A week after setting the school’s single-game record for passing yards with 408, Hornets QB Dylan Morris was left unsatisfied. On Thursday night, he threw for 413 yards and six touchdowns to fuel Hancock County to a 59-0 win over Webster County.
“We’re really proud of him and the guys up front who protect him,” Hancock County head coach Bob Eubanks said. “It’s exciting to watch every week.”
Starting the game on defense, the Hornets forced a 3-and-out, returning the ensuing punt to their own 37. Morris quickly connected with Wyatt Emmick for 13 yards before finding Bradyn Morris for 43 yards off of a flea flicker. On the next play, Emmick ran it in from seven yards out, but it was called off due to a holding penalty. Undeterred, Morris threw a 17-yard TD strike to Brady Eubanks for a 7-0 lead with 9:11 left in the opening quarter.
The defense forced a second 3-and-out, setting up the offense to start with the ball on Webster’s 34 after a short punt. A couple of plays later, Morris found Jaxson Morris for a 14-0 lead.
Facing a 4th-and-2 on their own 41, Webster turned it over on downs, but Hancock County fumbled and lost possession on the next play with 3:46 left in the opening quarter. Unfazed, the Hornet’s defense forced their third 3-and-out of the game.
Starting from their own 35 with less than 3 minutes in the first quarter, Morris surgically led his offense down the field, converting on a 4th-and-5. With 2.6 seconds left in the opening frame, Morris found Eubanks for their second of three touchdown connections, this one from 12 yards out for a 21-0 lead.
In the second quarter, the Hornets forced two punts and picked off a pass, leading to three straight scoring drives for the offense. The first of three second-half touchdowns occurred when Cade Herndon ran it in from one yard out to make it 28-0 with 5:32 remaining in the first half. A couple of minutes later and facing a 3rd-and-32 from their own 20, Morris threw a strike to Christian Yanez, who took it to the house for an 80-yard touchdown and a 35-0 lead.
After the interception landed them in the red zone with under a minute left in the half, Morris connected with Eubanks for 15 yards to give their team a 42-0 halftime lead.
In the first half, Hancock County’s defense allowed a whopping 6 yards, while the offense recorded 349 total yards.
“We knew we had to keep everything in front of us,” head coach Bob Eubanks said. “They are a hard-nosed team and we knew they were going to run the ball a lot. Our guys responded and played the game plan the way we needed them to.”
After recovering the onside kick to start the second half, Morris threw for his sixth touchdown of the game, this one for 52 yards to Bradyn Morris. The Hornets made it 52-0 after kicking a field goal in the 4th quarter.
With less than three minutes in the game and looking to run out the clock, Brady Eubanks broke free for a 62-yard rushing touchdown — an exclamation point to make it 59-0.
The Hornets finished the game with 544 total yards, while Brady Eubanks recorded over 100 total yards and four touchdowns.
“We came out and they were really focused,” coach Eubanks said. “We had a short week of practice coming off of a Saturday game into a Thursday game. They took care of business like we needed to.”
With a bye week during Fall Break, the Hornets will resume their season on the road in two weeks in a pivotal matchup at Union County.
