The Hornets rallied to collect a 25-13 region win over Claiborne

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The Hornets will be buzzing as well, coming off last week’stension-filled 36-35 three-overtime non-conference win over Class5A Karns.
The Eagles turned one frustrating trend when they defeated theircounty-rival Smoky Bears last week for the first time in fiveyears. Given Carter has dominated its series with Seymour,outscoring the Eagles a combined 82-0 since the Hornets joinedRegion 1-3A in 2005, breaking that losing trend will be moredifficult, and ultimately more redeeming, than Seymour’smonumental, rain-soaked win over the Class 5A Smoky Bears last weekat Benton Householder Field.
Seymour head coach Gary Householder pointed out that recent historyindicates his team’s mindset following the Sevier County gameusually plays into the final result of the Carter contest thefollowing week. In each of the last three seasons, Seymour has beenon the losing end of lopsided decisions against the Smoky Bearsseven days prior to playing Carter, the three-time defending Region1-3A Champion.
Since the turn of the century, Seymour is 2-0 against the Hornetscoming off a victory. The Eagles, who lost to Rutledge 28-13 in2002 before thumping Carter 24-0 in their last victory over theHornets, are 3-3 against Carter since the 2000 season.
Seymour won a classic 34-29 thriller against Gatlinburg-Pittman inthe final regular season game of 2000 before bouncing Carter 30-8in the first round of the state playoffs on its way to a statesemi-final appearance. Seymour knocked off Carter, 33-19, ingame-nine of 2001 a week after edging Rutledge 21-20.
No matter the opponent, the Eagles have obviously fared betteragainst Carter coming off a win. Householder believes lastFriday’s emotional victory over Sevier County has a chance torejuvenate the program after the disappointing 1-2 start to 2008.
“Last week’s win over Sevier County definitely has tohelp our confidence,” Householder commented. “I thinkour guys have had a hangover against Carter the past few yearsafter losing to Sevier County the week before. Now that we’vebeaten Sevier County, maybe we can go into the Carter game playingwith a little more confidence.”
The Seymour coach says Friday’s game in Strawberry Plainscould be won or lost down in the trenches.
The Hornets offense, led by senior quarterback Landry Stanton,relied heavily on the running game last week against Karns. Cartergained 271 yards of 54 rushes in the overtime thriller but it wasStanton’s arm and veteran decision-making that delivered theknockout blow. Landry threaded the ball through the Karns’defense to his tight end for a two-point conversion that gave theHornets the victory in the third overtime.
“It’s going to take our best effort againstCarter,” Householder stated. “Our offensive anddefensive lines both had big games last week against Sevier Countyand we’re going to need them to step up again this week.Carter has always been a very physical team so that will be akey.”
Carter (3-3 overall, 2-0 region) looks to be back on track afterstruggling through the first month of the regular season. TheHornets lost their first two games of the year—at Class 5ABearden (27-12) in the season opener, and at Class 4A South-Doyle(21-14) a week later.
The Hornets played their third straight road game on September 5but rallied to collect a 25-13 region win over Claiborne. Carterlost to Region 2-3A Austin East (20-13) in game-four but bouncedback for a 35-7 region win at Pigeon Forge a week later.
Seymour and Carter’s only common opponent through the firstmonth of the 2008 grid has been the South-Doyle Cherokees. Seymourlost to the Cherokees 21-7 at SHS on September 12 in a contest thatSeymour led 7-0 before the visitors scored 21 unanswered points,including 14 in the deciding fourth quarter. Carter, on the otherhand, lost 21-14 to the 3-2 Cherokees.

SHS injury situation bittersweet

As one senior running back prepares to get back in action anothersenior tailback is gone for the year.
Householder said bruising senior running back Kelby Atchley brokehis tibia on the kickoff following the Eagles’ first quartertouchdown in last week’s 13-7 win over Sevier County and isbelieved to be lost for the remainder of the season. Meanwhile,Chase Turner, a senior running back who hasn’t played sincesuffering an injury in the Eagles’ season-opening loss atHeritage, looks healthy and should be back in the lineup Friday atCarter.
The Seymour coach said Turner watched the first two quarters oflast week’s game from the sideline wearing street clothes.The SHS coaches—after seeing Atchley go down in the firstquarter—gave Turner the go-ahead to get into uniform when theteam met in the locker room at halftime. Turner was prepared toenter the game during the second half and provide backfield depthif need be.
“If Kevin Hardin or Blake Overton didn’t get anythinggoing we were prepared to play Chase in the second half,”Householder explained. “Both of those guys did a good jobthough, so we decided to keep them in there.”
Turner, who was the Eagles’ featured tailback throughpre-season, will share carries with Hardin and Overton this week atCarter, according to Householder.
Householder said Eagles’ standout senior defensive linemanChris Beard, who has also been sideline with an injury since theHeritage game, should be able to return by next week’s gameagainst Pigeon Forge. The SHS coach said receiver Chase Ketron, whowas injured at Heritage as well, played some last week against theSmoky Bears and should be 100 percent for Carter.

Hornets’ OT win adds to Beavers’ hard luck

Friday’s overtime win over Karns was the Hornets’ firstovertime game since 1993. The Hornets’ one point win was thehard-luck Beavers sixth loss in as many games this season. It wasKarns’ third setback by a one-point final margin. Only oneKarns’ loss has been decided by more than a touchdown.