By Kris Freeman
White House Football

White House defense saves the day (Tennessean Sports)

For the White House Blue Devils, Friday night was all about control and pressure.

And with a 14-12 victory on the road at Pearl-Cohn, White House remains in control and the pressure is on opponents to maintain the pace, as the Blue Devils improved to 5-2 and 3-0 in region play for the first time since 2004. WHHS has not clinched a playoff berth, but is right on the doorstep with a chance to do so against DeKalb County at home next week.

The Blue Devils built a 14-0 lead by the first drive of the third quarter on two touchdown runs by sophomore quarterback Trox Greenwade, one a sneak and the other pulling down a pass play for a three-yard dart into the endzone. But Pearl-Cohn came storming back as senior quarterback DeAunte Mason mounted a seven-play, 71-yard drive to cut the lead to 14-6.

The Firebirds recovered an onside kick and on the next play, and Mason darted a pass to Michael Venoy for a 47-yard touchdown. A push by senior Jarrette Anderson on the defensive line helped linebackers Michael Barrett and Adam Wiss crumple Mason on the quarterback draw for the two-point conversion, leaving the game 14-12 in the middle of the third quarter.

"This was really the first complete, 48-minute game we have played," said White House head coach Jeff Porter. "I never saw any let up in our kids."

White House had just 172 yards of total offense, but ran 52 plays and controlled 29 minutes of the clock to keep a high-powered Mason and his offense off the field. Mason completed 14-of-24 passes for 253 yards and rushed 17 times for 42 yards, but the rest of the team was held to just six yards rushing apart from the quarterback for 301 total yards in the game.

Punter Matthew Gosset made have been the closet star of the game. Hidden in the box score was field position, as Gosset punted five times for a 43-yard average, including a season long of 55 yards on his first kick.

"I can't say enough about Gosset's punting tonight," Porter said. "You do anything you can to keep field position and he kept changing that with his punts."

The Blue Devils held Pearl-Cohn to just 2-of-9 on third down and 2-of-4 on fourth down, including stopping them on both in the final two minutes of the game in White House territory, when Mason was flushed and forced to throw it away. White House's defense combined for two sacks and 17 quarterback hurries (some multiples on the same play).

"I thought our defense played really well tonight, though yardage wise and stats may not give that indication," Porter said. "There was a lot of intensity and we ran to the football really well. The other team is going to make some plays and our kids down inside really fought incredibly hard."

Pearl-Cohn drove into White House territory in the final minutes looking to take the lead with a 14-play, 40-yard drive. But that drive stalled at the 24-yard line when Barrett and Zack Duty crunched Mason on first down for no gain, and Bryan Dixon sacked Mason for a loss of nine on second down.

Facing 3rd-and-19, Mason faded a pass to the home sideline at the White House 12 - which would have been enough for the first down - but DeMarqus Payne tipped it and took the ball away from William Johnson going out of bounds for an incomplete pass. On fourth down, Mason was nearly sacked by Duty and Dixon, but offsetting penalties resulted in the replay of the down and Mason was flushed out by Dixon and Rogers Gaines and threw the ball away.

White House took over at the 33 and ran out the clock for a two-point win, dropping Pearl-Cohn to 3-1 in the region. Station Camp remains atop the region unbeatean along with White House.

"I thought the coaches did a great job of rotating players into the game and trying to keep them fresh," Porter said of his staff. "Dixon came in at defensive end and got a pass rush and a sack, and Duty was just all over the field tonight.

"The most important thing is our kids gave themselves a chance to succeed in this game by what they did on the practice field with their preparation last week."

Duty led the defense with 12 tackles, a sack, three tackles for losses and five quarterback pressures. Matt Parker and DeMarqus Payne each had eight tackles, while Wiss had six tackles, a forced fumble and a huge interception with Pearl-Cohn driving early in the fourth quarter.

Greenwade managed the game on offense, starting 1-for-6 passing and then completed his last six passes to end the game 7-for-12 for 69 yards. On the third quarter scoring drive, Chad Neal made a leaping grab on third down on the White House sideline for 19 yards and a first down, then Parker grabbed one on his hip in the middle of the field for 28 yards to set up the second touchdown.

White House again was successful in the turnover battle, recovering a fumble and picking off Mason, while the Blue Devils did not commit one on their side.

Pearl-Cohn leaders came in the receiving corps, as Venoy caught five passes for 140 yards and a touchdown, and William Johnson caught seven passes for 84 yards. Parker, Neal and Jeremy Barnes each had two catches for the Blue Devils.

Rivalry History

2003 - Pearl-Cohn 20, White House 10
2004 - White House 39, Pearl-Cohn 6
2005 - Pearl-Cohn 14, White House 7
2006 - White House 35, Pearl-Cohn 28 (OT)
2006(p) - Pearl-Cohn 29, White House 9
2007 - White House 14, Pearl-Cohn 12
White House leads the regular season series, 3-2
Pearl-Cohn leads postseason series, 1-0
The overall series is tied, 3-3

Box Score (Final)

PCOHN vs White House (10-12-2007 at Nashville, TN)