A year ago, Polk County walked off Hendersonville’s Dietz Field dejected and downtrodden, a 69-0 rout the epitome of a post-Helene season gone wrong.
Don’t be fooled by the final score in Friday’s rematch – many of those same Wolverines very nearly had many of those same Bearcats leaving G.M. Tennant Stadium with many of those same emotions.
Any proof that Polk County fans needed that its football program is heading in the right direction showed for much of Halloween evening. Hendersonville eventually claimed a 37-21 victory, scoring twice in the final four minutes to pad a final margin that was anything but assured until that time.
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The running clock, the lopsided score, the things many expected from this regular-season finale never came to pass. That’s because the Wolverines were the more aggressive, cohesive and, frankly, better team for much of the evening. Polk County had two possessions in the final eight minutes while trailing by two – had the Wolverines scored on either, who knows how the night might have ended.
“That was the best three phases of football that I’ve seen us play,” said Polk County head coach Dustin Fry. “Just to be in game 10, and to play that way against a team that almost won the conference, I can’t ask for anything more.
“Walking off this field and walking off at Hendersonville, it’s night and day, completely different. I am so proud of these guys and the way they played and the way they battled. There is no quit in this team.”
Mo Rainey’s 29-yard field goal early in the fourth period gave Hendersonville (8-2, 5-1) a 23-14 lead. Undeterred, the Wolverines (3-7, 1-5) responded with a 65-yard scoring drive highlighted by a pair of Styler Blackwell catch-and-runs.
The first of those came on a 4th-and-13 at the Polk 43 – Blackwell caught a pass moving toward the right side of the field, then dipped and weaved and fought through five different tacklers before reaching the left side of the field for 15 yards and a first down. Two plays later, Fry went back to Blackwell, who again shrugged off several would-be tacklers for a 43-yard touchdown. Blake Anderson’s extra point made it 23-21 with 8:07 remaining.
Anderson, the senior soccer player who scored a goal Thursday evening on the same field, then executed a perfect onside kick, dribbling the ball forward and falling on it at midfield. A 15-yard pass to Blackwell moved Polk to the 35, but following a penalty, Javanni Suber picked off a Brody Wilkins pass, stopping the Wolverine threat.
That still didn’t subdue the Wolverines, who forced a Bearcat punt and took over at their 31. That drive, though, didn’t produce a first down, with a 4th-and-10 failing at the Polk 43. JaRon Ward fired a 36-yard touchdown pass to Amir Albany with 4:07 remaining and Albany then returned an interception 26 yards for another touchdown with 1:13 left.
Threat averted for the Bearcats. Point made for the Wolverines.
“I thought we had them,” Fry said. “We just ran out of juice and a couple of mistakes just didn’t go our way.”
Two of those miscues came in the final 30 seconds of the first half, and they changed the tenor of the game.
Ward convered a 3rd-and-goal at the 11 with a touchdown pass to Rutledge pace with 25 seconds left in the opening half, Rainey’s extra point trimming Polk’s lead to 14-13. Rainey then chipped a short kickoff into the wind that landed near the 30 and bounced back toward the Bearcats. Suber, flying down the sideline, scooped up the ball, giving Hendersonville possession at the 28.
The Wolverines, though, appeared to have avoided any further damage after stopping Albany on a reception as time ran out. But a face mask penalty gave the Bearcats another play, and Ward drilled a pass to Jaylon Wynn at the goal line, giving Hendersonville its first lead of the evening at 20-14.
Polk held Hendersonville to minus-one yard in the first quarter, then took a 7-0 lead early in the second on a Loreynzo Sanchez 2-yard run. The Bearcats responded with Jordan Buford’s short touchdown run to cap a 76-yard drive, but Sanchez added another 2-yard scoring plunge with 3:05 left in the half to put the Wolverines up 14-6.
The late flurry would give the Bearcats a lead they wouldn’t lose. But not any lack of effort or determination on Polk’s part.
Polk County will learn Sunday afternoon where its playoff journey will begin. A team that has looked fresh, energized and focused since its bye week will undoubtedly be ready.
“If we play this way, who knows what can happen,” Fry said. “Really happy that we went out that way and went out fighting hard.
“The way they played the plan, I’m just happy to be their coach right now. They played their tails off.”
HENDERSONVILLE 37, POLK COUNTY 21
H – 0 20 0 17 — 37
PC – 0 14 0 7 — 21
SECOND QUARTER
PC – Loreynzo Sanchez 2 run (Blake Anderson kick), 11:54
H – Jordan Buford 5 run (run failed), 7:08
PC – Sanchez 2 run (Anderson kick), 3:05
H – Rutledge Pace 11 pass from JaRon Ward (Mo Rainey kick), :25
H – Jaylon Wynn 10 pass from Ward (Rainey kick), :00
FOURTH QUARTER
H – Rainey 29 field goal, 11:47
PC – Styler Blackwell 43 pass from Brody Wilkins (Anderson kick), 8:07
H – Amir Albany 36 pass from Ward (Rainey kick), 4;09
H – Albany 26 interception return (Rainey kick), 1:13
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
H – Jordan Buford 22-83, Amir Albany 1-(-2), JaRon Ward 6-(-22). PC – Loreynzo Sanchez 22-83, Kam Montgomery 1-(-3), Brody Wilkins 5-(-6).
Passing
H – JaRon Ward 19-28-0-219. PC – Brody Wilkins 9-22-2-137.
Receiving
H – Amir Albany 4-65, Jaylon Wynn 5-59, Rutledge Pace 3-49, Gianni Thompson 4-29, Javanni Suber 1-9, Gavin Ford 1-8, Jordan Buford 1-0. PC – Styler Blackwell 6-128, Acer Eadus 1-10, Jessie Moore 2-(-1).
