Region play continued this week as the Blount Leopards hosted the Murphy Panthers on the UTV44 High School Game of the Week presented by Subway.
Both teams came into this week off their first region wins for the year, but the balanced offensive attack of Blount was too much for Murphy to handle as the Leopards racked up a total of 357 yards on offense.
Blount took an early 7-0 lead in the 1st quarter as Quinterris Toppings lead the Leopards on a 14 play, 70 yard drive which was capped by a 1 yard touchdown by Najee Brown.
Murphy was able to tied it up 7-7 in the 2nd quarter after Murphy quarterback K.J. Maye hit the end zone on a 5 yard touchdown run.
Late in the 2nd quarter, Murphy was driving the field before halftime until Tevin McKenzie coughed up the ball and Blount’s Kelton Brackett recovered the fumble. Nine plays later Blount’s Quinterris Toppings tossed a 2 yard touchdown pass to JarMarcus King with 24 seconds left before halftime. The extra point was no good, so Blount went into halftime with a 13-7 lead over Murphy. Toppings ended up on the night, 11 for 16, 175 yards passing and 2 touchdowns.
Half way through the 3rd quarter, Blount put together another long drive of 77 yards, ending with a 12 yard touchdown run by Najee Brown for the second time tonight. With the successful two point conversion, Blount was now up 21-7 Brown ended the night with 15 carries for 95 yards.
Down by two touchdowns, Murphy took the ball down field for 58 yards on three plays to cut the deficit by one touch down when Sam Dixon crossed the goal line after going 10 yards for the touchdown.
Murphy could not capitalize on a Toppings interception by Greg Jones, but on their next possession they were able to tie it up 21-21.Sam Dixon recorded his second touchdown on the night with a 9 yard reception from Maye. Maye ended the night going 5 for 11 with 116 passing yards and rushed 20 times for 118 yards.
Blount finally broke the tie in the 4th quarter with 9:04 left to play. Another long drive for the Blount offense took them 66 yards on 10 plays. Delorean Bethay broke the tie with a 1 yard touchdown run. The two point conversion was no good, so Blount had a 4th quarter lead of 27-21.
Blount widened their lead late in the 4th quarter after Toppings threw a 27 yard touchdown pass to Janawaski Davis. Davis ended up with 5 receptions for 110 yards and 1 touchdown.
Blount is now 3-0, 2-0 in Region 1, while Murphy drops to 1-2 for the year and 1-1 in region play.
Next week the UTV44 High School Game of the Week will be at “The Lip” as the Foley Lions come to Mobile to take on the McGill-Toolen Yellow Jackets.
