Smith leads South Park past Mt. Pleasant

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, September 8, 2017 | 10:15 PM

Damon Smith was a one-man wrecking crew for South Park on Friday night.

Through the air and on the ground, Smith led the fourth-ranked Eagles to a 14-9 win over Mt. Pleasant in a Class 3A Interstate Conference showdown at Dormont Memorial Stadium. It is the first time South Park started a season 2-0 since 2006.

Smith led the team with 136 rushing yards with two scores to go with 149 passing yards.

“He is a pure athlete,” South Park coach Marty Rieck said. “We have had him in a few different spots. The beautiful thing about Damon is that he is a very selfless kid. He doesn't care about stats. He just wants to get the ball in the right people's hands.”

The Eagles (2-0, 2-0) opened the game with a five-play, 70-yard drive that was topped off with Smith's 14-yard quarterback keeper.

After a Mt. Pleasant (1-2, 1-1) drive led to a Bradley Tait 34-yard field goal, Smith escaped some heavy defensive pressure on the next series and scored on a 74-yard touchdown run to push the lead to 14-3.

Smith finished the first half with 125 passing yards — his only incompletions came from a pair of spikes — and 104 rushing yards. The Mt. Pleasant offense had a total of 81 yards.

“We know they are a well-coached team, and it was going to be a fight,” Rieck said. “This week, our assistant coaches are to be commended on all three phases of the ball and putting together a plan the kids believed in. Ultimately, the glory goes to the kids for executing the plan.”

After its offense sputtered in the second quarter — it only managed 18 yards — the Mt. Pleasant defense gained momentum going into halftime.

South Park staged a 68-yard drive on five Smith passes with less than two minutes to play. But the Vikings came up with three stops from the 2-yard line to prevent a touchdown.

“We are still young and very inexperienced,” Mt. Pleasant coach Jason Fazekas said. “Anytime you have a play like that, it is going to help you. We went into halftime and made some corrections and had some excitement. We able to get the ball moving in the second half.”

Running back Michael Govern scored on a 59-yard run on the second play of the fourth quarter to cut the score to 14-9.

On the following South Park drive, the Eagles faced a fourth-and-1 from their 42. The Vikings seemed to snuff out a fake-punt attempt, and the offense took the field. But the official spot put the nose of the ball just across the 43-yard line for a first down.

South Park continued the drive and ran nine minutes off the clock.

“I couldn't see what happened because I was on the other side of the field looking to get the ball and go on offense,” Fazekas said. “Our coaches thought we had it. But what are you going to do?”

Govern led the Vikings with 109 rushing yards.

Nathan Smith is a freelance writer.

Tags: Mt. Pleasant, South Park