NEWLAND — The momentum had swung.
From down 26-0 to Draughn until just over 2 minutes remained in the first half without even having gained a first down, host Avery County rattled off 22 unanswered points and sat at the Wildcats’ 15-yard line, eager to take the lead some 12 minutes later.
Then Will Price made the play that changed the game and the direction of Draughn’s season, according to his head coach, leading to a 42-22 Wildcat win and a 2-0 start in Western Highlands 1A/2A Conference play.
The Vikings hadn’t allowed a Draughn first down on four drives spanning the halves, notching a safety and an interception to end back-to-back possessions as they set up at DHS’ 27 trailing by just four. A 16-yard pass and Draughn offsides penalty moved the ball to the 5 before an Avery holding penalty moved it back to the 15.
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Avery then tried a pass over the middle to the front of the end zone which Price snatched from a Vikings would-be receiver before weaving in front of the guests’ sideline, following his blocks downfield and shedding a tackle inside the 5 before diving inside the pylon to cap a 100-yard interception return for a touchdown.
“The play Will made on the goal line, that was the game-changing play for us,” Draughn coach Chris Powell said. “Coach (Billy) Abee was so excited he ran out of his shoes on the sideline. I’m a little bit older, a little bit heavier and have a titanium rod in my leg, but I was still right behind him.”
In the blink of an eye at the 1:48 mark of the third period, a near Draughn deficit turned into a 12-point lead, and a shell-shocked Avery squad never scored again.
“Our line got a good rush, and I just read the post route,” Price said. “I jumped right in front of it. Nigel (Dula) made a good block, and I took it to the house. … It got momentum back to us. It got us jumping around again.”
“That was big. They were on a run,” said Draughn senior Daylin Pritchard, who enjoyed a big night of his own with a varsity career-high four touchdowns including the insurance score with 7:32 left. “They had momentum going. They could’ve scored if (Will) hadn’t caught that.”
Pritchard capped a quick two-play series in the first period by hauling in a 67-yard bomb from quarterback Eli Tillery for the game’s first points. Early in the second, the duo hooked up again on a 23-yard TD strike on a deep slant as Pritchard cruised in between two defenders untouched.
On Avery’s third play of the next series, Pritchard jumped a screen pass attempt and took an interception 27 yards for his third TD and a 19-0 lead.
Draughn (3-2, 2-0 WHC 1A/2A) forced Avery into a seventh straight three-and-out to open the contest, then Dula (game-high 16 carries, 172 yards) then burst to the outside for a 59-yard scoring run to make it 26-0.
But as one-sided as the contest seemed at that point, the dynamic took an abrupt change when Draughn was unsuccessful on a fake punt and Avery converted its initial first down on fourth-and-3 near midfield following a timeout by each squad. One play later, Avery was in the end zone, and the hosts made a repeat visit before the half ended as well as on their opening series after halftime.
“Last week, we didn’t play four quarters, and we preached that,” Powell said. “This week, we came out and were so hot. Everything that we had planned for was clicking. (Avery) did a couple different things (to make adjustments), but defensively we had it set. Offensively we had it going early. Tillery made some great throws down the field, and Nigel had a couple big runs early.
“And then we got kind of lackadaisical and took our foot off the gas on both sides of the football. But I’m happy with the effort we showed late. Our backs were against the wall a couple times, and the guys bowed their necks.”
Tillery hit on seven of his first 10 pass attempts but just two of his last 12. Still, he finished with 258 yards through the air and the trio of scores to Pritchard.
Pritchard, who said it was his first four-TD game since elementary school, posted 116 receiving yards, while Tywan Newmorin added 82 yards and Dula had one catch for 60 yards. The DHS offense produced five plays gaining 59 or more yards in the victory.
Draughn’s defense limited Avery to four rushing yards on 24 carries as a team. The Wildcats were led on that side of the ball by Price, who added a tackle for loss and a pass breakup, and Pritchard, who added two sacks, as well as Dula (TFL, two pass breakups), Luke Rector (two TFL), Trevor Houston (1½ TFL), Holden Curry (pass BU, ½ TFL), Josh Elkins (sack) and Zaydin Pritchard (pass BU).
Despite all those big plays on both sides of the ball, Price’s momentum swinger simply stood above the pack in terms of impact.
“That was a huge turning point for our team, our program, our year,” Powell said. “Now we’ve just got to ride that and go to work this week and go up the mountain and try to shock the world.”
The Wildcats visit conference front-runner and preseason favorite Mitchell this week, looking to push their win streak to four games.