Returning starter Kevin Shelton looked sharp. He passed for a total of six touchdowns in the two games and showed nice touch on some difficult throws.
Kevin SheltonThe receivers, particularly senior Michael Shook and junior Anthony Wilson, also impressed. The secondary, missing a couple of returning starters, showed definite signs being an effective and deep unit this season.
In the first contest, Shelton's two touchdown passes were enough to beat the Ashbrook Green Wave, 13-7, thanks to three timely interceptions by the Tornado secondary. Michael Shook picked off a couple of Ashbrook passes. Marcus Sims got his hand on another Ashbrook ball and tipped it into the hands of fellow junior Tyler Barnette.
After sitting out the next contest, Hickory took the field again, this time to play an old rival, the Burns Bulldogs. The Red Tornadoes struck quickly as Shelton connected with Shook for an impressive touchdown. Anthony Wilson caught the extra point and Hickory went up 7-0. Cole Smithey, a junior, intercepted a Bulldog pass to end one Burns threat. But the Bulldogs did eventually find the end zone to tie the game at 7-7.
Both sides played good defense and Burns did intercept Hickory three times. But Hickory forced the Bulldogs to turn the ball over on downs three times.
When the game was still tied after the regulation 20 minutes, the teams each were given four plays to score from the 10-yard line. Burns struck first and took a 14-7 lead. Anthony Wilson then made a leaping catch for Hickory's touchdown and junior tight end D.J. Holloway caught the conversion pass to make the score 14-14.
In the second overtime round, Burns needed all four plays to get the needed touchdown but they were successful and re-took the lead at 21-14. Again it was Shelton hooking up with Wilson for a touchdown. There was some mild controversy on the conversion attempt as Shook literally went horizontal and stretched to catch Shelton's pass successfully. Burns players insisted that Shelton had not got the pass off in time but this claim was denied by Lenoir-Rhyne coach who was supervising the game. So it was 21-21 after the overtime periods. This resulted in a "Texas Shootout" scenario to break the tie.
Now it was each team getting one shot at the end until a winner was determined. After neither team scored initially in the shootout, Shelton finally found Wilson in the end zone for the game-winning touchdown. Final score: 27-21.
Additional photographs can be seen in the Albums page of TornadoPride.com.
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