BY EVAN BROWN
FOR THE OBSERVER
SMITHS STATION — Despite a Herculean effort from Trevon Kee, Smiths Station High School fell to Dothan High School 42-12 on Sept. 4 at T.C. Britton Field to open Class 6A Region 2 play.
While there were bright spots for the Panthers (0-3, 0-1) when they had the ball, the defense gave up several big plays to the Wolves (2-1, 1-0). It’s an issue Smiths Station head coach Blair Harrison said his squad would need to fix moving forward.
“We played hard on offense,” Harrison said. “Defensively, we didn’t have an answer. That’s part of it: we got to put a complete game together.”
Kee brought great effort and finished the game with 39 carries for 200 yards and two touchdowns for the Panthers.
He proved to be a bright spot for the Panthers against Dothan according to Harrison.
“If they see the job that [Kee] did out there tonight and they don’t get excited about that, they don’t want to be a part of that and they’re not football players,” Harrison said of his running back’s efforts. “I’m excited for him.”
Dothan got to work early against Smiths Station, with Sirlathian Meadows breaking out for a 79-yard TD run on the Wolves’ first offensive snap.
Dothan followed up their first drive with a five-play, 76-yard TD drive, capped off by Sedrick Tyson finding Travion Torrence in the right corner of the end zone on a 10-yard play-action pass that put the Wolves up 14-0.
Kee and the Smiths Station Panthers were able to respond with an impressive drive. Kee could not be stopped on the Panthers’ eight-play, 76-yard touchdown drive, which featured a 28-yard breakthrough onto Dothan’s half of the field. The drive ended on the first play of the second quarter, when Kee shrugged off two Wolves defenders to find the end zone on an 11-yard TD run. The Panthers ran the ball on all eight plays, with Kee responsible for 64 of the 76 yards on that drive.
However, Dothan answered immediately, with Meadows able to get outside on a 60-yard TD run on the first play after the kickoff to put Dothan up 21-6.
Smiths Station went right back to work and dominated with their run game for an eight-minute drive on 11 plays. On the sixth play of the drive, the Panthers faced third and 8 on the Dothan 49 yard line. Kee delivered, punching through the middle with the help of some good blocking and breaking a tackle for a 31-yard run to put the Panthers in striking range. Despite Kee’s efforts, a pair of false starts and tackles for a loss prevented them from finding the end zone again, resulting in a turnover on downs.
Dothan finished off the half with another score on another explosive play. Meadows, this time from a direct snap, turned on the jets on the Wolves’ sideline for a 61-yard TD rush — his third of the night — to put Dothan up 28-6 to end the half.
Dothan received the ball to start the second half, and they continued to move the ball. The Wolves converted a crucial fourth-and-3 to keep their drive alive before Tyson connected with wide receiver Tazyrion Smith on a 25-yard touchdown pass to make it 35-6.
Smiths Station responded with a long, methodical drive. Hard, consistent runs by Kee and a 16-yard run by running back Mikell Spencer helped put the Panthers in striking distance. Kee finished things off on the 13th play of the drive, when he outran several Dothan defenders to the right pylon for his second touchdown of the night.
The Panthers will look to get in the win column next week when it faces J.A.G. High School (0-2, 0-1) at the Cramton Bowl in Montgomery on Friday, Sept. 11, at 7 p.m.
