By: Nick Hall
When the Sardis Lions wondered into Crossville Friday night, the hometown Lions put up a good fight until the intermission. However, the visiting Lions prevailed after an explosive second half. Both teams came in on a three-game losing skid and this was their first meeting since 2015. On the visiting Lions first possession, Temon Wilson broke through the Crossville defense for a 44-yard scoring run to put Sardis up 7-0 after Trey Salers’ PAT. Salers was 6-of-6 on PATs for the night. Drew Vaughn added a 36-yard touchdown run of his own with 4:59 in the first quarter to go up 14-0. Crossville’s Trent Bryant returned the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown to cut the visiting Lions’ lead to 14-6. With less than two minutes in the first, Sardis recovered a forced fumble at the Crossville 1-yard line. Sardis took advantage on the next play when Wilson punched into the end zone for the score, stretching the lead back to 21-6. Crossville’s Hunter Haston went to work in the second quarter to give his team a chance. First Haston hit Garrett Masters for a 68-yard strike that set up a 3-yard touchdown by Haston two plays later. The 2-point conversion failed leaving the score at 21-12. Haston then came back with another 68-yard strike to Bryant, this time for a touchdown. The Eli Borja PAT was good to cut the host Lions deficit to 21-19 going into the half.
Sardis opened the second half with an 8-yard touchdown run by Vaughn to stretch their lead to 28-19. Sardis then took advantage of an interception at their own 43 when Jay Owens connected with Mason Golden on a 57-yard touchdown pass to extend the lead once more to 35-19. With 4:33 to play in the third quarter, Owens threw another touchdown strike to Jacob Hopper from 7-yards out to stretch the visiting Lions’ advantage to 42-19. Crossville threw once last punch with 10-play, 61-yard drive that ended with 15-yard scoring run by Harley Hicks to shrink the Sardis lead to 42-25. Crossville recovered an onside kick at the 50 only to fumble it away. Sardis then marched 42 yards in six plays to seal the deal at 50-25 on a 9-yard scoring strike from Owens to Hopper. Trent Presley hit Hopper again for the 2-point conversion. For Crossville, Haston was 16-of-18 for 284 yards and a touchdown. Haston also had a rushing touchdown. Bryant finished the game with six catches for 139 yards and a touchdown for Crossville.
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