Wins Puts Sweatbees Into Championship
October 24, 2019
Dayton, TN -- Dayton City School hosted Wartburg in their first action of the 2019 middle school conference playoffs and won 34-8 to move on to play Oneida in the East Tennesse Middle School Championship game next Thursday being played at Campbell County High School in Jacksboro, Tennessee.
Dayton City received the ball first in the game. The took the kick at their 49. Pendergrass and Davis handled the carrier and Bees moved down the field. Rex Pendergrass had a big run in the series with a carry from the 32 down to the 11 yard line. Davis provided the score with the 11 yard run around the right end. Two point conversion was no good and Bees had 6-0 lead over the Bulldogs with 5:54 left in the first quarter.
Ethan Davis made the stop of Bulldogs Cain Wilson after the Bryce Dupre kick. Bulldogs began play at their own 27 yard line. During the series, Rex Pendergrass had big tackle for loss of five. On 3 and 15, Austin Beasley was taken down by trio of DCS tackler forcing the punt from inside their 25. Punt went out of bounds at the 30 yard line, setting up Bees for another score. Rex Pendergrass gained 12 for a first down at the 18 yard line. Bryce Dupre took the ball to the house from the 18 with most of the defense and this reporter following Pendergrass, who did not have the ball due to the great ball fake. Conversion pass was incomplete and Bees settled for 12-0 lead with 1:07 left in first quarter.
Pendergrass and Davis brought down the kickoff returner Beasley at the 33 yard line of Bulldogs. During the series, the first quarter elapsed with the Bees up 12-0. Eric Nokes picked up a first down of game for the Bulldogs at their 46. Davis made a nice play at defensive back during the series to prevent big pass completion. Nokes picked up second first down of series and Bulldogs were moving as they were at 42 with first and ten. Wilson did manage to sneak behind the defense for big gain on pass at the 15 yard line. Quarterback Beasley lost big yards on a sack by Dayton City's 74, Christian Moreno. Davis knocked down the Beasley pass on fourth down to give the Bees the ball on turnover on downs at their 16 yard line.
Davis had one of his slithering runs as he found his way through several defenders on way to Bee first down at the 35 yard line. Big play of the series was a Dupre to Pendergrass pass that went for around 50 yards down to the Bulldogs 15. Dupre then found Davis for the 15 yard touchdown pass to move the Bees up 18-0 before Pendergrass added the two point conversion for the 20-0 lead with about one minute left in first half.
Dupre's kick was bobbled by Bulldogs and several Bees including Dawson Mickel mad the tackle at the 28 yard line of Wartburg. Ace Robinson had big sack on quarterback to end the half with Bees up 20-0.
Wartburg received opening kickoff of second half and returned to 41. Dillon Johnson had tackles in the drive to force a 4th down and Pendergrass took down Bulldog quarterback Beasley to turn ball over to Bees at 44 of Bulldogs.
On first play of drive, Ace Robinson took the ball 22 yards to the 22. Ethan Davis finished the drive with a 22 yard run to end zone as he weaved between defenders to the end zone. Bryce Dupre passed to McClendon for the two point conversion and the 28-0 lead
Bulldogs began the next drive at midfield with the compliments of a 15 yard personal foul penalty on Bees. On the first play of the series, the Pendergrass met the running back simultaneously with the ball and the ball popped out of the pile into the hands of Sam Stumbo to setup Bees at their 48 yard line.
Dupre hooked up with Pendergrass on a long pass play down to the 35 but personal foul instead put the Bees back to their own 34. Stumbo made a rolling catch to setup a 4 and 5 at the Bulldogs 46 yard line. Aiden McClendon caught the Dupre pass for a first down at the 20 yard line of Wartburg. Dawson Mickel carried for 7 yards on three carries. Pendergrass then took the ball to the 4 yard line as third quarter ended. On first play of 4th quarter, Dawson Mickel scored the 3 yard touchdown. Bryce Dupre extra point kick was blocked to leave score 34-0 with 7:30 left in the game.
Suttles and Mickel brought down Beasely on kickoff return to setup Bulldogs at their own 46. Bulldogs completed a long pass to the 28 to setup shop in Sweatbee territory. Beasley went back to the well once too often and Dawson Mickel came up with end zone interception to put the Bees at the 20 yard line.
Bees drive stalled and Dupre punted to Wartburg as returner was tackled by Brayden Grimes at the Bee 34 yard line. Seth McCarty for Wartburg slipped behind the DCS defense for the initial touchdown of the night for Wartburg. Quarterback Beasley found the end zone for the two point conversion to put the score at 34-8.
Onside kick was recovered by Bees and they ran out the clock on the possession to claim a trip to the East Tennessee Middle School League championship next week on the campus of Campbell County High School.
Coach Jeff Hill said, "This team has worked very hard to get to this point. We have been led by the seniors, but this has been a great team effort. We played hard from start to finish."
"I have surrounded myself with great coaches and it has paid off. I want to thank our fans for tonight and through the season and throughout the years. We could not do it without the fans."
