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In a Homecoming game characterized mostly by defensive back-and-forth, the Summit Tiger football players served up the first loss of the season for a 10th-ranked Evergreen team Friday. An extra point was the difference in the 13-12 victory, which improved the Tigers' record to 3-3.
Summit came out in the second half facing a 6-0 deficit and methodically moved the ball down the field to get into good position. Mitchell Hawkins scored from roughly 20 yards out to tie up the game. The Tigers had an opportunity to take the lead, but had a bad snap on the extra point.
Possession went back and forth until the fourth quarter when Summit's punter miss hit the ball, which barely cleared the line of scrimmage. An Evergreen player scooped it up and scored on the return. The Cougars missed the extra point, which would later prove to be the most important point of the game.
Head coach Dylan Hollingsworth said the biggest play of the night on offense came in the fourth quarter on third-and-16 with Andrew Ike running a sweep. He made one kid miss and dove for the first down. The Tigers didn't score on the drive, but it put them in better field position and allowed the defense to play a little more aggressively.
The Summit defense came onto the field and got the three-and-out, which was followed by a snap over the head of the Evergreen punter. Having made the same mistake twice in their previous game against Conifer, the Tigers were happy to be on the other side of the ball as it flew toward Evergreen's end zone. Summit recovered the ball on the 8-yard line with roughly 2 minutes left in the game.
It took all four downs for Summit to get the ball into the end zone, as Andrew Ike took control with a run/pass option. Evergreen brought strong pressure on Ike, who took the ball as far as he could. He lobbed a pass to a heavily covered Tyler Nelson, who snatched the ball out of the air for another six points.
“(Ike) realized he couldn't outrun everybody, so he went back to the throw and was able to dump it up and over. (Nelson) made a great catch with the Evergreen defender right there,” Hollingsworth said.
With Summit's first two kickers out of the game, the pressure was on freshman Thomas DeBonville to split the uprights and put the Tigers ahead with roughly 1 minute, 20 seconds left in the game.
“I know his heart was pounding a million miles per hour,” Hollingsworth said.
Sure enough, the snap was there and the kick was good for the first and only extra point of the evening.
On offense for the night, Hawkins and Sage Miller stuck out with big runs. Nick Berry also had a really solid catch that set up the Tigers with good field position and helped turn on the offense, Hollingsworth said.
“We were really proud that the offense finally got going. We really needed that,” the coach said. “We were able to sustain our drives and not be three-and-out or five-and-out. When we went in for the second half, we were really hurting ourselves — offsides there, holding there. The theme of the night was we were able to overcome our mistakes.”
But the game was ultimately a defensive battle.
“The defense played out of their minds. We had lots of guys around the ball,” Hollingsworth said. “We went with a ‘bend-don't-break' philosophy. You can give up 3, 4 yards here and there, but don't give up any big plays.”
Defensive coordinator Jim Smith said the Tiger D started playing a little more aggressively.
“Swarming to the football was a big goal of ours this week,” Smith said. “(In practice) we've been working on dialing down the fundamentals for all positions. We ran very few stunts compared to previous weeks. We lined up in our base defense and played football. That was my challenge to the guys.”
Smith said he knew a strong running game in Evergreen would be able to push the ball on the defense. The bend-don't-break philosophy became extremely important, and the Tigers were able to stay tough in third downs, especially during the second half.
He cited the D-line as the top performers of the night.
“A lot of credit has to be given to the defensive line against any good running team,” Smith said. “They're always the unsung heroes.”
For the Tigers, it was undoubtedly the highlight of the season thus far. But with four more games, there's more work to be done.
“You got the No. 10-ranked team in the state. They're undefeated in your place. You're down 12-6. You got to make something happen — and you do. That was huge for this team,” Hollingsworth said. “We can choose to rest on that, or we can choose to move forward.”
The Tigers, sitting at 3-3, have another big test this week at last year's state champion Elizabeth. The Cardinals have won only one game this season (vs. Jefferson), but Hollingsworth said they've been competitive in all of their matchups.
Summit came out in the second half facing a 6-0 deficit and methodically moved the ball down the field to get into good position. Mitchell Hawkins scored from roughly 20 yards out to tie up the game. The Tigers had an opportunity to take the lead, but had a bad snap on the extra point.
Possession went back and forth until the fourth quarter when Summit's punter miss hit the ball, which barely cleared the line of scrimmage. An Evergreen player scooped it up and scored on the return. The Cougars missed the extra point, which would later prove to be the most important point of the game.
Head coach Dylan Hollingsworth said the biggest play of the night on offense came in the fourth quarter on third-and-16 with Andrew Ike running a sweep. He made one kid miss and dove for the first down. The Tigers didn't score on the drive, but it put them in better field position and allowed the defense to play a little more aggressively.
The Summit defense came onto the field and got the three-and-out, which was followed by a snap over the head of the Evergreen punter. Having made the same mistake twice in their previous game against Conifer, the Tigers were happy to be on the other side of the ball as it flew toward Evergreen's end zone. Summit recovered the ball on the 8-yard line with roughly 2 minutes left in the game.
It took all four downs for Summit to get the ball into the end zone, as Andrew Ike took control with a run/pass option. Evergreen brought strong pressure on Ike, who took the ball as far as he could. He lobbed a pass to a heavily covered Tyler Nelson, who snatched the ball out of the air for another six points.
“(Ike) realized he couldn't outrun everybody, so he went back to the throw and was able to dump it up and over. (Nelson) made a great catch with the Evergreen defender right there,” Hollingsworth said.
With Summit's first two kickers out of the game, the pressure was on freshman Thomas DeBonville to split the uprights and put the Tigers ahead with roughly 1 minute, 20 seconds left in the game.
“I know his heart was pounding a million miles per hour,” Hollingsworth said.
Sure enough, the snap was there and the kick was good for the first and only extra point of the evening.
On offense for the night, Hawkins and Sage Miller stuck out with big runs. Nick Berry also had a really solid catch that set up the Tigers with good field position and helped turn on the offense, Hollingsworth said.
“We were really proud that the offense finally got going. We really needed that,” the coach said. “We were able to sustain our drives and not be three-and-out or five-and-out. When we went in for the second half, we were really hurting ourselves — offsides there, holding there. The theme of the night was we were able to overcome our mistakes.”
But the game was ultimately a defensive battle.
“The defense played out of their minds. We had lots of guys around the ball,” Hollingsworth said. “We went with a ‘bend-don't-break' philosophy. You can give up 3, 4 yards here and there, but don't give up any big plays.”
Defensive coordinator Jim Smith said the Tiger D started playing a little more aggressively.
“Swarming to the football was a big goal of ours this week,” Smith said. “(In practice) we've been working on dialing down the fundamentals for all positions. We ran very few stunts compared to previous weeks. We lined up in our base defense and played football. That was my challenge to the guys.”
Smith said he knew a strong running game in Evergreen would be able to push the ball on the defense. The bend-don't-break philosophy became extremely important, and the Tigers were able to stay tough in third downs, especially during the second half.
He cited the D-line as the top performers of the night.
“A lot of credit has to be given to the defensive line against any good running team,” Smith said. “They're always the unsung heroes.”
For the Tigers, it was undoubtedly the highlight of the season thus far. But with four more games, there's more work to be done.
“You got the No. 10-ranked team in the state. They're undefeated in your place. You're down 12-6. You got to make something happen — and you do. That was huge for this team,” Hollingsworth said. “We can choose to rest on that, or we can choose to move forward.”
The Tigers, sitting at 3-3, have another big test this week at last year's state champion Elizabeth. The Cardinals have won only one game this season (vs. Jefferson), but Hollingsworth said they've been competitive in all of their matchups.
