GLASGOW — Glasgow’s offense could not be stopped on Friday evening as the Scotties rolled to a 40-14 win over Monroe County in a much-anticipated rematch at Scottie Field.
The Scotties took advantage of turnovers and missed opportunities by the Falcons in the red zone and turned those miscues into points as Glasgow racked up 606 yards of total offense.
“The run game and turnovers hurt us,” Monroe County head coach Billy Joe Murphy said. “We turned the ball over two times in the red zone. [Glasgow] turned one over early in the red zone, which was great, but we couldn’t capitalize on those. We couldn’t get our run game going and they obviously got theirs going.”
Facilitating the offensive run was the performance by the emerging sophomore quarterback Tanner Abernathy, who completed 10-of-15 passes for 275 yards and two touchdowns while running for 95 yards and two more scores.
“Tanner kept his poise and he played well,” Glasgow head coach Jeff Garmon said. “Rushing for just under 100 yards and throwing for 275, that’s not a bad night. He’s smart with the ball for the most part. Even with the one interception he had, he was trying to make a play.”
Abernathy’s only miscue came on the opening drive, when he hit Griffin Murphy for a 53-yard gain to the Falcons’ 4-yard line only to be picked off in the end zone two plays later.
However, the Falcons were not able to answer on the turnover and the teams remained scoreless after the first quarter.
After a Falcon punt to start out the second quarter, the Scotties began to find their rhythm as Abernathy connected with [Griffin] Murphy for a 35-yard touchdown strike to put Glasgow up 7-0 with 10:21 to go in the first half.
Monroe County punter Ty Mink pinned the Scotties (10-3) at their own 10-yard line on the ensuing possession, but Dalvin Smith caught a shovel pass and broke off an electrifying 90-yard touchdown run to swell Glasgow’s lead to 14-0.
The Falcons answered on the next drive as Mink found Billy Michael Dyer for a 31-yard touchdown pass on 3rd-and-19, cutting the lead to 14-7 with 3:14 to go in the first half.
The Scotties responded a few moments later as Selverio Rescontellio’s 10-yard scamper put Glasgow back up by two scores, 21-7.
After trading turnovers, the Falcons drove to the Glasgow 9-yard line thanks to a 4th-down conversion only to turn the ball over on downs at that point.
The Scotties turned the missed opportunity into points as a 40-yard run by Glasgow’s Nick Mitchell set up a 16-yard touchdown on a QB keeper by Abernathy.
Mink scored again on a 6-yard run with 5:01 to go in the 4th quarter to cut the Glasgow lead to 33-14, but Abernathy answered with another 10-yard QB keeper.
The Scotties finished the evening with 331 yards on the ground. Mitchell led all players with 168 yards on 20 carries. [Griffin] Murphy and Rescontellio both added a touchdown.
Dalvin Smith caught five passes for 137 yards and a touchdown while [Griffin] Murphy caught three passes for 105 yards and another score.
“I thought everybody played well tonight,” Garmon said. “Our backs ran hard and obviously our offensive line did very good up front.”
The Falcons finished with 287 total yards, 227 through the air and 60 on the ground. Mink completed 13-of-35 passes for 220 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions while running for 60 yards on 24 carries and a score. Dyer caught five passes for 143 yards and a touchdown.
Despite not seeing the finish he had hoped for, [Billy Joe] Murphy showed nothing but praise for improvements made by a Falcon team that finished 9-4 in 2017 after finishing 3-8 last season.
“I’ll miss their attitude and their hard work,” [Billy Joe] Murphy said of his seniors. “In the later part of the season when we needed plays to be made, they made plays. I’m going to miss their selflessness and they’re going to grow up to be great people.”
With the win, Glasgow will go on to host defending state runner-up Danville next Friday evening at 7:30 pm. The Admirals advanced with a 49-7 win over Lexington Christian.
“It feels good to be able to play another game at Hank Royse Stadium next week,” [Griffin] Murphy said. “There’s nothing more I could ask for. Being region champs, we got something going here.
We’re a band of brothers out there. We like to play for the fans and for each other. If we just keep playing Scottie football and focus on us, we’ll be successful.”
