By Kris Freeman
White House Football, as published in The News Examiner

Friday night, White House could simply be called the "big play Blue Devils."

Using extra effort, tipped passes and yards after the catch, White House rolled to a 42-16 victory over Springfield at Dewey H. Whitson Stadium, in front of a crowd which honored the 10th anniversary of the 1997 state championship team.

Halftime may have been filled with memories, but youngsters like Bryan Dixon and DeMarqus Payne made plenty of their own. Dixon rushed for 101 yards on seven carries with two touchdown runs of 19 and 45, while Payne scampered for 159 yards on 15 attempts with a 55-yard score. Each of the longest runs came on second effort after broken tackles and a spin.

"That kind of effort is expected out of our backs and our football team," said White House coach Jeff Porter, whose team rushed for 313 yards on 34 carries. "We moved the football well tonight and hopefully we took a step in the right direction."

White House (2-1) hosts Macon County next week for its first region game of the year, while Springfield dropped to 0-4 on the season despite its highest point output of the campaign. De'Jae Williams recovered a blocked punt in the endzone for one touchdown in the fourth quarter, while Travis Chatman scored from three yards out for the other Yellow Jacket tally. Derek Smith added a 21-yard field goal to cut the lead to 6-3 in the second quarter, but White House exploded for 22 second quarter points and a 28-3 lead.

"They ran the ball hard and did a really good job of staying with the play tonight," said Springfield coach Jon Offut. "They were very physical, but we had them in long yardage and let them make some big plays. I guess that's just the process of a young team.

"Last week we took a step downhill and this week was a little better. We just have to build it over time."

Sophomore quarterback Trox Greenwade led the Blue Devils on big plays in the passing game, connecting with Matthew Parker for a 62-yard touchdown and then hitting Michael Barrett for a nine-yard score. Greenwade completed 6-of-10 for 131 yards, while Aussie Light came in late and completed his only pass for 15 yards to senior Jesse Guthrie.

Parker led the Blue Devils with two catches for 75 yards, while Chad Neal added two catches for 37 yards.

On defense, the Blue Devils held Springfield to 253 yards on 60 plays, but over 150 yards came in the second half as White House brought in many of its young reserves. Quarterback Smith led the Yellow Jackets with 89 yards passing and 21 yards on the ground, but Springfield struggled to put points on the board despite several long, sustained drives.

Dixon opened the scoring with a 19-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, then Smith cut the margin in half with the field goal. But Dixon hit the home run on a 45-yard sprint in the second quarter, followed by Barrett's nine-yard catch and the 62-yard strike to Parker. White House led 28-3 at the break, including Light hitting Adam Wiss on a two-point conversion.

Springfield was crippled in the second quarter by the White House defense which swarmed Smith and temporarily shut down the run game.

"The defense ran around the football better tonight than we did last Friday night," said Porter. "I just hope we came out of this game injury free, because next Friday night is a very important week for this football team (region play)."

Barrett led the defense with 10 tackles, followed by Wiss with eight and Zach Byrd coming in the second half to make six stops. Dakota Perry added five tackles, including a sack, along with Thomas Aldridge and Donovan Jackson's five tackles each.

White House put the game away in the second half with a 55-yard touchdown run by Payne, and then Louis Alfredo's first career touchdown, a 10-yard rumble from the fullback position for the eventual 42-16 final.

Box Score (Final) Springfield vs White House (09-14-2007 at White House, TN) Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score ----------------- -- -- -- -- ----- Springfield......... 0 3 0 13 - 16 Record: (0-4) White House......... 6 22 7 7 - 42 Record: (2-1) Scoring Summary: 1st 02:05 WH - Bryan Dixon 19 yd run (Zack Trobaugh kick failed), 9-60 4:04, SPRING 0 - WH 6 2nd 09:17 SPRING - Derek Smith 21 yd field goal, 4-8 1:31, SPRING 3 - WH 6 07:13 WH - Bryan Dixon 45 yd run (Zack Trobaugh kick), 4-72 1:57, SPRING 3 - WH 13 03:24 WH - Michael Barrett 9 yd pass from Trox Greenwade (Adam Wiss pass), 5-63 1:41, SPRING 3 - WH 21 00:17 WH - Matt Parker 62 yd pass from Trox Greenwade (Zack Trobaugh kick), 2-61 0:33, SPRING 3 - WH 28 3rd 04:20 WH - DeMarqus Payne 55 yd run (Zack Trobaugh kick), 4-73 1:30, SPRING 3 - WH 35 4th 11:51 SPRING - Da'Jae Williams 0 yd blocked punt return (Derek Smith kick failed), , SPRING 9 - WH 35 11:03 WH - Louis Alfredo 10 yd run (Zack Trobaugh kick), 2-37 0:37, SPRING 9 - WH 42 01:55 SPRING - Travis Chatman 3 yd run (Derek Smith kick), 12-86 2:50, SPRING 16 - WH 42 SPRING WH FIRST DOWNS................... 13 16 RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 47-164 34-313 PASSING YDS (NET)............. 89 146 Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 13-7-0 11-7-0 TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 60-253 45-459 Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 1-0 0-0 Punt Returns-Yards............ 1-9 3-10 Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 6-36 4-110 Interception Returns-Yards.... 0-0 0-0 Punts (Number-Avg)............ 4-42.0 2-22.0 Fumbles-Lost.................. 4-2 3-1 Penalties-Yards............... 3-20 7-50 Possession Time............... 26:40 21:20 Third-Down Conversions........ 5 of 14 3 of 7 Fourth-Down Conversions....... 1 of 2 1 of 2 Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 2-2 3-4 Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 1-9 1-1 RUSHING: White House-DeMarqus Payne 15-159; Bryan Dixon 7-101; Zach Byrd 6-32; Louis Alfredo 3-19; Kody Littles 1-2; Trox Greenwade 2-0. PASSING: Springfield-Derek Smith 7-13-0-89. White House-Trox Greenwade 6-10-0-131; Aussie Light 1-1-0-15. RECEIVING: White House-Matt Parker 2-75; Chad Neal 2-37; Jesse Guthrie 1-15; Jeremy Barnes 1-10; Michael Barrett 1-9. INTERCEPTIONS: Springfield-None. White House-None. FUMBLES: Springfield-Elton Thompkins 2-1; Derek Smith 1-1; Steven Smith 1-0. White House-Chad Neal 1-1; Trox Greenwade 1-0; Zach Byrd 1-0. SACKS (UA-A): Springfield-None. White House-Dakota Perry 1-0. TACKLES (UA-A): Springfield-None. White House-Michael Barrett 7-3; Adam Wiss 4-4; Zach Byrd 4-2; Dakota Perry 3-2; Thomas Aldridge 2-3; Donovan Jackson 3-1; Chase Neal 2-2; DeMarqus Payne 3-0; Casey James 3-0; Zack Duty 3-0; Walt Wages 2-1; Matt Parker 2-1; Joseph Jenkins 2-0; Rogers Gaines 2-0; DeMarrius Payne 2-0; Bryan Dixon 2-0; Chad Neal 2-0; Chris Bolton 1-1; Vincente Dominguez 1-0; Blaine Boone 1-0; Jeremy Barnes 1-0; Caleb Eidson 1-0; Louis Alfredo 0-1; Walter Draper 0-1; Kody Littles 0-1.