By DERRELL COMER
Register Correspondent
ERA — The Era Hornets improved their season record to 6-2 and evened their district record at 1-1 with a 21-0 defeat of the Blue Ridge Tigers on Homecoming night Friday in Era.
The Era defense pitched the shutout while holding the Tigers to 79 rushing yards for the game and 179 yards of total offense. The Hornet defense was led by the front seven rotation of Codie Hope, Justin Harp, Colt Henderson, Derrick Ratliff, Jace Sutton, Anthony Pellon, Steven Krewson, Patrick Drake, Aubrey Fortenberry, Justin Lance, Andre Menge and Rafael Amparan
After a scoreless first quarter the Hornets would get on the board in the second quarter on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Trey Dunn to Justin Lance with 33 seconds remaining before the half capping off a 5-play, 23-yard touchdown drive. The Hornets try for two was successful on a run by Trey Dunn giving the Hornets the lead 8-0. The Era scoring drive was setup by a 27-yard punt return by Jace Sutton.
The Hornets would add a quick strike touchdown in the third quarter on a 65-yard touchdown pass from Dunn to Nathan Metzler at the 23 second mark of the third quarter. After the PAT kick sailed wide right the score stood at 14-0.
Era would score again in the fourth quarter when Lance took a handoff, broke a couple of tackles at the line of scrimmage and broke loose on a 56-yard touchdown run. With the successful PAT by Metzler the Hornets had increased their lead to 21-0 with 8:41 remaining in the game.
The Hornet defense would take care of the rest as they completed the shutout of the Tigers.
The Era offense was led by a balanced rushing attack of Justin Lance, Jace Sutton and Rafael Amparan with each rushing for over 50 yards for a combined 187 yards rushing between the three. Trey Dunn led the Hornet passing attack completing 4 of his 7 passes for 88 yards and two touchdowns. Nathan Metzler led the Hornet receivers with 3 catches for 81 yards and one touchdown. The Tiger offense was led by quarterback Jake Price who threw for 100 yards while completing 12 of his 33 pass attempts.
