Final

Mercer played a completely different second half.

 

Defense stepped up big time. 2 pick 6's.

 

D. Smith had a KO return for a TD. Had a 4th and 1 40ish yrd run for a TD. Tanner Robbins had a 95 yrd quick in reception for a TD.

 

They say speed kills and Mercer flexed theirs in the second half.

 

O line needs work. Lots of work.

 

AC is a pretty solid team. Blake Franklin is a player. Brandon Labhart and Cade Cotton are great players too. IMHO, play calling is killing AC. Too predictable.

Mercer played a completely different second half.

 

Defense stepped up big time. 2 pick 6's.

 

D. Smith had a KO return for a TD. Had a 4th and 1 40ish yrd run for a TD. Tanner Robbins had a 95 yrd quick in reception for a TD.

 

They say speed kills and Mercer flexed theirs in the second half.

 

O line needs work. Lots of work.

 

AC is a pretty solid team. Blake Franklin is a player. Brandon Labhart and Cade Cotton are great players too. IMHO, play calling is killing AC. Too predictable.

 

Agree on all points, excellent summary!

Can Mercer County compete for Region? They are clearly the class of their district. Can they beat Rock, Knox, and Wayne?

Anderson County led 10-0 at the half.

 

 

Then D Smith put on a helluva show tonight. I believe he finished with 345 all purpose yards. He had a 21 yard TD run on 4th and 1 to make the score 10-7 Anderson County.

 

Anderson County then scored again to make it 17-7 after a 31 yard screen pass for a TD. D Smith then took the kickoff 82 yards to the house to make it 17-14 Anderson County after 3 quarters.

 

Shortly after the fourth quarter began Seth Tatum picked off Anderson County QB Cade Cotton and took the interception 45 yards to the house to give Mercer County their first lead of the game, 20-17 as the XP was blocked.

 

Anderson County's Blake Franklin had a strong kickoff return but Anderson County was forced to punt and pinned Mercer County on their own 1 yard line. On 3rd and long from their own 4 yard line, Mercer County's Gunnar Gillis hit Tanner Robins on a short slant route and Robins outran his defender 96 yards to the house for a TD to make it 27-17 Mercer County.

 

Another strong Blake Franklin kickoff return gave Anderson County great field position and after a few plays they were able to score on a beautiful pass from Cotton to Franklin to make it 27-24 Mercer County.

 

Mercer County was forced to punt on their next possession and shortly after Anderson County took over D Smith pretty much just took the ball away from the WR he was covering and took it 49 yards to the house for an interception return TD to make it 34-24 Mercer County.

 

Anderson County was forced to punt on their next possession and shortly after taking over D Smith scampered off for a 75 yard TD run to make it 41-24 Mercer County.

 

Anderson County added a TD with 1.4 seconds left in the game for the final score of 41-31.

Blake Franklin of Anderson County is a very nice football player. He was fun to watch.

 

It was sooooooo great to see Tanner Robins on the field having fun and doing his thing. Truly a special talent.

 

Seth Tatum doesn't get talked about much. He won't have eye opening stats but he is a helluva player and a great kid. He plays with a lot of heart and always seems to make a play when Mercer County needs a play the most. Whether it is 4th and 2 and Mercer needs 3 yards for a first down Seth will get those 3 yards. If Mercer needs a stop on defense, Seth will be there to make the stop. Every team needs a Seth Tatum and I feel he is an integral part of their success. The place exploded when he took the interception to the house. I was really happy for him.

 

D Smith put on a show for the ages tonight. For all of the talk of how fast he should be in that one thread from his performance at the UK camp, D Smith showed us tonight why he wowed folks at that camp. He did it all. Offense, defense, special teams....he did it all. The question we all have is if he set a new record for All Purpose Yards in a game for MCSHS. If he didn't he got really close. I was honored to have been able to watch him put on a show tonight as well as report on it.

 

Grayson Blevins and Tyus Short continue to wreak havoc on opposing offenses. They are in on damn near every play and both finished with double digit tackles again tonight.

Sounds like a great game! Mercer makin moves this year huh?

Great time to be a Titan. Win or lose we have a great leader and mentor to young men in coach Buchanan. Parents if your kids have any interest in football have them get involved with this program. He is teaching more than football with a great family atmosphere

Always glad to see a D.B. led team post a win. That's two in a row, Wish it would have been three,especially since I was there for game one.