Four-Peat! Smoky Bears Roll Past Morristown West 56-7 to Capture Fourth Consecutive Region Title
On a night when Smoky Bears nation paused to honor the Class of 2027, the Sevier County Smoky Bears (7-3, 5-0) gave their fans another reason to celebrate Thursday evening, delivering a frighteningly dominant performance against Morristown West (5-5. 3-2). With the Halloween spirit in the air, the Smoky Bears turned the night into a nightmare for the Trojans, showcasing their dominance on the field and adding another memorable victory to their season.
"We've played some good football teams the last half of the year and a couple of them didn't go the way we wanted them to, they just stayed the course, everytime adversity hits, they just get a little closer together and that's just what you want to see." Coach Todd Loveday said of his team's performance on Thursday evening.
Sevier County set the tone right from the start, as Alexis Martinez intercepted a Morristown West pass on the third play of the game and returned it 31 yards for a touchdown. This came after Grady Clark delivered a crushing hit to the Trojans receiver, knocking the ball loose. With senior Aiden Ottolini's successful PAT, the Smoky Bears took an early 7-0 lead.
The Smoky Bears' defense stepped up once again, forcing the Trojans into a 3-and-out, handing the ball back over to the Sevier County offense on their own 36-yard line with 9:45 remaining in the opening quarter of play.
Brayden Maples took the 2nd down handoff for 20 yards around the right side into Morristown West territory at the 46-yard line. Jaxon Perry took the pass from Cooper Newman down to the Trojans' 26 for another 20-yard gain on the ensuing 2nd down play.
Maples and Perry worked the ball down the field on the ground and through the air from Newman to get the Smoky Bears down to the 2-yard line before Newman found Perry once again on the play-action pass for the Sevier County touchdown. The two-point conversion attempt was not successful, and the score with 6:30 remaining in the opening quarter was Sevier County 13, Morristown West 0.
Morristown West once again took possession following the kickoff and worked their way down the field into Sevier County territory at the 40-yard line before Perry came around the end untouched for the QB sack, breaking the school record for sacks in a career, besting Richard Gray's (1998-2000) mark of 28 career sacks with his 29th career sack.
Undeterred, the Trojans took the ball into the red zone, down to the Smoky Bears' 18-yard line before Parker Newman stepped in front of the 2nd down pass for the interception, taking it all the way back to the Morristown West 35-yard line before being stripped of the ball. However, Elijah Valentine was able to recover the ball for the Smoky Bears to maintain possession with 51 seconds left in the 1st quarter.
Maples gained 13 yards on the 2nd down rush, setting the Smoky Bears up on the 17 yard line as time expired in the opening period.
The Smoky Bears moved to the 7-yard line following a 10-yard run by Maples, who then scored on the next play by breaking through the left side of the defense for a touchdown. Newman completed a pass to Zach Banks for the 2-point conversion, increasing Sevier County's lead to 21-0, just under a minute into the second quarter.
Sevier County's defense once again held steady, forcing a turnover on downs after the Trojans elected to go for it on 4th down. With Banks on the coverage, the ball fell harmlessly to the ground, giving the Smoky Bears the ball back on the Morristown West 43-yard line.
On the first play of the ensuing drive, Newman found Colton Franklin across the middle of the field for the 43-yard pitch and catch for the touchdown, pushing the score out to 28-0 in favor of the Smoky Bears with 9:22 left in the half.
After a sequence of plays resulting in losses and penalties, the Trojans found themselves deep in their own territory at the 6-yard line, preparing to punt on 4th down. The punter, deep in his own endzone, faced an all-out rush from the Smoky Bears.
Junior, Brett Teter used his speed to break through the middle of the line, blocking the punt, which fell into the hands of Cash Ford for the Smoky Bears at the Morristown West 14-yard line.
"I'm just grateful for a chance to be out here with this team, the coaches put me in position to make plays like this and having the ability to block the punt, I'm just grateful." Teter said of the blocked punt.
The Newman and Newman connection found each other on first down for 9 yards down to the 5-yard line, before Maples once again powered it in from 2 yards out following another Morristown West penalty. The PAT was once again true from Ottolini, and with 7:08 remaining in the opening half, Sevier County led 35-0.
"We kind of took some things personal this week here and some of the things we heard this week but we came out and took care of the scoreboard and that's all that matter." Cooper Newman said of the Smoky Bears dominating win.
Morristown West managed to drive down to the Smoky Bears' 13-yard line once more, before Martinez, Valentine, and Brayden Russell converged for a huge stop in the backfield on 3rd down to force another 4th down attempt by the Trojans. Once again, the ball fell to the turf following the incomplete pass, defended by Teter.
With nothing happening on 1st down, the Smoky Bears opted to take the game to the half, leading Morristown West 35-0.
With Sevier County receiving the 2nd half kickoff, the Smoky Bears went right back to work as Newman once again connected with Newman on a perfectly thrown ball on 2nd down for the 79-yard Smoky Bears touchdown down the left sideline and into the purple end zone. With another PAT from Ottolini, Sevier County led 42-0 with only 2 plays run in the 2nd half.
"It felt great, coach had been trying to get me one all night and they had kind of been bracketing me and they gave me my chance and I took it." Parker said of his touchdown to open the 2nd half.
Morristown West once again put together a nice drive and capped it with a rushing touchdown by quarterback Riley McClellan from 29 yards out to draw the Trojans back to 42-7 with 2:37 remaining in the 3rd quarter.
On the ensuing kickoff, Teter fielded the kick just outside his own goal line before racing through the Morristown West defenders for a 99-yard return and a Smoky Bears touchdown to stretch the lead back out to 49-7 with 1:35 remaining in the 3rd quarter.
The Smoky Bears' defense was once again suffocating, forcing another turnover on downs following a huge QB pressure from Brayden Russell, which caused McClellan to throw the ball away and out of bounds on the 4th down play, handing the ball over on the Trojans' 28-yard line.
Newman found Mason Akers on 1st down for a 16-yard gain down to the 12-yard line, before finding Aven Mitchell on the play-action screen for 11 down to the 5-yard line one play later.
On the third play of the drive, David Shultz punched it in for another Smoky Bears touchdown, and the successful PAT from Ottolini made the score 56-7 Sevier County with 6:30 remaining in the game.
The Trojans gained a single first down on the ensuing drive, but the clock struck triple zeros before they could cross midfield, giving the Smoky Bears the 56-7 victory and their fourth consecutive Region 1-5A regular season championship.
"If there was a better word to use, I'd come up with it. Just a great bunch of kids first and foremost. I want it to slow down a bit but I've stopped a few times this year just to say, it could be a lot worse, you've got a bunch of great kids that compete and fight, they're a blessing to have for sure." Loveday stated on how special the group of seniors are to him and the program.
Sevier County will now host Knox West (5-5, 4-3) in the opening round of the TSSAA State Playoffs on Friday, November 6th at 7PM. The Smoky Bears won last years 1st round matchup at Lon C. Burchfield Stadium against the Rebels 34-9.
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