MUS Sports News

Owls' Season Ends with Semifinal Setback

Anytime you lose a game, the setback is difficult to take.

However, losing a game in which you feel you squandered opportunities against a team that you had earlier defeated makes the pain all the more acute.

That is the emotion felt by the Owls last Friday night as they gave up an early lead and could never recover, losing to MBA in the Division II, AAA state semifinals, 20-14, and ending their season at 7-4, 3-2.

MUS came out on fire, looking composed and confident against the Big Red.

After a three-and-out for MBA, the Owls took over at their own 30. 11 balanced plays later, MUS took the early lead as QB John Conrad McCrary went in from 1-yard out on fourth-and-goal. Ben Tacker's PAT gave the Owls the 7-0 lead.

The MUS defense maintained the momentum as they forced another Big-Red punt, and the Owls took over, looking to add to their advantage.

Starting from their own 19, the Owls ran 13 plays to get deep into MBA territory. However, once MUS got inside the Big Red 20, the drive stalled, and Tacker came out to attempt a 38-yard field-goal. The Owls came away with no points as Tacker's attempt was no good, and MBA had the big play they needed to turn the game around.

After the missed field-goal, the game turned almost immediately as the Big Red began to control both lines and become very aggressive.

They took the MUS miscue and drove 80 yards in 9 plays to tie the score as WR Matthew Jacques hauled in a 30-yard pass from QB Michael Fisher. Bryant Hahnfeldt's extra point tied the score at 7.

The Big Red eventually increased the lead to 20-7 on a pair of Michael-Koban 8-yard runs, one in the second quarter and the other in the third. Hahnfeldt did not convert his third PAT attempt, a miss that gave MUS a chance.

The Owls tried to come back.

With John Phillips now at quarterback, he led MUS down the field in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to six. His 22-yard touchdown run culminated the 5-play, 58-yard drive as MUS was within one score with 7:34 left.

But the Owls could never get any closer.

With MBA blitzing nearly every down, the Owl quarterbacks rarely had time to find their targets as they combined to complete 11-31 passes for only 106 yards and 3 interceptions.

The running game was also stymied as the Owls could muster only 94 rushing yards. RB Derek Clenin led MUS with 67 yards on 22 carries.

However, the MBA offense found the going somewhat easier even though it took several series to get started. They compiled 330 total yards, including 183 second-half yards. Koban led the Big Red in rushing, amassing 128 yards on 15 carries. He also may have saved his team on one of these runs as he broke off a 65-yarder in the fourth quarter to turn field-position around after the Owls had cut the lead to 20-14 and had the momentum.

With the win MBA improves to 8-4, 4-2, and advances to the state title game against Brentwood Academy, a 38-0 winner over McCallie. The Big-Red victory also ends the Owls' season. Even though MUS has a large senior class, they have several key players returning to spearhead next year's run.

Opportunistic MUS Holds Off Rival Wave

When the temperature hits the 30's, playoff time nears, and CBHS comes to Hull-Dobbs, a football fan knows that he is in for one heck of a football game.

Last Friday night at MUS, the Owls and the Purple Wave definitely did not disappoint.

MUS scored the first 21 points of the game and then desperately held on to defeat a charging CBHS team, 28-27, to secure the second seed in the Super 7 playoffs and complete a 7-3, 3-1 regular season.

Early on, this narrow victory looked as if it would be easy for the Owls against the Brothers (7-3, 2-2).

On the first play from scrimmage, MUS QB John Conrad McCrary hit WR Jamie Drinan on a slant, and Drinan raced down the middle of the Purple-Wave secondary for 63 yards and 6 points. Ben Tacker's PAT gave the Owls a lightning-quick 7-0 lead.

MUS doubled that lead just 3 minutes later.

After a Blake Lindsay fumble recovery at the CBHS 7 on the Wave's first play, the Owls needed 2:26 and a key roughing-the-kicker penalty on a Tacker field-goal attempt to add another touchdown as RB Derek Clenin scored from 2-yards out. Tacker's extra-point made the score 14-0 before anyone could even begin to get cold on this frigid night.

The Owls had another great opportunity to keep adding to the advantage.

On the Wave's next play from scrimmage, Clenin picked off QB Carter Giovanetti and returned it deep into CBHS territory. However, the Wave slowly settled down, and their aggressive, large defense held the Owls on a 4th-and-2 from the CBHS 5. From there, the game became a slugfest.

Neither team could establish much offensively as the half progressed as four consecutive punts ensued. Finally, late in the half MUS got another opportunity.

As CBHS TE Brent Russell was headed to the endzone following a long reception, DB Kane Alber hit Russell from behind and knocked the ball loose. Safety Trae Bryant alertly fell on the fumble, and the Owls took over. Needing only 5 plays, MUS moved 59 yards, culminated by a 30-yard pass from McCrary to Clenin for the touchdown. The PAT gave the Owls an amazing 21-0 lead.

Yet the Purple Wave did not lie down.

As the half wound down, Giovanetti, who finished 15-23 passing for 253 yards, and RB Michael Marable engineered a powerful drive. In only 3:03, they had moved CBHS 65 yards in 12 plays to score as Giovanetti hit WR Trip Bennett from 5-yards out. The Christian Looney PAT cut the lead to 21-7 as the first half ended.

Though the Owls still had a large lead, they had to know that CBHS would not give up, and the Owls would have to maintain their aggressiveness to put this win away.

But the Wave made it a game from the outset of the second half.

Taking the opening kickoff, they used 11 plays to drive 80 yards. The Brothers began to control the line, and MUS began to miss tackles. Marable's 3-yard run cut the lead to 21-14 just 5 minutes into the third quarter.

The Owls' offense also began to struggle as they seemed to tighten somewhat. They did put together a nice drive late in the third quarter, but that possession stalled as McCrary was intercepted in CBHS territory by LB Matt Karpovich.

With this turnover, the Wave had the spark they needed to tie the game. Again, controlling the line, CBHS worked down the field as Marable, who rushed for 128 yards for the game, bore the brunt of the load. Finally, on 4th-and-goal, Giovanetti snuck in from 1-yard out on second effort to tie the score at 21.

But MUS had enough to step up and reclaim the lead. On their next possession, the Owls pounded out two first-downs but faced 3rd-and-17 at the MUS 46 with fewer than 5 minutes remaining. Not finding anyone initially, McCrary scrambled and bought himself enough time to hit WR John David Lawhorn in the middle of the field, and he used his speed to bound into the endzone. The Tacker PAT gave the Owls the 7-point advantage.

The Wave came right back.

Behind the arm of Giovanetti, CBHS faced a 2nd-and-3 from the MUS 36. As Giovanetti scrambled, LB Tyler Wohrman leveled and knocked out the leaping quarterback, who nevertheless completed the pass for a first down.

With Giovanetti out, backup Chris Skinner did not miss a beat.

He needed only 2 plays to hit Russell from 10-yards out for the score to cut the lead to 28-27 and send the visitors into bedlam.

However, that euphoria was short-lived as Clenin came around the end to block the Looney extra-point to preserve the lead with 46 seconds remaining.

Even though CBHS recovered the onside kick and had one more opportunity, they simply ran out of time and downs as MUS increased their series lead over their rivals to 13-9.

Though the win was great, the coaches were somewhat concerned about some of the numbers. CBHS outgained MUS 443-320 in total yardage, including a 283-121 advantage in the second half. The Wave also had 4 more first-downs than the Owls and ran 9 more plays.

Yet MUS took advantage of 3 CBHS turnovers as McCrary went 14-29 for 256 yards and 3 touchdowns, while Clenin ran 12 times for 35 yards against the top-ranked rushing defense in the county.

With the win, the Owls get a first-round bye in the Super-7 playoffs and will host the MBA-Baylor winner on November 15 at MUS. MUS defeated MBA, 24-21, in Nashville earlier in the year, while they have not played Baylor this season.

Owl Runners Claim Third at State

With some of the best runners in the state assembling at the Steeplechase Course in Nashville on November 2 for the Division II State Cross-Country Race, the MUS varsity team looked to better last year's fourth-place state finish and complete a fine season. Led by Collins Roll's 5th place finish, the Owls ran very well to finish third, 32 points behind champion Knoxville Webb.

Roll's 15:30 at state was some 20 seconds better than his career-best time, while Marshall Goldsmith, Hunter Adams, William Adams, Brad Whiteside, and Peter Zanca all had season-best times in the meet. Goldsmith's 15:51 was 30 seconds better than he had ever done as he finished 15th overall. Freshman Hunter Adams came in shortly after, finishing 19th with a 16:06, 17 seconds better than his career best. Will Hunt finished 23rd overall with a 16:18, while William Adams came in 31st with a 16:28, some 30 seconds better than he had ever done.

While the top-five runners scored, each team could run two more guys to push other runners. The other two Owl runners included Brad Whiteside, who finished 48th with a 16:56, a fine run considering that he had been fighting mononucleosis this season, and freshman Peter Zanca, who ran a 17:23 to finish 56th.

Coach Joe Tyler was pleased with his team's performance at state as most of the Owls had season-best times, and the average team time was 16:04, the best an MUS team had done in several seasons.

Their performance at state was what the team had been working toward throughout the regular season. Season highlights included a first-place finish at the Chickasaw Trails Invitational in Alabama, a prestigious race featuring 220 runners and 21 teams from across the South. The Owls also claimed another region championship just one week before the state race.

Though they did not win the state title, Coach Tyler was pleased with the year.

"Throughout the season, we kept very focused on the meet that mattered most -- November 2. Wins and losses did not detract from the ultimate goal, which was to compete for a state championship."

Tyler was also happy with senior leadership on the team.

"Our seniors did a great job not letting early season disappointments distract us. Their leadership allowed us to keep the team focused throughout on the goal."

Though only seven runners participated at state, the varsity team consisted of other runners. Senior Eli Atkinson, juniors Tom Billings and Brad Spicer, sophomore Wilson McManus, and freshman Matt Dowling all ran varsity races at some point in the year.

Because this team loses six key seniors, a leadership void may arise on the team. Thus, some of the underclassmen and other newcomers will have to step up to continue the excellence that the MUS cross-country program has come to expect.