Roaring back from their first loss of the season at Landrum, Polk County looked every bit the part of reigning Western Highlands Conference champions Friday evening.
The Wolverines cruised to victory over visiting Madison at the Little Big House Sept. 16. In the final analysis, the Patriots, despite coming into the contest unbeaten with a school best-ever mark of 3-0, were ultimately no match for the powerhouse Wolverines on either side of the ball.
“It’s huge to get that first conference win, particularly since we played teams on consecutive weeks that were undefeated,” said head coach Bruce Ollis following his team’s decisive victory. “We felt like that was a pretty good accomplishment on our end, and something we’re proud of.”
The Madison defense, led by linebacker Dustin Fender, entered the game having allowed no opponent more than 10 points, and for most of the first quarter, it appeared fans were in for a classic defense battle. However, with just under four minutes left in the first quarter, Cary Littlejohn punched it from the Madison 3 to give Polk the 6-0 advantage.
After a crucial stop by the Wolverine defense on a big fourth-and-two turned the ball over to the Wolverines on downs, quarterback Alec Philpott mounted an impressive drive that resulted in another Littlejohn plunge from three yards out, putting Polk up 13-0.
Polk added their third touchdown of the half as Littlejohn notched the hat trick, plunging in from five yards out with 2:38 left to send the Wolverines into the locker room up 19-0 at the intermission.
Any notions of a dramatic second half comeback for the Patriots were quickly extinguished as the Wolverines scored on their first two possessions of the second half. Polk’s first score came on an electrifying 85-yard pass from Philpott to Joel Booker. Following yet another dominating stand by the Polk defense, a blocked punt by Cary Littlejohn handed the ball to the Wolverines deep in Patriot territory, and one play later Philpott plowed into the end zone, making it 32-0.
Despite two touchdowns passes late in the game by Madison quarterback Tyler Rogers that prevented the shutout, the contest had, for all intents and purposes, long since been decided.
Offensively, Philpott rushed for 33 yards and a touchdown, and was a perfect 6-6 through the air for 180 yards, including the backbreaking 85-yard touchdown bomb to Booker, who wound up with five catches for 153 yards on the night. Littlejohn rushed 14 times for 45 yards and three touchdowns, givingPolk’s resident speed merchant nine touchdowns already on the young season.
Jay Sutton turned in an impressive showing, rushing for 27 yards on five carries and adding 27 more yards receiving. Defensively, Booker led all tacklers with 12, and the Wolverines wound up with 10 sacks on the night.
With the win, the Wolverines improve to 4-1 on the season.
This Friday, the Wolverines are on the road, heading up to Yancey County to take on the Cougars of Mountain Heritage (2-2, 0-1).