BRISTOL, Tenn. – Taylor Harmon’s initial scavenger hunt might have been downright difficult Friday at the Stone Castle, but the Tennessee High quarterback still aced the list with flying colors.
What about a 40-yard floater placed perfectly over the right shoulder of a swarmed Cody Snyder down the sideline? No problem.
“That was a perfect throw – right on time,” Snyder said with a smile.
How about an 18-yard TD completion to receiver Carlos Howard, who grabbed the pigskin with just his right arm? Sure.
And for his bonus, Harmon drilled an opposing linebacker in the left shoulder pad – only to have the ball deflect over to an awaiting Howard for a 12-yard gain.
Harmon – who threw for 141 yards en route to the Vikings’ crushing 51-7 victory over David Crockett (0-2, 0-1) in Big 8 Conference play – could only shake his head and grin at the results.
“The way my receivers were catching the football, it almost felt like I could close my eyes and just throw it up there,” admitted Harmon, who completed all seven of his attempts against the Pioneers. “I could have punted some of them out there, and I think they would have caught them.”
It was simply that kind of night for Harmon, who engineered the multi-faceted offense to perfection – less 75 first-half penalty yards – against a Crockett squad that didn’t muster a first down until 2:27 left before halftime.
By then, Harmon had checked off all of his unique requirements on the aforementioned list, including scoring handoffs to Keenan Shepard – who rushed for a team-high 82 yards and 2 TDs – and Bradley Tallman for a 28-0 advantage at the break.
“We hadn’t run the ball like we normally run the ball at Tennessee High,” said THS coach Greg Stubbs, who had nine different Vikings accumulate positive rushing yardage. “So if we can get that going with our running game and throw off that thing, we could be a very, very good offensive football team.”
Taking advantage of an offensive line that gave him a well-defined pocket the entire contest, Harmon not only had the ability to rollout on several occasions, but also could go to second and third options during numerous marches down Pioneer territory.
“Tonight was probably the best pass protection I’ve had since I was a freshman at Tennessee High,” Harmon added. “I felt like I could sit back there all day long.”
One of Harmon’s final throws, a 35-yard rollout and throw to tight end Drendan Downs early in the third, signified the signal-caller’s ability to take his game well outside the hashes.
“I was glad to see that,” Stubbs said. “He definitely made some good decisions throwing the football tonight.”
Crockett’s Chorpee Sumo, who paced all running backs with 105 yards on just eight attempts, broke loose for a 77-yard scoring jaunt with 1:21 left in the third to break up
Tennessee High’s shutout bid. Overall, the Vikings (2-0, 1-0) recorded seven sacks, including a third-quarter tackle of Crockett quarterback Josh Richardson in the end zone for a safety.
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