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Smoky Mountain will play unbeaten Panthers Friday
Coming off its first loss of the season, Smoky Mountain will travel to Franklin on Friday to meet the undefeated Panthers.
“It’s the biggest challenge of the season,” Coach Dale Galloway said. “They’re a very good football team. They haven’t been challenged yet. The bright spot is they haven’t been in a tight ball game and had a measure of how they react to that. We need to make it a tight ball game.”
Smoky Mountain defenders Daniel Buchanan (45) and Ethan Crowe (30) are among those combining to stop a Murphy ball carrier in Friday’s 35-17 loss. – Photo by Mark Haskett
This will be the first game that the 3-A Panthers (4-0) and 2-A Mustangs (3-1) have played against an opponent higher than 1-A.
Franklin has run roughshod over the opposition with an average score of 43.5-7.8.
The teams have played three common opponents. The Panthers have defeated Hayesville (30-13), Swain (50-12) and Murphy (50-6). SM won over Hayesville (24-21) and Swain (21-8) but lost to Murphy (35-17).
Franklin also owns a 44-0 win over Robbinsville.
“They’re talented up front and in the backfield,” Galloway said. “They’ve got it going on. They’ve got a good scheme. We’re playing at their place, but so far we’re 2-0 on the road.”
Mustang fans will see some familiar faces on the Franklin sidelines. Josh Brooks, previously a Panther assistant, has taken over as head coach. A 1993 Smoky Mountain graduate, he was quarterback on the last SM team to win a playoff game in 1992.
Tim Hawkins, the Mustangs’ head coach the past five years and a long-time assistant before that, is now a Franklin assistant.
The Panthers basically operate from an I formation on offense and use a 50 defense.
Quarterback Christian Vose, wide receiver Kyle Ward and running backs Chris Lequire and Josh Young are all offensive threats for Franklin.
“They’re balanced, and they all have to be defended,” Galloway said of Franklin’s skill position players.
The coach wants his team to reverse a trend that has seen seven lost fumbles in the past three games.
“We’ve got to stop turning the ball over,” he said. “Our penalties have come down.”
The Panthers hold an 11-7 advantage in the series and have won 10 of the past 11 meetings.
Franklin Athletic Director Doug Plemmons wants Mustang fans to know that a barbecue dinner will be served Friday in the stadium’s main parking lot. Cost is $6.
Galloway was not pleased with how his team played in Friday’s 35-17 loss to Murphy.
“It was disappointing on a lot of levels; not just the loss but the way in which we lost,” he said. “We made mistakes, we missed tackles and we missed blocks. We played hard in spurts. There’s just a difference in giving a great effort and going to the wrong spots That comes back to coaching, and that falls on me.”
Turnovers have been a problem for the Mustangs, and they lost three fumbles Friday. Two of them set up Murphy touchdowns, and another stopped a potential SM scoring drive.
“We fumbled in the shadow of our own goal post then we fumbled when we were going in for a score,” he said.
The most critical fumble came in the opening minute of the second half. With the Mustangs trailing 14-10 they received the second half kickoff. Instead of starting a drive for the potential go-ahead touchdown, they lost a fumble inside their 20 leading to a Murphy TD.
“We scored at the end of the first half,” Galloway said. “We talked about not being in bad shape getting the ball, but then we fumbled.”
The Mustangs moved the ball consistently, but they were hurt by Murphy’s big offensive plays.
“We just gave up big plays,” Galloway said. “Our (average) per rush (4.1) was not bad but their per rush (7.5) was phenomenal. We needed to use our passing game more, and it was efficient, but our offense and our style is not built for catch up football. It’s meant to get a lead, maintain it and control clock.”
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