This one felt like a bowl win. Let's call it the Magnolia Bowl.
Maryville bottled up a season's worth of narrow defeats and put together its most complete game in a 25-22 upset victory over Belhaven here Saturday.
The Scots with the win finish 5-5 overall and 5-2 in the USA South, vaulting Maryville into a virtual second-place tie in the conference. It also gives a huge boost to a program that is serving notice it's on the rise in the NCAA's South Region.
"I'm really proud of our guys," Maryville head coach Ben Fox said. "We've played some very entertaining, competitive, tense, close, awesome college football games this year, but we just kept coming up on the wrong end of them.
"But those moments prepared our guys. There was a level of calm today when we had to answer a drive with a drive. We knew we had it in us offensively, and I was really proud of our defense for holding on there at the end and making some big plays and rushing the passer."
Bost There at the End
With the game on the line and Belhaven driving, Maryville's Tyler Bost sacked Blazers quarterback Tim Johnson on back-to-back plays to end it. Bost led the Scots with a career-high 10 tackles, including four solo.
Maryville quarterback Bryson Rollins had a monster afternoon, throwing for a season-high 373 yards on 27-of-41 passing with three touchdowns and no interceptions. It was Rollins' sixth game out of 10 with at least three TD passes, and he finished with 24 for the second-most in program history.
Add in another seven touchdowns on the ground – including one Saturday – and Rollins accounted for 31 TDs and 186 points to lead all freshmen nationally in that category.
Rollins kept his poise when Belhaven went in front 22-19 with 8:50 remaining. He and the Scots responded with a nine-play, 56-yard drive, culminating with a 20-yard touchdown catch by fellow Elizabethtonian Corey Russell with 4:21 to play.
"I told Coach Fox, 'Let's just stick to the basics and let's use what got us here,'" Rollins said. "We just came through and executed when we needed to.
"Wyatt Rutgerson came in on fourth down and converted, and just needed to step up our game and make big plays. Corey and I worked together a lot in the summer, and he trusts me and I trust him. It goes back to our high school days. Leaving our seniors with a win – that was our goal today."
Receiving Corps Shines
Russell finished with season-highs of 86 receiving yards and two touchdowns on five catches. His play complemented the outstanding work of Kevon Samuels, who posted 11 catches for 181 yards and a TD.
Samuels became just the third Scot with at least 10 receiving touchdowns in a season, joining Mike Butler with 15 in 1972 and Justin Jackson with 12 in 2005. Samuels also climbed into the Maryville top 10 in season receiving yards with 836.
Maryville placekicker Trey Hampton had three PAT kicks blocked, but his one conversion was No. 36 on the season to tie the program record.
"We had been in this position many times throughout the season, and we couldn't get it done," senior offensive lineman Ronald Villalobos said. "I'm just so glad we were able to get it done today. We gave 10 enough time, and he does his magic. And our receivers are some of the best receivers in the conference.
"We went into this game determined to win it and that's how we were on that last drive."
Another senior, defensive tackle Taylor Thomas, was part of the final finishing push.
"The last few plays, it was pretty stressful," Thomas said. "But everybody was just trying to stay calm and make a play. We relied on our conditioning. We knew we had the stamina to hold up. It was a great way to go out."
Fast Start Turns into Second-Half Grind
The game opened like it was going to be 55-50. Both teams scored a pair of touchdowns in the first quarter and Belhaven led 14-13.
Rollins ran 9 yards for a score late in the first half to put the Scots ahead 19-14 at intermission. It was the sixth halftime lead for the Scots over the last seven games, with the other game being a 7-7 tie against Brevard. Maryville won four of its last five games and five of its last seven.
A scoreless quarter and a half set the stage for the closing fireworks.
"We've had really good senior leadership all year," Fox said. "I've said this a lot but so many of the plays by our freshmen don't happen and don't mean as much without the contributions of the seniors who made a lot of smaller plays.
"I'm happy that they were able to go out a winner in their last game."
Future Appears Bright
Fox says the program has some young football players who have the chance to be very special at this level.
"This win allows us to finish with a better record than we did last year, so it's proof of concept of improvement," Fox said. "It gives us a lot of momentum, winning four of our last five and five of seven to end the year. And we had a chance to win every conference game.
"I hope it gives the players coming back a real shot in the arm of excitement to know that there is something they are working toward and is working. And I hope it shows proof of concept to a lot of really good players we are recruiting that hey, this is a place that is not afraid to play young players and those players have gotten better."
Fox also hopes this closing victory energizes the campus, the MC alumni and the fan base.
"We are doing things the right way, trying to develop this program on principles so it will be around for a long time. We are trying to do things the right way, and today's result is a direct offshoot of that.
"It was a great total team effort because that was a really good team we played today."
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