By Kris Freeman
White House FootballOne thing is for certain facing the White House Blue Devils - turnovers are bad business.

Sycamore threw an interception on the sixth play of the game when Jake Simms' pass glanced off the fingers of Austin Patton - and right into the waiting arms of DeMarqus Payne, who returned it to the War Eagles 7-yard-line. Bryan Dixon cashed in the first of three touchdowns and the Blue Devils were on their way to a 40-3 region victory in Pleasant View.

White House capitalized on four turnovers in the game and moved their impressive turnover margin to plus-12 for the season. Despite allowing 290 yards of offense to Sycamore, White House managed a controlled game with 316 total yards, 8-of-9 third down conversions, and scored all four times in the red zone.

"I thought the third down conversion was probably the most improved thing tonight," said White House coach Jeff Porter, whose team improved to 4-2 and 2-0 in Region 4-3A. "It kept drives alive, and momentum was big, but Payne's interception really turned things our way because they were on a good drive."

Sycamore, conversely, made just 2-of-9 third downs and twice failed in the red zone, scoring just 1-for-3 when Trevor Francis kicked a 24-yard field goal and cut the early lead to 7-3 in the first quarter. White House got 130 yards on returns including punts, kickoffs and interceptions.

"Anytime you get that kind of yardage on returns, something positive is going to happen," Porter said. "We just needed to get better and we'll have to go back and watch the film to see how we played on defense, but the difference in the game was really third down and the red zone."

Simms was 8-of-18 passing for 92 yards with an interception, and rushed 14 times for 46 yards keeping the football on option. Cory Carrigan, shaken up early in the game for a team crippled by injuries coming out of the off week, threw an interception on a double pass - returned 35 yards by Chad Neal as the whistle sounded for the half.

DeMarrius Payne had a 10-yard touchdown catch to make it 14-3, then twin brother DeMarqus bolted 56 yards for a score and Dixon added his second of the game before the half for a 27-3 edge by the time Neal picked off the aforementioned pass.

Dixon made it a trio with an 11-yard touchdown in the third quarter, and then Aussie Light threw his first career touchdown to Chad Neal on a 65-yard bomb in the fourth quarter for the 40-3 final. Light was 3-of-6 passing for 89 yards, and starter Trox Greenwade connected on 5-of-6 for 51 yards and a score.

"We just needed to improve and we need to continue to do that heading into next week," Porter said, as the Blue Devils head to Nashville to face region unbeaten Pearl-Cohn. The top spot in the region is a deadlock between the Firebirds, the Blue Devils and Station Camp, and all three face one another in the final four weeks of the season.

Sycamore, meanwhile, dropped to 0-3 in the region having lost to all three teams - but this is a War Eagle team that faced the same scenario last year, and ran the table to clinch the fourth playoff spot and then advanced to the Class 3-A quarterfinals.

Ryan Pope led Sycamore Friday with 90 yards on 17 carries, with Landon Morris rushing eight times for 53 yards. Morris caught three passes to lead all receivers, while Carrigan and Travis Dempsey snagged two receptions.

DeMarqus Payne rushed 10 times for 89 yards and Dixon added 60 on 11 carries.

Box Score (Final)
White House vs Sycamore (10-05-2007 at Pleasant View, TN)

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score ----------------- -- -- -- -- ----- White House......... 7 20 6 7 - 40 Record: (4-2,2-0) Sycamore............ 3 0 0 0 - 3 Record: (3-3,0-3) Scoring Summary: 1st 07:41 WH - Bryan Dixon 3 yd run (Zack Trobaugh kick), 2-7 0:47, WH 7 - SYCAM 0 01:49 SYCAM - Trevor Francis 24 yd field goal, 11-73 5:52, WH 7 - SYCAM 3 2nd 08:44 WH - DeMarrius Payne 10 yd pass from Trox Greenwade (Zack Trobaugh kick), 10-55 4:43, WH 14 - SYCAM 3 07:19 WH - DeMarqus Payne 56 yd run (Zack Trobaugh kick), 1-56 0:13, WH 21 - SYCAM 3 00:55 WH - Bryan Dixon 4 yd run (Zack Trobaugh kick failed), 8-41 3:54, WH 27 - SYCAM 3 3rd 09:43 WH - Bryan Dixon 11 yd run (Zack Trobaugh kick failed), 5-45 1:57, WH 33 - SYCAM 3 4th 05:54 WH - Chad Neal 65 yd pass from Aussie Light (Matthew Gossett kick), 5-85 2:18, WH 40 - SYCAM 3 WH SYCAM FIRST DOWNS................... 14 20 RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 27-176 41-198 PASSING YDS (NET)............. 140 92 Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 12-8-0 19-8-2 TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 39-316 60-290 Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 0-0 0-0 Punt Returns-Yards............ 1-15 1-3 Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 2-34 4-73 Interception Returns-Yards.... 2-81 0-0 Punts (Number-Avg)............ 1-36.0 2-35.0 Fumbles-Lost.................. 0-0 4-2 Penalties-Yards............... 3-15 2-4 Possession Time............... 18:20 29:40 Third-Down Conversions........ 8 of 9 2 of 9 Fourth-Down Conversions....... 0 of 0 4 of 4 Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 4-4 1-3 Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 0-0 0-0 RUSHING: White House-DeMarqus Payne 10-89; Bryan Dixon 11-60; Trox Greenwade 2-18; Louis Alfredo 2-5; Zach Byrd 2-4. Sycamore-Ryan Pope 17-90; Landon Morris 8-53; Jake Simms 14-46; Cory Carrigan 2-9. PASSING: White House-Trox Greenwade 5-6-0-51; Aussie Light 3-6-0-89. Sycamore-Jake Simms 8-18-1-92; Cory Carrigan 0-1-1-0. RECEIVING: White House-Chad Neal 2-75; Matt Parker 2-25; DeMarqus Payne 1-18; Zack Duty 1-14; DeMarrius Payne 1-10; Chase Neal 1-minus 2. Sycamore-Landon Morris 3-39; Cory Carrigan 2-23; Travis Dempsey 2-15; Austin Patton 1-15. INTERCEPTIONS: White House-DeMarqus Payne 1-51; Chad Neal 1-30. Sycamore-None. FUMBLES: White House-None. Sycamore-Jake Simms 3-2; Cory Carrigan 1-0. TACKLES (UA-A): White House-Matt Parker 6-0; Michael Barrett 6-0; Adam Wiss 6-0; Zach Byrd 5-0; Chase Neal 4-1; Zack Duty 4-0; Chad Neal 3-1; Walt Wages 2-1; 15 2-0; DeMarrius Payne 2-0; Kirk Fulghum 1-1; Taylor Parks 1-0; Andy James 1-0; Matt Mosley 1-0; Jesse Guthrie 1-0; Matthew Gossett 1-0; Caleb Eidson 1-0; Jarrette Anderson 1-0; Will Vick 1-0; Vincente Dominguez 1-0; Jeremy Barnes 1-0; Colton James 1-0; Thomas Aldridge 0-1.

Rivalry History

2001 - Sycamore 14, White House 13
2002 - White House 23, Sycamore 14
2003 - Sycamore 27, White House 14
2004 - White House 33, Sycamore 15
2005 - White House 27, Sycamore 10
2006 - White House 28, Sycamore 14
2007 - White House 40, Sycamore 3
White House leads series, 5-2