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Morristown East knew they were in for a tough battle on Friday night against Jefferson County.

And for the Hurricanes, that battle was a lot tougher after 12 minutes of play

The Patriots scored on their first offensive play and then scored twice more in the opening quarter as they went on for a 42-7 win over Morristown East.

With the win, Jefferson County improved to 4-1 on the season and 3-0 in Region 1-6A play. Morristown East fell to 0-4 overall and 0-2 in Region 1-6A play.

“When you’re playing a good ballclub, you can’t spot them points,” Morristown East coach Dallas Kuykendall said. “We were there in a lot of places, but I just don’t think our tackling was great. They’re a good ballclub and you just can’t give a good team points. You have to make them earn it. We just couldn’t do that coming out of the gate. When we gained our composure, we got a stop. We just have to get better at that.”

For Jefferson County coach Spencer Riley, the region win put his team one step closer to a home playoff game, something that hasn’t been done in almost two decades.

“We control our own destiny,” Riley said. “We have to win one more region game to lock up a home playoff game. That hasn’t happened here in 20 years or so. Some good things going on. It’s a fun time. We definitely had some bad execution at times tonight, but had some really good plays by some individuals.”

Jefferson County dominated the game from start to finish on the stat sheet, rushing for 306 yards and holding East to 77 rushing yards and 75 passing yards.

Omarian Mills led the way for the Patriots as he took the first offensive play for Jefferson County 80 yards to the house. Mills would get injured later in the half but finished with 150 yards and two touchdowns on just four carries.

Along with Mills, Skylar Thomas had 92 yards on 12 carries and two touchdowns while Shawn Jackson had 32 yards and a score.

“We didn’t block a lot tonight, but we had some really good runs by all three of our backs,” Riley said. “You get four carries for 150, that’s a good night,. We had a pretty good night running the football. Our backs made some first-level guys miss.”

For Morristown East, Jason West had 19 carries for 54 yards as he picked up some hard yards all throughout the game.

“He had some tough runs,” Kuykendall said. “Early on, the gaps weren’t really where he thought they were going to be but he tweaked that on the run and you saw him break some. He’s a tough kid that runs and works hard. He’s just a junior and is doing a good job. Proud of his effort.”

Morristown East moved the ball on the opening drive of the game as Carter Gilliam caught a screen and then flung it 25 yards Austin Brannan. However, the drive would stall and Mills scored to make it 7-0 in favor of the Patriots.

After a 3-and-out by East on their next drive, Jefferson County went to the ground again as Mills had a 24-yard run before breaking one into the endzone from 21 yards out to make it 14-0.

East once again went 3-and-out on their next drive, and the Patriots once again capitalized. The Patriots drove to the one before Thomas took it in for six to make it 21-0.

The Patriots would add one more score in the half as Jackson scored from eight yards out to make it 28-0.

Jefferson County picked up where they left off to start the second half as Thomas scored his second touchdown from two yards out to make it 35-0.

However, the ‘Canes showed fight as they recovered a fumble on a punt and drove to the 25. On fourth down, Jeremy Howerton found Carter Gilliam for a 25-yard score to make it 35-7.

“I never will doubt our effort or competitive toughness,” Kuykendall said. “Those guys will go out there and get after it. I was really proud of the way we competed in the second half against a really good team. We easily could’ve laid down, but we kept competing.”

Jefferson County added one more score in late in the game as Emmitt Newman, normally a linebacker, made a phenomenal one-handed grab for a 13-yard score.

The Patriots now have a bye week before returning to action in two Friday’s at home against Morristown West.

“We’re going to work a ton on special teams,” Riley said about what his team will work on. “We just need to go compete and sharpen our tools and get ready to play in the playoffs. That’s what great teams do.”

For East, they travel to Dobyns-Bennett next Friday for yet another tough region matchup.

“We just need to come to work,” Kuykendall said. “There’s going to be times in your life where your job isn’t going right and you still have to show up to work on Monday. It’s a good life lesson. I don’t worry one bit about these kids. They’ll show up Monday, and we’ll keep working.”