Unicoi Stifles Falcons

Week 7 Football Article by VSN

Erwin, TN - On a rainy night nestled in the foothills of Cherokee National Forest, the Volunteer Falcons were on the hunt for their first win of the season against Unicoi County. Coming into the night Volunteer was 0-6 battling against a scrappy 3-3 Blue Devils team. Everyone around this Falcons program wants nothing more than to see this team of hard-working young men bring home a win.

To start the night they came out swinging with a good 40+ yard pass by Quarterback Jameson Mowell on the game's first play to Wide Receiver CJ Fraysier. That wasn’t enough as Volunteer went on to turn the ball over on downs. On the first drive for the Blue Devils, they took advantage of their fastbacks to use screen passes to set up a rushing touchdown to go up 7-0.

When it looked like the Falcons would get picked apart as Unicoi had earned a 20-0 lead, Aden Parson returned a kickoff for the first special teams score of the year so the Falcons could cut the score to 20-7. Unicoi was finally forced to punt, but got the ball back and with a big run they set up another touchdown to extend their lead to 27-7.

More missed opportunities for the Falcons struck as the Blue Devils returned a punt for a TD and then came up with an interception late in the second quarter. Unicoi turned a six-play drive into another touchdown to make their lead to 41-7 at the halftime break.

Multiple Falcons still played football at a high level. Aden Parson showed out with a returned kickoff and some wonderful catches on slant routes. He finished the night with 118 total yards, 1 TFL, and 1 pass deflection. CJ Fraysier, Austin Glass, and Owen Fleenor played fantastic defense and made plenty of big tackles and plays. RB Keelin Releford was able to score a touchdown later on in the 4th quarter.

In the second half the Blue Devils put their second team in and the Falcons were able to stop them to zero points in this half. Later on Keelin Releford scored a rushing touchdown on a play that looked like he was shot out of a cannon to inject some life and energy into this team.

Once again the road doesn’t get any easier as the Falcons will travel to Elizabethton to play the Undefeated Cyclones this Friday. The one thing everyone can notice is that this team has never given up and they deserve to get a win. If they can stop the speed on the Cyclones they match up well with them. Elizabethton doesn’t do anything too crazy, but they do it effectively. The Cyclones are 7-0 looking to extend that and make another run at a TN State Championship.

Join us Friday as we broadcast live play-by-play coverage from Elizabethton.