach Stratie Young his first career win as head coach, 47-29.
The Hawks came out of the gates like maniacs, driving down the field, capped by running back CJ Stuckey’s touchdown to kick the scoring off. The Coyotes fumbled on the next drive, giving Rossview an easy 23-yard field goal from Jacob Villa. In a moment of deja vu, West Creek fumbled again on their next drive, and this time Rossivew’s Damarion Brooks picked it up in the endzone for six. After a three-and-out and a short punt by the Coyotes, quarterback Dawson Deer found Khyain Payne in the corner of the endzone, and in the first 10 minutes, the Hawks had a 26-0 lead.
The game looked out of reach for the Coyotes so early, but quarterback Christian Whaley said not so fast. Whaley found Jim’Myri Randle for a 48-yard touchdown. After an Allen Harris interception got West Creek the ball back, Whaley found Randle again, this time for a 10-yard score. After the two teams traded punts for the rest of the first half, Whaley found Jay Ferguson for a 38-yard score, and all of a sudden, a game that looked like a drubbing early was now within 5 points.
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“We gave them some different looks and pushed the tempo early, and saw great results from it,” said Rossview head coach Stratie Young. “It was a lot of great work on film study this week, and allowing our kids to play fast. We just need to be more consistent, and we can’t panic. We got in our own way a lot tonight, and we can’t do that. I think we set a record for penalty yards.”
As the third quarter closed, Rossview finally broke up West Creek’s scoring streak with another Stuckey touchdown. With four minutes remaining, safety Jordan Culp intercepted a pass and took it to the house to ice the win. Three plays later, he intercepted another one and took that one back to the endzone, too, just to be sure. West Creek got one more score with a minute left from Solomon Green, but the Hawks celebrated their first win of the year, and the first for head coach Stratie Young.
“It means a great deal to me and to this program,” said Young. “The amount of work these guys put in, they even had to play a game on Monday, but they did what it took to get a win. We have a lot of stuff that we have to clean up, but at the end of the day, it’s a region win that’s huge. We have some pretty good pieces if we put it all together, and I think we’re starting to do that.”
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