Rivalry Game, Region Title Goes to Mt. Juliet

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It's always good to end the regular season with an inner city rivalry game but it's even better when it delivers in every way as we had a classic on Friday evening on “The Hill” between the home Green Hill Hawks taking on cross town rival Mt. Juliet where the Golden Bears came out with the 26-19 victory. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Before the game even kicked off, you could see and feel the energy as the place was packed with fans and students from both teams with everybody expecting to see an outstanding contest between two squads headed to the playoffs.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A great game is exactly what everybody got and it started off with a bang as Golden Bears senior safety <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='153474' first='Osize' last='Daniyan'] </strong>took the opening kickoff 90 plus yards for the touchdown and the Mt. Juliet sideline exploded with excitement. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://twitter.com/CSmithScout/status/1586149195894779904?s=20u0026t=CavSo-MjMr6ZQNgwrNRPVQ","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"twitter","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/CSmithScout/status/1586149195894779904?s=20&amp;t=CavSo-MjMr6ZQNgwrNRPVQ </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>That excitement didn't last long as the home team got involved immediately after as the Green Hill offense marched down the field on their opening drive to score three points and put things back to neutral.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>When the Hawks were able to kick the field goal and quiet down the crowd, they began to take control as their defense was playing strong football, keeping the Golden Bears offense down while the Green Hill offense moved the ball up and down the field but they couldn't produce enough points to run away with the game.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Green Hill did take the lead at 12-7 after a <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='222279' first='Brax' last='Lamberth'] </strong>run to the end zone but the Golden Bears would stay right there and eventually take the lead going into halftime at 13-12.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Looking into the second half of the game, both teams were right there with the region title in grasp and things remained tight throughout the 3rd quarter with not much scoring but the tension was definitely still there.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The game quickly fell into the favor of Mt. Juliet early in the 4th quarter when stud running back <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='451935' first='DeAirrus' last='Morton'] </strong>blocked a field goal, recovered it and carried the ball all the way to the end zone to put the Golden Bears up by seven but they extended that lead even further when sophomore running back <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='219347' first='Jonmikael' last='Crudup'] </strong>found paydirt on their next drive, putting the road team on top 26-12. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":494278,"width":443,"height":291,"sizeSlug":"full","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2022/10/20221028_191951-scaled-crop-1755x1152-1667063698.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-494278" width="443" height="291" /></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>While it looked like Mt. Juliet was about to win, the Hawks weren't going to let that happen just yet as they still had some life left in their bodies and continued to fight till the very end.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Senior quarterback <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='265399' first='Cade' last='Mahoney'] </strong>led the Hawks down the field with a little more than four minutes left in the game where he eventually found the end zone himself on a QB draw to bring the game back to within seven at 26-19.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>That score from Mahoney turned out to be the last gasp for the Hawks as Mt. Juliet would bleed the clock out on offense and find their place in the winner's circle. It was a nice last ditch effort from Green Hill but they just ran out of gas and time.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For the road Golden Bears, this was a big win for them, beating their cross town rivals and taking some major positivity into postseason action, beginning next week where Mt. Juliet will be the #1 seed after winning the region title. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":494281,"width":434,"height":285,"sizeSlug":"full","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2022/10/20221028_200900-scaled-crop-1755x1152-1667064104.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-494281" width="434" height="285" /></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Brief Notes …..</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>- Big time players make big time plays in big time games and that's how several Mt. Juliet players performed last night. Daniyan was a beast against the Hawks as he not only kicked the show off with a returned touchdown but he made several big tackles on defense as well as multiple clutch catches on offense. Crudup had a strong game at running back where he brought balance to the offense, especially in the 2nd half when the Golden Bears needed him.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Mt. Juliet D-line was solid too. It took them a while to get their feet under them but eventually by the 2nd half, they became a force, especially <strong>Sam Oliver </strong>and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='250859' first='Atticus' last='Fiorita'] </strong>working on the edge. Young defensive back <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1224014' first='Deon' last='Waller'] </strong>also had flashes last night as well, being asked to cover one of the fastest receivers in the state most of the night and he handled himself with maturity and poise.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>- While Green Hill didn't have the regular season record they would have liked (6-4), they are still going to the playoffs and have a strong senior class to lean on. Mahoney is a solid catalyst at quarterback and he has two stellar wideouts to throw to in <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='197134' first='Kaleb' last='Carver'] </strong>and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='265398' first='Sean' last='Aldridge']</strong>, who was outstanding last night being the go to guy and making several big plays to keep the Hawks in the game.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Hawks also have a solid defense that plays very hard and always puts themselves in position to make plays on the ball. The region title wasn't accomplished this year for Green Hill but their state title aspirations are still in play and the Hawks have some playmakers they can ride as long as possible.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":338222,"width":351,"height":335,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2022/05/saldridge-1024x978.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-338222" width="351" height="335" /></figure> <!-- /wp:image -->