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It’s tough to win a football game when you give up 100 yards in penalties. When you stack 314 rushing yards on top of that, it’s near impossible.

That was the ‘Canes undoing on Friday night as they fell to William Blount 35-45 in their first region contest of the season.

“Just one too many mistakes, one too many penalties, and in a region game like this you can’t have those things and expect to win,” East head coach Dallas Kuykendall said. “We put ourselves behind the 8-ball not getting lined up right, not doing the little things, and when you’re facing a good team those little things will get you”

Despite the loss, East turned in their best performance of the season, particularly on the offensive side of the ball.

Their backfield committee combined for 150 yards on the ground, but quarterback Caleb Billings was the headliner.

Billings threw for 139 yards and two scores on 15-25 passing, picking up a touchdown with his legs as well. Four of those completions led to conversions on third and fourth down.

“Caleb just continues to get better. The more he gains confidence, the more reps he gets, the more comfortable he gets with what we’re asking,” Kuykendall said. “This is only his third Friday night, he’s still learning, so I look for big things from him moving forward.”

Austin Brannan caught five passes for 68 yards, Isaac Greene caught three for 33 and a touchdown before he went down with a broken collarbone and Carter Gilliam caught six for 31 including a brilliant toe-dragging grab in the back of the end zone in the fourth quarter.

Defensively, tackling was the biggest issue for the ‘Canes, particularly in open space. Arm tackles and poor leverage allowed Governors quarterback Brett Cortez to rush for 250 yards and three scores.

“It starts with making sure we’re aligned right, knowing our assignment and tackling,” Kuykendall said. “Sometimes we’d have half of that, but we never put it all together. I don’t think it’s an effort thing, I think it’s a factor of down-in, down-out knowing your job, knowing your assignment and making the tackle. The guys are giving us everything they’ve got, we’ve just got to polish it up.”

Cortez picked up an additional 117 yards and three more touchdowns through the air, amassing 367 all-purpose yards and six touchdowns in total.

His dual-threat ability made it a long day for the East linebackers, evading tacklers for extra yardage when he didn’t have an open receiver.

The Governors received the opening kick and drove right down the field, chunking yards together through the air and on the ground, almost all of which being accounted for by Cortez. The drive was capped off by an eight-yard toss from Cortez to receiver Garrett Clark to put the Govs up 7-0 with 10:38 to play in the first.

Eli Davis managed to pick up a first down for the ‘Canes with a 15-yard carry on the following drive, but a big tackle-for-loss on third down forced a punt.

On the ensuing drive, Cortez picked up 22 with his legs on fourth and seven to extend the drive, and punched it in with a carry from 12 yards out to give the Govs the 14-0 lead with 5:45 left in the first.

Austin Brannan started the next ‘Canes drive with a return to the 45-yard line, giving them the boost they needed for their first scoring drive.

First down carries from Easton Woody and Jason West brought East all the way down to the two-yard line, where they faced fourth and goal at the beginning of the second.

They decided to debut their “heavy” package on fourth and short, with Trevor Foulks behind center and Max Baker by his side. Foulks kept it himself, cutting the lead to 14-7 to open up the second.

A return from Govs Randy Reed on the kickoff started their drive off in ‘Canes territory, where Cortez connected with Caden Miller for the score to extend their lead to 21-7.

While East didn’t have the costly miscues on special teams snaps that have hurt them in weeks past, they allowed many kickoffs and punts to be returned into their own territory, shortening the field for William Blount.

“We’ve just got to keep repping it. There’s no magic or secret to it, you’ve just got to keep getting reps and keep hammering the importance of special teams and keep practicing,” Kuykendall said. “We were certainly better today, but we’re still not where we need to be in that phase of the game.”

But the ‘Canes responded. They strung together a 17-play scoring drive, converting five first downs in the process.

Brannan connected with Greene in the end to bring East back within a touchdown with 4:38 in the half.

The East defense bent on the following drive, but they didn’t break.

The Govs marched the ball all the way down to the one-yard line, but the defense shored up.

Skylar Arwood came up with a huge tackle for loss on second down; Foulks followed suit on third, and incompletion on fourth down gave East the ball back with 1:19 left in the half.

East went three and out and were forced to punt, but Will Hemminger intercepted Cortez on the Govs first play on offense, leaving the score at 21-14 at half.

The ‘Canes were forced to punt on their first drive of the second half, but Billings’ punt traveled all the way to the one-yard line.

Before East’s coverage team had a chance to down the ball, Reed tried to pick it up and was immediately rocked by a host of ‘Canes defenders, knocking the ball loose.

Zander Southerland recovered it in the end zone, knotting the game up at 21 with 9:37 to play in the third.

A personal foul penalty on the kickoff gave William Blount the ball at the East 17, but the East defense stood pat again, forcing a field goal. The kick came up short, giving the ‘Canes the ball back on the 20.

Billings connected with Gilliam on third down, but he was tackled short of the sticks and East was forced to punt.

Cortez capped the drive off with a 4-yard touchdown, bringing the score to 28-21 with 3:56 to go in the third.

The ‘Canes fumbled the following kickoff, and the Govs only needed three plays to capitalize. Miller hauled in his second touchdown grab of the day to extend the lead to two scores.

On the following East drive, facing forth and two, they brought out the heavy package once again. Foulks took the snap for 22-yards, and Gilliam sealed the score with an incredible toe-tapping snag in the back of the end zone to bring the ‘Canes back within a score with 10:31 to play.

The Govs were forced to settle for a field goal on the next drive, but it brought the lead to 38-28 with 8:09 to go.

Billings was picked off on the next drive, and Cortez capitalized. His 11-yard scoring scamper extended the lead to 45-28, effectively putting the game away.

Billings rushed in another score, but the ‘Canes fell 45-35 in the end, bringing their record to 0-3 on the year, 0-1 in region play.

They move on to face Jefferson County next Friday.

“We’ve gotta go back, we’ve gotta watch the tape. Like I told the kids, we’ve got two options. We can sulk in our defeat and lay down, or we can continue to fight and continue this journey together. We’ve only played three ball games, there’s still a lot of football left. Anything can happen, we’ve just got to continue to work, continue to get better, put our nose down and go,” Kuykendall said.