ROUNDUP: Rockwood downs Hampton in Class 1A First Round matchup

ROAN MOUNTAIN — The Region 2 4-seed Rockwood was unfazed by its long trip to face Region 1 Champion Hampton Friday night.The Tigers made the trek to Carter County and came away with a 27-14 victory over the Bulldogs at Cloudland.Hampton (9-2) took advantage of a Tiger miscue early in the game. On the first play from scrimmage, Jayden Davidson fumbled in Bulldog territory and the 'Dogs jumped on top of the ball.They capitalized on the error by going 36 yards in four plays to take a 6-0 lead. J.J. Cable took an end around 20 yards for the touchdown to cap off the drive.Rockwood (7-4) didn't waste much time punching back. On the very next play from scrimmage, Davidson made up for his gaffe by taking the ball 73 yards to the house to give the Tigers a 7-6 lead.The explosive plays continued for the Rockwood offense later in the first quarter, as Adrian Darby took off for a 50-yard touchdown scamper to go up 14-6.The visitors extended their lead early in the second with another Davidson score, this one from 32 yards out. The Rockwood tailback ended the day with 10 carries for 130 yards with the two scores.Hampton got the ball to start the second half and got itself back within a score. The Bulldogs went 68 yards in 10 plays, with Isaiah Belcher's three-yard rush bringing Hampton back within 21-14.While the 'Dogs defense played well in the second half, the dam eventually burst in the form of a short field. Following an interception return inside the Hampton 5-yard line, Rockwood extended its lead back to multiple possessions with an Aiden Amonett quarterback keeper to pay dirt.Amonett went 5-of-9 for 105 yards through the air with an interception and added 13 yards on the ground.Hampton's offense was unable to mount a late comeback, despite rushing for 205 yards as a team. The leading rusher was Belcher with 75 yards, with Cable adding 57 yards, Peyton Townsend running for 26, and Jayden Kuhn going for 21.Senior quarterback Connor McKinney ran for 16 on top of going 3-of-14 through the air for 49 yards.Rockwood will play Sale Creek next Friday.Alcoa 56, Cherokee 0ALCOA — The Tornadoes let out plenty of anger after losing the region championship last week, and the Chiefs were the unfortunate recipients.Alcoa jumped out to a 21-0 lead after the first quarter, partially helped by a pick-6.Micah Jones had three touchdowns for the Tornadoes before the game was called in the fourth quarter due to weather in the Blount County area.Cherokee's Lofton Hayes did set the school record for receiving yards in a season. Hayes was at 892 yards on the year after the first half, passing the 2018 mark of 880 set by Jonas Leeper.Anderson County 37, Volunteer 21CLINTON — Through a pair of lightning delays, the Falcons hung with the top-seeded Mavericks through much of the contest.Raymond Landry got the scoring started on the evening with a 96-yard interception return for a touchdown, giving Volunteer a 7-0 lead.The Mavs then rattled off 27 unanswered, but Falcon defense made another big play to stop the stretch. Amarion Graves picked off Anderson County and housed it to make a two-score game going into halftime.However, the Region 2-4A champions continued to show their might into the second half, earning another playoff victory.Knox Central 49, David Crockett 10KNOXVILLE — The Pioneers lost to the Bobcats in a game called with four minutes remaining due to a lightning delay.A.J. Wynn returned an interception 70 yards for a touchdown, and the Pioneers followed up by recovering an onside kick afterwards. Despite their best efforts, they trailed Knox Central 35-7 at the half.Ruben Ibarra-Flores hit a 31-yard field goal for Crockett's final points of the season in the fourth quarter.Ridgeview 34, Gate City 20CLINTWOOD — In another affair affected by weather, the Wolfpack were able to end the regular season with a win over the Blue Devils.Just before the game was delayed with 9:05 left in the third quarter, Jaalan Deel broke off a 42-yard rushing touchdown to give Ridgeview the lead, 20-14.Gate City tied the game with 4:21 left on a 6-yard touchdown run, but it didn't last long as the Wolfpack returned the ensuing kickoff to the Devils' 3. There, Deel cashed in the short field with a three-yard touchdown.Deel then made it a hat trick of scores from 21 yards out with under two minutes to go, icing the game for the Wolfpack.Cross CountryBoone boys finish third in stateMEMPHIS — The Daniel Boone boys cross country team will be coming back home with a third-place finish in the state meets.The Blazers scored 139 points to finish on the podium on Friday, with Fisher Battel being the top area runner in the race by finishing 7th. He finished his run with a time of 15:51.81.Owen Clemons of Cleveland was the individual state champion for Class AAA with a 15:06.37 pace. Independence won the team championship 77-105 over Houston.Elsewhere locally, Dobyns-Bennett finished 13th, Science Hill finished 14th, and Tennessee High was 21st.On the girls' side, Brentwood won the team championship over Collierville 44-101. They were led by a championship effort from Lauren Banovac, who paced the field with a time of 17:17.15.Locally, Boone's Sadie Honeycutt was the best finisher at 22nd, running a 19:00.60. Science Hill, though, had the best team score of the area representatives, posting a 320-point day, good for 12th.Daniel Boone was 15th, Dobyns-Bennett ran 19th, and David Crockett was 23rd.