Tharptown defeats Mt. Hope, 28-14

By Staff
Bart Moss, Franklin County Times
THARPTOWN – In just over one year at Tharptown High School coach Dale Overton has experienced many firsts in the school's history.
Thursday night was no different as Overton's team won its first game in the Wildcats' new football stadium by defeating Mount Hope 28-14.
"This was a great win for this team," said Overton. "But, it was probably an even bigger win for this community.
"I am proud of the team the way they kept fighting and not giving up. They worked hard this week to recover from last week's loss and they kept playing hard all night."
The Wildcats not only gave the home crowd a win to savor, but an offensive show to light up the scoreboard.
Tharptown wasted no time in give their fans something to cheer about when Daniel Scott returned the opening kickoff 85 yards for the touchdown. Herman Castillo added the PAT to give the Wildcats and early 7-0 lead.
Mount Hope returned the favor on their first drive of the game by scoring on a 17-yard run by Justin Grant with 6:12 to go in the first quarter. Cody Stevenson added the PAT to tie the game at 7-7.
The Wildcats answered Mount Hope on the second play of their next drive, scoring on an 84-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Cagle to Joseph Parker with 5:24 left in the first quarter of play. Castillo's PAT was good to give Tharptown the 14-7 lead.
The lead didn't last, however, as the Yellow Jackets drove the ball to the one-yard line where Grant plowed his way into the end zone with no time left on the clock in the first quarter. Stevenson's kick was good to tie the game at 14-14.
Mount Hope kicked off to start the second quarter and just like the first kickoff of the game, Scott scrambled and sprinted to another kickoff return for a touchdown. This one went for 91 yards to give the Wildcats a 20-14 lead.
Tharptown forced the first punt of the game with 8:01 to go in the first half and stopped a scoring barrage that netted five touchdowns on the first five drives of the game.
The fireworks were not over though for the Wildcats. Late in the first half Cagle completed a 55-yard pass to Manny Ricardo that got Tharptown to the five yard line. The Wildcats appeared to be poised to score on their fourth straight drive but a series of miscues led to a four-and-out to give Mount Hope the ball.
Tharptown carried the 20-14 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Wildcats' big playmaker of the night, Daniel Scott, went down with an injury with 4:47 to go in the third quarter. Scott was taken off the field in an ambulance and transported to the hospital as a precautionary measure.
Tharptown closed out the third quarter with 52-yard pass from Cagle to Ricardo to the 22-yard line. Cagle then ran the ball 18 yards to the four- yard line.
On the opening play of the fourth quarter, Cagle drove the ball into the end zone for the final touchdown of a wild night. Cagle converted the two-point conversion pass to Ricardo to give Tharptown the 28-14 lead and the win.
The Wildcats closed out the night with 259 yards of total offense. Cagle completed 4-of-5 passes for 198 yards and a touchdown. Ricardo caught two passes for 107 yards and Parker caught two passes for 91 yards and a touchdown.