Andrews – Head coach James Phillips had one message for his quarterback Tucker Holloway at halftime.
“Keep being a weapon,” Phillips told the Andrews junior, who was all of that and more Friday night.
Holloway rushed for 148 yards and a touchdown, and he dropped two perfect deep balls in to speedy wideout Gage Gillespie for scores that helped Andrews knock off Cherokee 35-24 for its first conference win.
It was the breakout performance Holloway and Gillespie have been looking for since summer 7-on-7s.
“When we scrimmaged them in Robbinsville, we saw the same route,” Gillespie said. “It was wide open then and Tuck just threw it a little deep. We got it figured out in practice and he was right on the money.”
“We worked a lot on those passes. We saw that weakness in their game and we were able to execute,” Holloway said. “Right after those two touchdowns, our running game really opened up. The line did a great job, but we all have some work to do to get better.”
Andrews (3-4) scored on its first four possessions and built a 28-10 lead by halftime, keeping the Wildcats in firm control of the contest throughout.
Phillips was happy with his players’ execution but was dismayed at an uncharacteristic 12 penalties by the Cats, opposite 14 from the Braves on a flag-filled night.
“I wanted to come out aggressive, and we put the pedal to the metal,” Phillips said. “I was disappointed in the second half with some of the penalties. It’s hard to tell without looking at the film, but I thought some of our wide receivers were blocking well.”
Holloway’s first connection with Gillespie came on the first drive, as he fired a 41-yard pass right into his waiting hands for the score.
“When we get those deep shots it pushes the corners and the linebackers back, and that gave us some lanes to run in too,” Gillespie said.
After Holloway called his own number to make it 14-3, he finished a second-quarter drive with a perfect throw on a corner route over a defender for Gillespie’s second score.
“Other teams have not respected that much (so far this season), but we know we have it in our bag, and as long as everybody does their job, we can make those plays,” Holloway said.
After Cherokee got its first touchdown, Andrews responded with a 1-yard touchdown plunge by Gavin Wilson on fourth down. That drive was paced by two long Holloway runs.
Cherokee tried to strike back, but an interception by Jose Martinez stopped the Braves in their tracks just before halftime, still trailing by 18.
Andrews’ defense made another red zone stand in the third quarter to maintain its advantage.
“I was proud of our defense, we definitely played better,” Phillips said. “They have a couple of good athletes over there.”
The Braves forced a punt and hit a 76-yard touchdown to Donald Bradley to briefly close the gap, but controlled the clock and later punctuated the night with Landon White’s team-leading 11th touchdown, just one ahead of Wilson.
It was Phillips’ first coaching win against Cherokee and first overall since beating the Braves 7-6 as a senior Wildcat player in 1994.
Hayesville next
Andrews travels to Hayesville for a showdown of teams in the middle of turnaround seasons at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
The Wildcats need the win to keep solid hopes of a winning season alive, as well as for potential improved seeding in the playoffs.