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SM goes for third straight win Friday against Jackets
Having already matched its win total for the past two seasons combined, Smoky Mountain’s football team will try to go 3-0 with a 7:30 p.m. game Friday at Hayesville.
“They are a very dangerous team,” Coach Dale Galloway said of the Yellow Jackets. “They aren’t afraid to put the ball in the air, and they have a good quarterback and receiver duo in Jonathan Shivley and Blake Mosteller. They haven’t run the ball that much, but they have a decent running attack.”
Barrett Woody leads the running attack for Coach Neil Setzer, a 1976 Sylva-Webster High graduate.
The Jackets use a spread formation on offense and show various looks, including the 50 and 40, defensively, according to Galloway.
Smoky Mountain’s Daniel Buchanan celebrates a fumble recovery at the Swain 2 in the first quarter of Friday’s game. The recovery led to a touchdown setting the stage for the Mustangs’ 21-8 victory. – Photo by Mark Haskett
“They are very aggressive defensively and are good tacklers although they don’t have a tremendous amount of depth,” he said.
In his first season, Galloway has taken a program that was 1-10 each of the past two years and won the first two games.
“There’s a little but of surprise for some people that we’ve played pretty decent ball games back-to-back,” the coach said. “I’m sure some people are waiting to see that we’re not moving along in a positive way.”
With the wins come higher expectations in the community. Galloway acknowledged that since Hayesville was the only team SM beat last year many people are expecting another victory Friday.
He quickly pointed out that’s not necessarily how things work and noted SM has already beaten two teams – Hendersonville and Swain – that it lost to a year ago.
“The players have to continue to focus and work hard to get the job done day in and day out,” the coach said. “They can’t let up at all.”
Hayesville is 1-1 after last week’s 27-6 victory over Copper Basin, Tenn. Woody ran for 117 yards, and Shivley passed for 100.
The Jackets lost 30-13 to Franklin in their first game.
The Mustangs hold an 8-3 advantage in the series and rolled to a 43-19 win last season.
Galloway is hoping SM can cut down on turnovers and penalties this week. They lost two fumbles and were penalized 99 yards in Friday’s game against Swain.
Despite those miscues, the Mustangs picked up an impressive 21-8 win, their first over the Maroon Devils since 2002.
“Friday was a tremendous amount of fun,” Galloway said of his first home game as coach. “It was a lot of fun for the kids. They did a great job. I was very appreciative of the huge crowd.”
The Devils were limited to 89 yards on the ground, and Grant Schallock’s punting allowed the Mustangs to control field position.
“Defensively, we played well again, and Grant was unbelievable kicking the ball,” Galloway said. “We want to play field position football. He allows us to do more of that than if we didn’t have him.”
SM attempted only one pass. Dillon Dunford led the ground game with 59 yards in six carries.
“We did a much better job running the football, but we still have a long way to go,” the coach said. “We had time of possession on our side.”
About the only down side was the penalties.
“The penalties were a killer,” he said. “We controlled the game in a lot of aspects. Had it been a closer game, the penalties could have come back to haunt us. We got away with having too many penalties.”
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