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Harlan County Sports: Football: Saragas takes sting out of Jackets with 5 TD performance
Friday, August 26
Saragas takes sting out of Jackets with 5 TD performance

By JOHN HENSON

Harlan County Sports.com

NFL Films has made several lines famous through the years, including one by Chicago Bears linebacker Mike Singletary when he bragged to an opposing offense that "I like this kind of party."

Harlan quarterback Ty Saragas felt much the same way when he found himself in the middle of an all-out air war in the second quarter of the Dragons' game Friday against visiting WIlliamsburg as the Jackets all but dared him to throw.

Saragas passed for 235 yards in the second quarter and finished with 349 yards and five touchdowns as the Green Dragons evened their record at 1-1 with a 41-22 win.

"I like my quarterback, and they were playing soft," Harlan coach J.B. Donahue said. "We had some people sick this week and we wanted to run the football, but they were playing off of us and we had to do what we could do. Ty answered the challenge because they brought a lot of people. He had a lot of people in his face and he threw the ball well under pressure."

Saragas got as many people involved in the aerial assault as possible with five different receivers catching touchdown passes, including David Allen, Demarcus Williams, Vince Bianchi, Eric Young and Dakota Morris.

Harlan drove 62 yards in 10 plays for a touchdown on its opening possession. Saragas picked up two first downs on runs, then threw to Morris for 11 yards to the WIlliamsburg 27. Saragas completed the drive by connecting with Allen for a 17-yard pass with 7:41 to play in the first quarter. Young missed the extra point attempt.

WIlliamsburg struck with a big play midway through the second quarter when Hamblin found freshman Skylar Grittith down the sideline for a 71-yard touchdown pass. Hamblin threw to Michael Rose out of the backfield for the two-point conversion pass and an 8-6 lead.

Harlan wasted little time answering as Saragas led the Dragons down the field, completing a 26-yard pass to Dalton Overbay before finding WIlliams on a screen pass that the junior tailback turned into a 39-yard touchdown with 4:07 to play in the second quarter. Brandon Lyons sacked Saragas on the two-point conversion attempt but Harlan led 12-8.

"Our screen game was real big for us tonight. Our line did a good job on that," Donahue said.

Hamblin and Grittith teamed up again two plays later for a 50-yard scoring pass with 3:29 left in the second quarter. Hamblin was stopped on the two-point conversion attempt but WIlliamsburg led 14-12.

"We just completely lost coverage, people not doing what they are supposed to do," Donahue said.

The rest of the quarter belonged to Saragas and the Harlan offense. Bianchi caught a 69-yard touchdown pass with 2:28 left. Cody Logan caught a two-point conversion pass as Harlan moved on top 20-14.

Young set up the next touchdown with an interception, then caught a 66-yard pass from Saragas for the score with 57.8 seconds left. Morris tightroped the sideline for the two-point conversion and a 28-14 lead at the break.

After taking the second half kickoff at midfield, WIlliamsburg went on an 11-play drive. Hamblin found Chris Lowrie in the corner of the end zone for a 13-yard pass on a fourth-and-goal play. Williamsburg had a first down on the 1 before a procedure penalty backed them up. Christian Turbyfill and Dylan Chasteen sacked Hamblin for a seven-yard loss on second down.

Patrick added the two-point conversion to cut the deficit to 28-22 with 6:46 left in the third quarter.

Harlan drove 51 yards in 10 plays to regain its two-touchdown advantage. Saragas found Morris for a 3-yard scoring strike with 10:12 left in the game. Saragas' pass on the two-point conversion attempt was off the mark.

Ryland Atkins recovered an onside kick to give the Dragons an opportunity to put the game away, but two procedure penalties stalled the drive before it could start.

The Harlan defense set up the final touchdown as Overbay forced a fumble that Dawson Charles recovered on the Williamsburg 14. A holding penalty pushed the Dragons back 10 years, but Allen took a pitch from Saragas, cut back across the middle and rumbled 25 yards for a touchdown with 6:13 left in the game. Atkins hit the extra point.

Other than the two big passes from Hamlin to Griffith, the Jackets struggled to move the ball and managed only 92 yards on the ground.

"Mental lapses hurt us at times, but defensively I think our kids have bought in to what coach (John) Luttrell is preaching," Donahue said. "They are running to the football, and that's the main thing defensively."

Harlan evened its record at 1-1, bouncing back from a 21-14 loss last week at Pikeville.

"I think we let one get away last week, but the kids responded this week even though we had a lot of sickness," Donahue said. "We had a lot of kids who stepped up and filled in. Dawson Charles stepped in and played linebacker tonight, and I can't say enough about a kid like that."

Williamsburg (1-1) returns to action Friday against Pineville. Harlan is off next week before traveling to Middlesboro on Sept. 9.


Williamsburg 0 14 8 0 — 22



Harlan 6 22 0 13 — 41



H — Allen 17 pass from Saragas (kick failed)



W — Griffith 71 pass from Hamblin (Rose pass from Hamblin)



H — Williams 39 pass from Saragas (run failed)



W — Griffith 50 pass from Hamblin (run failed)



H — Bianchi 69 pass from Saragas (Logan pass from Saragas)



H — Young 66 pass from Saragas (Morris pass from Saragas)



W — Lowrie 13 pass from Hamblin (Patrick run)



H — Morris 3 pass from Saragas (pass failed)



H — Allen 21 run (Atkins kick)



WHS HHS



First downs 13 15



Rushes-yards 25-92 32-98



Passing 230 349



Comp-Att-Int 12-24-2 18-27-0



Punts-Avg 4-26 5-38



Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0



Penalties-Yards 5-35 6-55



INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS



RUSHING—Williamsburg, Hamblin 17-70, Patrick 6-16, Griffith 1-6, Lowrie 1-0. Harlan, Allen 2-26, WIlliams 7-25, D, Morris 6-21, Overbay 5-10, Gambrel 2-7, T, Morris 1-4, Logan 3-3, Saragas 6-2.



PASSING—Williamsburg, Hamblin 12-24-2-230. Harlan, Saragas 18-27-349.



RECEIVING—WIlliamsburg, Griffith 3-134, Rose 3-36, Lowrie 3-42, Shelton 2-19, Sizemore 1-(-1). Harlan, Allen 5-74, Morris 4-36, Young 2-70, Williams 2-57, Overbay 2-26, Bianchi 1-69, Logan 1-10, Charles 1-7.