In a game ruled by defense, it was East Hamilton's that made the last stand.
A Nick Gratigny interception on their 1-yard line as time expired sealed a 19-13 win for the Hurricanes over the visiting Mustangs of Walker Valley in District 5-AAA football Friday night.
Offense was scarce, as a pair of field goals from Mustangs kicker Kevin Sabany and a first-quarter 22-yard run by Kendall Henderson accounted for all of the scoring in the first half. The teams headed to the locker room deadlocked at 6.
"Our defense played a heck of a ballgame," Walker Valley coach Glen Ryan said. "We had chances to really put the hammer down all night, but we kept having miscues."
Although the Mustangs held the Hurricanes to 88 yards of total offense in the first half, the Bradley County team could not find the end zone while compiling 138 yards.
"Our defense played well enough to win, but our offense just couldn't get it done," Ryan said.
A slow first half gave way to a dramatic second half, capped by an exciting fourth quarter.
Walker Valley broke through for a touchdown for its first lead of the game when quarterback Josh Jones used his legs to fight over the goal line for a 2-yard score. Sabany's extra point made it 13-6.
"Walker Valley is a good football team, and they made plays when they needed to," Hurricanes coach Ted Gatewell said. "But we made plays when we needed to, and got a score from our defense."
With just under five minutes to play, East Hamilton got its chance to tie the game. Martez Durrah scooped up a blocked punt and took it to the end zone for a score. A false-start penalty erased Cooper Loftin's extra point, however, and the Mustangs blocked the ensuing try to tightly clench their 13-12 lead.
Walker Valley continued to stymie the East Hamilton offense, but the offense could not add to the margin, and at last the Hurricanes offense broke through.
"They had a solid game plan all along, and we were hoping to find something we could catch them on," Gatewell said. "We were throwing short passes and they were coming up hard on them, so we used that."
The Hurricanes offense faked a reverse in the backfield and Matt Milita launched a 65-yard pass to Tracy Thompson, who was left all alone in the middle of the field.
"We let them hang around and hang around, and they got us," Ryan said.
The Mustangs moved down the field with the help of some penalties on East Hamilton and found themselves on the opposing 11-yard line with 15 seconds to play. However, they again could not push the ball across the goal line, and Gratigny's interception sealed the win.
"That was a huge morale boost," Gatewell said. "The kids are working hard but falling short because of miscues, which we have to clean up. This is definitely going to benefit us in the long run."
Contact Idris Garcia at sports@timesfreepress.com.