Neal's record-tying run sends Tigers past UPike

In a rare twilight football game, Georgetown hosted Pikeville at Toyota Stadium on Saturday night. While it took time, Georgetown was able to eventually show its strengths on both sides of the ball, pulling away from the Bears for a 35-14 win to improve to 2-0 on the season.

Defense was the story for much of the 1st half as neither team was able to finish many drives. After exchanging punts on the opening 2 series, Georgetown faced a 4th-and-1 from midfield, but QB Gehrig Slunaker was stuffed on a sneak attempt, setting the Bears up with strong field position. With the ball at the GC 37, Tyler Snell and Issac Young were able to break past the UPike offensive line to sack Bears QB Lee Kirkland at midfield, ending the Bears threat.

Georgetown got the ball back on its own 14 and began to move. After a 2nd-and-15, Slunaker hit JC Shegog and Luke Olive on consecutive plays for 29 yards, moving the ball to the UPike 36. 2 plays later Isaiah Cobb found open space for a 28-yard scamper to set the Tigers up in goal-to-go territory. 2 plays later, Darius Neal capped off a 9-play, 86-yard drive to break the scoreless game late in the 1st quarter.

UPike turned to clock management on its next drive that would carry into the 2nd quarter. The Bears eventually faced a 4th-and-8 from the Tigers 15. UPike chose to go for the conversion but were thwarted as Jacob Brass and John Carter Myers combined to stop Bears receiver, Diego Soto, well short of the line to gain. While the Tigers had momentum, they too were eventually turned away on a 4th-and-4 from the UPike 27 after an 11-play drive that ate over 6 minutes off the clock.

UPike tried the Tigers D in the red zone on the next possession. The Bears worked their way to the GC 13 where they faced 4th-and-3. UPike again turned down a field goal attempt and went for it. After a timeout, the Bears were flagged for a false start and a delay of game to push the ball back to a 4th-and-13 try, where they failed to convert. The flags were 2 of the 7 infractions called against the Bears on the night, totaling 71 yards. Georgetown took over with less than a minute left but could do nothing with it and the game went to halftime with the Tigers up, 7-0.

Georgetown's 1st drive of the 3rd quarter resembled nothing like the offense in the first half. This drive lasted all of 1 play. From the GC 12, Darius Neal took a handoff, waited for blocks, and found space up the middle and was gone. The 88-yard run tied the school record for the longest run from scrimmage and gave the Tigers the boost they needed.

UPike kept fighting as on the next GC possession, Gehrig Slunaker looked right and his pass was deflected and picked by Trevaughn Barnett, who rumbled 20 yards for a pick-6 and cut the GC lead to 14-7. Georgetown thought it had the immediate answer as LaDarion Montgomery was believed to returned the ensuing kickoff 99 yards for a score, but a hold on the return wiped the score out. The Tigers still started at the UPike 41. Slunaker connected with Shegog on the 1st play for 9 yards, but the UPike bench was called for unsportsmanlike conduct, tacking 15 more onto the play. 2 plays later, from the UPike 15, Slunaker connected with Aaron Maggard on a wheel route in the slot for a score and a 21-7 GC lead early in the 3rd. The teams traded possessions and punts for the rest of the 3rd quarter.

Early in the 4th, Georgetown started a drive from its own 42 and called on Reese Johnson to tote the rock out of the backfield. Johnson ran 6 times on the first 7 plays for 41 yards, putting the Tigers on the Bears 1. On 3rd down from the 3, Slunaker hit Jacob Iames in the endzone to push the lead to 21. Isaiah Cobb found the endzone midway through the 4th and after a late UPike score, Georgetown moved to 2-0 on the year with the 35-14 win.

Thanks to the record-tying run, Darius Neal finished the night with 140 yards and 2 touchdowns on just 14 carries. Reese Johnson and Isaiah Cobb finished with a combined 14 carries for 111 yards and a TD.

The Tigers will now have an open date ahead of a big showdown at Reinhardt in 2 weeks.