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Mynatt Minute – Halls Game Report, Oak Ridge Preview

By Bill Mynatt, Radio Voice of Powell Panther Football on AM 620 – WRJZ

The Powell Panthers took care of business on Friday at Halls, although it took a while to get the meeting to come to order.  After a sluggish opening period, the Panthers scored two touchdowns in each of the second, third, and fourth quarters and handed its arch rivals a 42-0 shellacking, running its overall record to 3-0 and getting the first District 3-AAA victory of the year.  
    With the win in the rivalry known as the Battle of Emory Road, this year’s senior class can go down in history as one of the few who never lost to the Red Devils during their 4 years at Powell.  The Panthers have now won 4 in a row, and 9 of the last 12 in the intense rivalry.  Powell now leads the series, one that dates back to 1948, 31-20-3.  
    After a scoreless first quarter that saw both teams hampered by turnovers and penalties, the Panthers got on the board early in the second after taking over after a Halls punt at its own 12 yard line.  In his first career start at quarterback, sophomore Hagen Owenby pitched the ball to Dy’shawn Mobley.  The offensive line got Mobley to the corner, and then the senior running back cut up the right sideline, got a couple of key blocks downfield, and outran the Halls defense 88 yards to the end zone.  The PAT kick was just wide right, and Powell led 6-0 with 10:45 to go in the first half.  
    The score stayed at 6-0 until late in the half.
    Halls benefitted from a roughing the punter penalty that helped them keep possession of the football with under 4 minutes to go in the half, so it looked like the Red Devils might go to the locker room no worse than down 6-0.  The Panther defense responded, however, and held Halls on the next three downs, forcing another Halls punt.  Powell took over near mid-field with just under two minutes to go and 2 times out remaining.  Owenby directed the two minute drill to near perfection, finding his brother, Drake, for the 4 yard touchdown pass with 14 seconds left in the half.  Powell went for two, with Mobley carrying the ball the 3 yards off of the left tackle, and the Panthers led 14-0 at the half.  
    The Owenby to Owenby TD connection was the second time in their careers that the brothers have teamed up on a touchdown pass.  They scored on the same play – The Tebow Pass - a year ago against Karns.  
Powell received the second half kickoff, and just as they had in the first two games of the season, the Panthers struck quickly to open the period.  Mobley’s second TD run of the night, this time from 26 yards out – along with Josh Neely’s point after kick - stretched the lead to 21-0 just a minute and six seconds in to the second half.  At that point, the heavy underdog Red Devils seemed to see whatever hopes they had for an epic upset taken from them.
    Then Hagen Owenby’s burst up the middle with 49 seconds left in the third electrified the visiting Panther fans, while completely shutting the door on Halls.  Neely’s kick made the score 28-0 heading to the final stanza.
Both Mobley and Owenby would add 4th quarter touchdowns to stretch the final score to 42-0.  
Mobley’s third TD run of the game, from 23 yards away on the first play of the quarter, and then another Owenby TD run from 16 yards with just under 4 minutes to go and Panther reserves in the game, nailed down the win.  Neely added the points after on each occasion, and Powell made the 7 mile drive west on Emory Road back to Powell with the win secured.  
    Mobley had a career high 238 rushing yards on 14 carries against the Panther’s biggest traditional rival.  His previous career best was 215 against Central during his sophomore year.
Owenby added 102 yards on just 9 carries, and he threw for 60 yards, completing 4 of his 8 passing attempts.  
The Panther defense held Halls’ first year spread offense to just 121 total yards, and came up with 3 interceptions in pitching the shutout.  
    With the win in hand, Powell now turns its attention to a huge district contest, and has a short week to prepare for it.  Oak Ridge will come to Scarbro Stadium for a special State Farm Thursday Night Rivalry game, to be aired on MyVLT TV.  Kickoff is scheduled for 7:07.  Powell and Oak Ridge came in to the season picked by most as the favorites to finish 1-2 in district 3-AAA.  
    Oak Ridge comes in to the game with a record of 1-1, 1-0 in District 3-AAA play.  The Wildcats defeated Central at home on Friday 28-6, after losing their season opener to Farragut 28-21 in week 1.  Oak Ridge did not play in week zero.   
    Thursday will be only the third time in history that Powell and Oak Ridge have met in a varsity football contest.  The two schools didn’t play prior to the TSSAA’s current redistricting format, which started in 2009.  Oak Ridge won that initial meeting at Powell, and the Panthers returned the favor with a 34-3 win at Blankenship Field last year. 
    With the earlier start time this week, air time on AM 620 – WRJZ will be 6:30 PM, instead of the normal 7 PM.  As all games are, it will also be available over internet streaming.   You can follow the link to the streaming from the home page of this website.  

If you have any questions or comments on this website or on the broadcasts of Powell Football on AM 620 – WRJZ, please email me to PowellFootballRadioVoice@yahoo.com .