BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE OBSERVER
SMITHS STATION — A pair of fourth-and-long touchdown receptions helped propel Smiths Station High School to a gritty 14-13 comeback victory over Spencer High School (GA) at Odis Spencer Stadium on Aug. 13.
Jajuan Oliver’s 32-yard touchdown reception on fourth and 11 with 5:41 left to play proved to be the highlight of the evening, with the junior wide receiver tracking the deep ball over his shoulder and hauling in the pass right at the goal line.
While the chippy, physical and, at times, sloppy jamboree win did not count toward the Panthers’ official record, head coach Blair Harrison said it was the kind of performance his team needed entering the regular season next week.
Harrison then singled out his defensive unit, praising them for a stifling performance that saw the Panthers allow just six points on a short field. The Greenwave’s lone offensive TD came after Smiths Station’s offense fumbled the ball at its own 28 yard line with 1:36 left before halftime.
It was a stark contrast to just a year ago, when the Panthers allowed 37.3 points per game and gave up fewer than 30 points only once — a 24-0 season-opening win over Shaw High School (GA).
“Hats off to our defense, that’s a very talented team that we pretty much kept in check,” Harrison said. “They threw one deep ball that they dropped, but that was about all they did. I don’t even think they rushed for any yards.”
After finding nothing but tough sledding in the first quarter, star senior do-everything running back Trevon Kee stamped his mark on the game and opened the scoring 50 seconds into the second quarter with a 13-yard TD reception from starting quarterback Cohen Thomas.
With Smiths Station facing fourth and 10 at Spencer’s 13 yard line, Thomas’ lofted pass over the middle floated into Kee’s hands and gave the Panthers a 7-0 lead.
Despite facing some difficulties sustaining offensive success from there, Smiths Station delivered when it mattered most, reeling off several highlight-reel-worthy runs that were ultimately called back by holding penalties.
“It feels great to see what we’ve got going into the season, and seeing the young guys get it done for us too,” Kee said. “We went through adversity. We went back to the locker room and we were down. I told them we’re going to be in a dog fight, and the young guys came out here and got it done for us. And I appreciate it.”
However, the opening game against an opposing team with different jerseys brought a plethora of mistakes.
In their next possession following Kee’s opening TD catch, the Panthers fumbled the ball at their own 43 yard line with 8:21 left in the second quarter, which the Greenwave returned for an easy defensive TD.
Defensively, the Panthers were charged with several penalties after the offense fumbled again less than two minutes before halftime, which helped Spencer march down the short field and score a 4-yard passing touchdown.
Over the course of what was a grinding, physical matchup, multiple players on both teams were also charged with unnecessary roughness or unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, and holding calls wiped out at least two long Smiths Station runs.
Harrison said his team would need to clean up the mental errors over the next week to ensure the regular season starts off with a win for the Panthers.
“We made so many mistakes, but we stayed in the game,” Harrison said. “When you first go live against somebody else, I can understand the nerves and all that, so we made a lot of mistakes. We’ll go back, look at it and see what it’s going to take to fix it, and hopefully we got out of this [game] healthy tonight. So we’ll see what happens.”
As the home opener against Northside High School (GA) rapidly approaches, Harrison gave a short and simple preview: play more disciplined, and Smiths Station has a shot to beat the Patriots.
“Hopefully we can cut out the penalties. If we cut out the penalties, it gives us a chance,” Harrison said. “And we can’t turn the ball over. Spencer didn’t turn the ball over tonight, and that kept them right there. So we can’t turn the ball over, and we can’t get stupid penalties. If we can handle that, I think we’ll be okay.”
The Panthers will host Northside at Panther Stadium on Friday, Aug. 21 at 7 p.m.
