Maryville Completes Eight-Win Season with 48-10 Triumph
MARYVILLE – A season of accomplishment ended in superb fashion here on Senior Day Saturday as Maryville throttled Southern Virginia 48-10.
The victory gives Maryville an eight-win season for just the eighth time in program history and the first since 2016. It also caps the 10th undefeated home season since World War II and the first since 2015.
Maryville completes its journey from 4-6 two years ago to 5-5 last year to 8-2 this season and a 5-2 finish in the USA South, good for a third-place tie.
"We've worked really hard," Scots head coach Ben Fox said. "We have an exceptional group of seniors who carried a lot of water for this place. I say every year, how are we going to replace these seniors? We figure out a way every year, but this will be tough. They believed and they stayed when we were playing in the spring during Covid. They believed and they stayed when we were 4-6 and things were not great. And they worked really hard.
"And because they believed and worked so hard, we were able to win eight games and continue building."
Five Different Seniors Score
Five different seniors scored touchdowns and another senior set a program placekicking record. Trystin Wright, Hadyn Hollin, Brock Skelton and Corey Russell hauled in TD passes, while Jalen Sharp plowed home from the 1-yard line in the fourth quarter for the first touchdown of his Maryville career.
Wright opened the scoring with a 2-yard catch, and Hollin followed with a 15-yard TD reception that made it 14-0. Skelton helped make it 21-3 at halftime with his 17-yard scoring catch, and Russell scored on an 8-yard reception to open the second-half scoring.
Maryville kept the offense rolling, with Bryson Rollins scoring on an 11-yard run and then throwing 8 yards to Devin Sanz for a 42-3 cushion. Trey Hampton's point-after gave him 37 made PATs for the season, breaking the program record of 36 set by Kyle Bennett in 2015 and tied by Hampton last season.
After Sharp's TD plunge, Southern Virginia put together its only TD drive of the game with Isaiah Maxey finding Isaac McMullin for a 9-yard score. The Scots then closed the game by running out the final 7:15 on the clock with a 12-play, 52-yard drive.
QB Continues Records Rewrite
Rollins finished 29-of-43 passing for 312 yards and four touchdowns. He rushed four times for eight yards and another score, giving the sophomore five total TDs for the second week in a row and the third time this season. For the year, Rollins accounted for 33 total touchdowns – 13 rushing, 20 passing.
Rollins finishes with Maryville program season records of 2,801 yards, 234 completions and a 63.9 percent completion rate. His 366 passing attempts are the second-most in a Maryville season and his 13 rushing touchdowns tie for second, while his 20 passing touchdowns tie for third.
The Elizabethton native after two seasons already owns Maryville career passing records with 5,356 yards, 416 completions and 44 touchdowns.
Russell ends his season leading the USA South in receptions with 60 and receiving yards with 712. Both of those figures rank among the top 10 all-time at Maryville.
Fourteen different Maryville receivers made catches, led by Hollin with six for 62. Chris Cooper was the rushing leader with 97 yards on 13 attempts. The 97 yards tied the team's individual high for a game this season, matching Tad Logan Jr.'s 97 in the opener at Sewanee.
Phillips Picks Again
Defensively, Cayden Phillips intercepted a pass for the second week in a row and Devon White led the team in tackles with seven. Matt Walker contributed a 5-yard sack and Patrick Spears recovered a muffed kickoff to set up a Scots TD.
"I thought we had a chance," Fox said about his expectations going into the fall camp. "I told the team before the season that we would have a chance to win every game, and the results bore that out. It really came to fruition. We didn't make enough plays a couple of times, but winning is hard. Winning eight times, 80 percent of our games, that's a great season. We have to figure out ways to climb in the margins and keep getting better as we head into the offseason and next year.
"I'm happy and I was thrilled for them today. We just have to keep working hard and loving each other and being that kind of team."
Before the game, Maryville Athletics recognized 33 seniors and their families.
