BY BRITTNI MCCOY
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ – Martin County High School honored their football seniors Nov. 1 at Cardinal Stadium before their match-up with East Carter. The Cardinals came away with a comeback win over the Raiders 42-28 behind three touchdowns from Parker Watts and 25 tackles from Damian Cheek.
“This was a well-coached team that we beat tonight. Our seniors wanted this. It means the world to them. We told our young guys to step up and we played as a team,” Head coach Josh Muncy said after the senior night win.
Cheek started things off for the Cards with a beautiful punt placed perfectly at the 1-yard line.
East Carter ate up the clock and had entered Cardinal territory at the 39-yard line by the end of the first quarter.
The Raiders went for the slow burn and used up half of the second before scoring a touchdown.
After a quick four-and-out from the Cards, East Carter struck again for a 14-0 lead.
Despite falling into a hole, Martin County would head into the locker room with the momentum.
East Carter was trying to sneak another onto the scoreboard when Devan Maynard got things going for the Cards.
For the second week in a row, Maynard collected a pick-six with 10 seconds remaining in the second quarter from 49 yards out.
Senior Caleb Horn knocked a point-after through for a 14-7 score to end the half.
Coach Muncy turned to the whiteboard in the locker room as the answer.
“It was more of the adjustments we made, blocking assignments,” he said. “These guys play hard. We don’t have to coach that; they just do it.”
Coming out of the break, the third quarter was a thing of beauty for the Cards.
Two fumbles quickly went in Martin County’s favor.
Watts capitalized and bolted downfield from over 50 yards out with less than two minutes ticked off the clock. Horn tied the game up with a point-after.
The Cards stayed hard at work and senior Julian Stafford went zooming from his own 31-yard line and hit paydirt.
On the ensuing East Carter possession, Brayden Fannin forced and recovered a fumble for another Martin County drive.
Making the most of his senior night, Watts crossed into the endzone again with a 27-yarder this time and Martin Count took a 28-14 lead after starting the game down two TDs.
Crayson “Bones” Lafferty does what he does best and hit the Raiders with a big tackle for a loss to force a punt on fourth-and-18.
With 3:36 remaining in the third quarter, Watts continued his dominant performance.
Maynard handed it off to Watts who ran to his right. Looking at a wall of defenders, he pulled the ole’ switcharoo and ran parallel to the line-of-scrimmage all the way to the left sideline before booking it for 84 yards for his third touchdown of the evening.
East Carter put a TD on the board before the final stanza.
The Raiders opened up the quarter with recovering an onside kick and scoring on a pass to make it 35-28.
With a fourth-and-7 East Carter possession, Lafferty knocked down a pass for a turnover on downs.
Stafford crossed the goal line to give some more cushion for the Cardinals with 1:54 remaining in the contest.
East Carter was knocking on the Cardinal’s door when Mason McCoy sent the quarterback flying inside the 20 for a fumble. Cheek jumped on it to seal the deal for the senior night win.
Watts finished the night with 206 yards on the ground on 12 attempts and three touchdowns.
“We didn’t come out with enough energy. But during halftime, Cody [Slone] did his usual and got us pumped up. Our linemen really stepped up in the second half,” Watts told the Mountain Citizen after the game. “It’s a different culture here in Martin County. The community really supports you here. It feels like home.”
Stafford racked up 116 yards on eight carries with two touchdowns.
Julian commented on coming out hot in the second half: “We made some adjustments, coaches fired us up, and we switched up some blocking schemes and we ran. It’s what we do best.”
After missing a portion of the season due to injury, Cheek has come back rejuvenated. He had 25 total tackles, 11 of those solo. He also had a fumble recovery.
Lafferty broke his previous season high after racking up 20 total tackles on the night to finish the regular season with 150. Eight were solo and one for a loss.
Horn was 6-for-6 on point-after attempts.
Maynard rushed for 24 yards, ran a pick-six in for 49 yards, and had 12 tackles on defense.
Jerrod Haney, Brayden Estep, Weston Jude, Peyton Lowe, Fannin, McCoy and Kendal Mullins combined for 48 tackles.
“Coach wanted us to win this game and I wanted to win,” Mullins said after the game. “Coach brought something out of us.”
Martin County will host the first round of the 2A playoffs against Pike Central (4-6) on Nov. 8 at The Rock with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
The Cards defeated the Hawks 40-18 earlier this season.