The Harlan Green Dragons learned Friday that there are different stages of rebuilding and that not every one-win football team is the same.
Visiting Thomas Walker, Va., traveled to Harlan on Friday with only one win to its credit through five games. The Pioneers didn’t play that way though, rolling up 319 yards on the ground while capitalizing on four Harlan fumbles in posting a 40-6 victory.
Senior running back Malachi Langley ran for 144 yards, while senior quarterback Clay Cheek added two touchdowns on the ground and one through the air.
“”They are a good team. They are better than 1-4,” Harlan coach Brian Williams said of the Pioneers. “They have some culture built. You could tell in warmups they are getting better. Their coach told me before the game they were in the same situation I was three years ago.”
While the Pioneers destroyed the Harlan defense with big plays an aggressive Thomas Walker defense often stopped Harlan running backs in the backfield with 16 tackles for losses.
“We know we have to get better and more physical up front,” Williams said.
The Pioneers needed only four plays to cover 61 yards on the game’s opening drive. Derek Abner ran 28 yards and Langley went 29 before Cheek went in from the 4 with 10:26 left in the opening period. Cheek was stopped on the two-point conversion attempt.
Harlan tailback Boss Bryson was stopped short on a fourth-and-two try from the Thomas Walker 44 to give the ball back to the Pioneers, who went 55 yards in seven plays as Conner Seals went in from the 9 with 2:21 left in the first quarter. Ean Sandefur missed the extra point as Thomas Walker led 12-0.
A Bryson fumble on the Harlan 38 set up the next Thomas Walker score. The Pioneers went 62 yards in five plays as Langley and Abner each ran for first downs before Cheek went in from the 1 for an 18-0 lead with 10:43 left in the half,.
Junior quarterback Caden Mefford, playing in the absence of Elijah Caudill after his ejection in last week’s loss to Middlesboro, completed a 29-yard pass to Izack Saylor for the Dragons’ initial first down. Eden Caudill went nine yards to the Pioneers’ 9 for the second first down, but he fumbled on the next play to end the threat.
Bryson and Hunter Brock each picked up first downs on the Dragons’ last drive of the half, which ended at the Thomas Walker 44 when time expired.
A Bryson fumble on the third play of the second half set up a one-play Thomas Walker drive as Langley went 22 yards, then added the two-point conversion for a 26-0 lead with 10:05 left in the third quarter.
The Dragons came up short on fourth down on their second possession of the half, setting up a three-play Thomas Walker drive as Jordan Frasure broke free around the right for a touchdown. Harlan lineman Jordan Rodriguez came up with an interception on the two-point try following an errant stop.
Bryson, the Dragons’ leading rusher this season, broke free for his biggest play of the night covering 43 yards to the Thomas Walker 8. The Dragons were in danger of coming up empty before Mefford found Izack Saylor for a 10-yard touchdown pass on fourth down. Mefford completed all three of his passes in the third quarter and connected on five of eight for the game in his first start.
“Our kids kept fighting. There is no quit in them,” Williams said. “Mefford was kind of thrown to the wolves making his first start, but he held up well.
Cheek made his final big play of the night before sitting out the fourth quarter as he found Ellis Hoskins behind the defense for a 51-yard touchdown pass with 3:26 left in the third period, Langley added the two-point conversion.
With Bryson and Eden Caudill out of the game, Kirby became a workhorse for the Harlan offense with seven of the team’s eight carries in the fourth quarter.
“Kirby ran the ball hard,” Williams said
Harlan (1-6) will play at Lynn Camp on Friday in district action.