With a playoff game on the line, the Walker Valley Mustangs rose to the challenge on Friday. They took their game at home with ease, bagging a 74-33 victory over Campbell County. Considering Walker Valley has won six games by more than 29 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
Evan Schwarzl was his usual excellent self, throwing for 314 yards and five touchdowns while completing 83.3% of his passes, and also punching in a touchdown on the ground. Hudson Makuch was another key contributor, picking up 94 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Walker Valley's defensive line and their three sacks. Conner Phillips was particularly dangerous to the passing game, picking up two sacks himself.
When it comes to explaining why Campbell County lost, one person who can't be blamed is Landen Hensley. Despite the final result, he threw for 358 yards and three touchdowns, and also punched in two touchdowns on the ground. The team also got some help courtesy of Gabe St. John, who picked up 96 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
The win (which was Walker Valley's third in a row) raised their record to 9-2. That said, the team wasn't facing the toughest opposition over that stretch, as it included 1-9 PURE Academy and 4-7 Campbell County (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 33.6% over those games). As for Campbell County, they have traveled a rocky road recently, as they've lost six of their last eight matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 4-7 record this season.
Walker Valley will be playing in front of their home fans against Lenoir City at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams might be coming in a bit winded given how much these teams ran in their prior games. Campbell County does not have any more games scheduled as of now.
