Jr. 'Clones lose defensive battle to John Sevier, 7-0

By Wes Holtsclaw
STAR CORRESPONDENT
wholtsclaw@starhq.com

   All it took was one play.
   Tied 0-0 in the third quarter of action, T.A. Dugger was driving down the field when Preston Smith threw an interception to Josef Throp for a 50-yard return and only score of the contest. An Xavier Scaggs PAT made it 7-0 in favor of John Sevier, and that's how the contest would end.
   Although they came up on the losing end of the stick, John Oakley was proud of his team for giving a strong effort in the contest.
   "We knew they were going to be tough," said Oakley. "It was a dogfight. It's been back and forth for 10 years, it could've gone either way.
   "They didn't score on our defense, their tailback (Skaggs) didn't do anything on us. Our offense sputtered at times -- we'd take one step forward, then take two steps back. One fluke play was the difference. I'm not disappointed with these guys."
   T.A. Dugger was plagued with turnovers throughout the contest, with four interceptions and several turnovers on down going to the Warriors. John Sevier only garnered four first downs in the entire game.
   It says a lot for the defense of T.A. Dugger: Trinity Allen, Brent Shaver, Drew Hyder, Travis Bishop, Josh Hutchins, A.J. Burke, Josh Arnold, Wes Isaacs, Nick McNeil and William Johnson.
   John Sevier opened the contest on offense and got their longest drive of the night, with some nice runs from Xavier Scaggs and some big plays from Wesley Jones.
   However, it was Big Will Johnson and Brent Shaver laying the smackdown on the tribe that kept the game going.
   T.A. Dugger opened with a long drive as well with nice runs from Hutchins, Austin Taylor, and Brent Shaver leading the way.
   But Cody Sensabaugh and Josef Throp were everywhere for the Warriors, forcing the game into the second quarter tied at zero.
   There were five turnovers in the second quarter, two of them interceptions by Sensabaugh and Wes Jones of John Sevier. T.A. Dugger rallied with the last drive, blowing away with a 42-yard pass from Smith to Josh Guinn.
   But the Sevier defense was too much, forcing the game into halftime and into their big play of the third quarter.
   The game remained the same, but T.A. Dugger played excellent defense throughout the second half. Their offense kept coming up short, but it was still a great effort by the boys in the orange and black.
   Neither team had over 150 yards in offense, as defense was the name of the game all evening long. Defense was the deciding factor for Sevier, and it kept T.A. Dugger into their own ball game.
   The game gives John Sevier a 4-0 record, while T.A. Dugger moves to a 2-1 record with a contest at home this Monday night at 6.