2 weeks Ago By By J.D. VAUGHN [email protected]
KINGSPORT — Add Dylan Murray to the list of scoring threats for Dobyns-Bennett’s football team. Just kidding, he’s been on that list from the beginning. He just happened to start scoring at the most critical time of the year.
On the Indians’ second offensive play, Murray scored the second touchdown of his varsity career in as many weeks. Dobyns-Bennett never looked back from there, cruising to a 41-7 senior night win over David Crockett at J. Fred Johnson Stadium.
It marked the second straight game Murray scored D-B’s opening touchdown, one week removed from his diving TD catch against William Blount. One play after Tegan Begley’s opening 13-yard run, Murray beat his defender for a 42-yard reception from Austin Sykes 1:36 into the contest. “It’s team chemistry,” Murray said of the Indians’ improvement this fall.
“I want to thank all my coaches for the opportunity, and Sykes threw me a heck of a ball, man. You can’t do anything without a great ball. I just ran under it, that’s all I had to do.
He made it look easy for us and it was easy. I want to thank my coaches for that.” Sykes hit his first eight passes for 130 yards and four touchdowns before his first miss.
In fact, none of his passes touched the ground, as Marckis Carrier dove to intercept Sykes’ ninth pass at the Pioneers’ 2-yard line. It was Carrier’s fourth pick of the year. The Tribe (7-2) forced a punt and benefited from the short field.
Sykes hit Jaylen Thomas on a quick out for 13 yards to the Crockett 2. Begley scored standing up on the next play with 52 seconds on the clock, building a 35-0 halftime lead. Sykes finished 9-of-10 for 143 yards, hitting Thomas five times for 42 yards while Begley ran 10 times for 130 — all in the first half.
In the rushing department, D-B dominated 223-19. ”We love to run the ball and just push the other team around. It’s special for us.
Really important for us to get a push off the line to get the game going,” senior center Will Ford said, while crediting line coach Ty Hayworth for his development. “I love Hayworth. He’s probably my favorite coach here .
.. I came in here sophomore year, moved from Atlanta, and he’s been real special to me, treated me good.
He’s like one of my best friends ...
He really just puts on that beef boy mentality for all of us.” Other than Carrier’s interception, D-B scored on the rest of its five first-half possessions. After Murray’s opening TD, Begley galloped 21 yards to put D-B in scoring position again.
Sykes launched a 32-yard touchdown to Rome Pruitt in the back of the end zone. Kosiah Steele’s third-down sack forced another punt, and thanks to Begley, D-B needed just four plays to go 80 yards. Begley broke free for gains of 23 and 40 yards, and Thomas took a quick pass from Sykes and eluded two defenders, stretching across the goal line for a 5-yard TD and a 21-0 lead in the second quarter.
Sykes’ fourth TD pass of the first half went 18 yards on a fade route to Peyton Franklin, two plays after Parker DeFord tipped and then intercepted an A.J. Wynn pass.
“Parker, a senior who’s been in our program and developed, missed time during camp and everything but he’s carved a place for himself in the 2-deep and made a play there. He’s a heck of a player,” D-B coach Joey Christian said. “I thought we came out and played fast, played physical, that’s what we want to do.
” Not until the third quarter after the starters came out did Dobyns-Bennett’s offense face a third down. Emmitt Starnes went 33 yards on fourth-and-2 for the Indians’ final score in the fourth quarter. Starnes finished with 70 yards on nine attempts.
Wynn went 13-of-24 passing for 152 yards to lead the Pioneers (4-4), who will be the No. 4 seed from Region 1 in the Class 5A playoffs. Seven of those completions went to Lamarkus Dunn for 106 yards, including a 26-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
“The kids played hard and never quit. D-B is big and physical up front, and we just couldn’t overcome that,” Crockett coach Hayden Chandley said. “I thought we made a play or two to keep us in the game but couldn’t make them on a consistent basis.
Marckis coming away with his fourth interception and getting us a stop there in the second quarter was a bright spot. Proud of our kids and the way we competed.” The Indians face arch-rival Science Hill at ETSU’s William B.
Greene Jr. Stadium on Friday, a one-game showdown for the Region 1-6A championship. Crockett wraps up the regular season at Sevier County on Friday.
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