sports@mountaintimes.com
Mitchell had too much for Avery in its 47-22 victory over the Vikings Friday at chilly MacDonald Stadium in the third round of the state 1-AA playoffs.
The Mountaineers had too much Shawn Jackson, who ran for 205 yards on 23 carries and scored touchdown runs of 27, 26 and 2 yards.
They had too much quarterback Justin Hughes, who added 134 yards on the ground and TD runs of 19, 1, 1, and 16 yards. Mitchell finished with 346 yards in rushing and 368 in total offense.
They also had too many chances to score on a short field. Avery committed five turnovers that helped set up touchdown drives of 14, 15 and 17 yards. Mitchell picked off four passes and recovered a fumble at the Avery 14-yard line that, after being called for a 5-yard motion penalty, Hughes turned into a 19-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
A Mitchell interception turned out to ice the game for the Mountaineers. Mitchell led 28-14, but Avery, with a good wind at its back, marched down to the Mitchell 5-yard line. On fourth-and-goal from there, Alex Villanueva's pass to the end zone was intercepted by linebacker Ben Smith, his second of the game. Mitchell scored two plays later, set up by another interception, when Hughes scored from the 1-yard line to put the Mountaineers in front 34-14.
The Mountaineers got two more touchdowns, one each from Hughes and Jackson, to take a commanding 47-14 lead.
Mitchell also used an Avery special teams mishap to get another short field in the first quarter. On fourth down, the ball was snapped over punter Dustin Clark's head. Clark was able to avoid complete disaster by gathering the ball around his 5-yard line and completing a pass, but the Mountaineers took over at the Avery 31.
Two plays later, Jackson scored on a 27-yard run, giving the Mountaineers a 14-0 lead. Jackson added a 26-yard touchdown run to put the Mountaineers up by three touchdowns, but Avery's Hunter Shields electrified the shivering Avery faithful with a 99-yard kickoff return following Jackson's score to cut the Mountaineers' lead to 21-7, still with 43.3 seconds left in the first half.
Both teams found the end zone, Hughes for 1-yard and Alex Villanueva from 10-yards out, that left the Mountaineers in front 28-14 at halftime.
Villanueva completed 7-of-19 passes for 72 yards, but was the victim of several dropped passes. The Vikings had more success on the ground by gaining 197 yards on 28 carries. Colton Blackburn had 97 yards on 10 carries, while Taylor Potter ran for 57 yards on 11 carries.
Blackburn got his final 3-yards on a touchdown run with 19 seconds left.
Read next week's edition of The Avery Journal-Times for a full recap of Friday's contest.
Read next week's edition of The Avery Journal-Times for a full recap of Friday's contest.
