Harris' career night lifts 'Toppers past Morristown West

JOHNSON CITY — Science Hill made more than its share of mistakes on Friday night, but Kiantai Harris proved to be a world-class eraser. Harris set a new school record with 367 yards on 25 carries with four touchdowns to lift the Hilltoppers to a 42-28 non-conference victory over Morristown West inside Kermit Tipton Stadium, lifting the Hilltoppers to 2-0 on the season. After West's final pass fell incomplete as time expired, however, there was no doubt the Hilltoppers were extremely fortunate to escape with a victory over the Trojans, who fell to 0-2 on the season. Science Hill turned the ball over three times, an errant snap on a punt attempt set up a short touchdown drive for West, and a flurry of penalty flags either helped the Trojans down the field or put Science Hill's offense behind the proverbial eight-ball. "You've got to take care of the football," said Science Hill coach Stacy Carter. "If you play like that, you are lucky to win a game. A bad play can't turn into a disaster, and that's what happened." It was a rough start for Science Hill's junior quarterback Pearson Harrison. His first pass attempt came off play action, but his pass was slightly underthrown and got picked off. Science Hill's defense forced a punt, but Harrison was picked off again on the ensuing drive as a result of a tipped pass. Once again, the defense responded by forcing a punt, and the third time proved to be the charm for Science Hill's offense. To Harrison's credit, he responded by throwing three touchdown passes on the night, the first one capping a 76-yard scoring drive to put the Hilltoppers ahead 7-0 with 9:20 remaining before halftime. Harrison shook off a potential sack on the fourth-and-11 play, scrambling to his left and finding tight end Mackey Keramidas in the back of the end zone. Less than four minutes later, Harris found pay dirt from 6 yards out to put Science Hill up 14-0 before the Trojans finally found some rhythm on offense. West's Bobby Fair capped off a 75-yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown run with 1:05 left in the first half to cut Science Hill's lead to 14-7. Instead of being content to run out the half and receive the second-half kickoff, Science Hill embarked on an efficient 80-yard touchdown drive that was aided by three Trojan penalties. Harrison once again found Keramidas on a perfectly thrown fade route from two yards out with 2 seconds to spare to send the Hilltoppers to the locker room leading 21-7. Science Hill got the ball after halftime with a chance to pad its lead, but a fumble set up the Trojans on Science Hill's 39-yard line and they punched it in the end zone in three plays to pull within 21-14. After a 15-yard TD strike from Harrison to Hunt Simpson, a snap over the punter's head set West up with another short field, and the Trojans took advantage once again to pull within 28-21. A Science Hill struggled to bottle up West quarterback Riley McClellan in the second half, Harris was there time and again to keep his team out front. His 80-yard TD run with 2:34 in the third quarter pushed Science Hill's lead back to 14, as did his 81-yard TD run with 5:40 left in the game. His final touchdown run with 53 seconds left was the exclamation point on a performance for the ages that came in the junior's second career start. "He's done great," Carter said. "I'm proud of him and what he's doing. We've got to get some more support there." Science Hill finished with 507 yards of total offense with 429 of those coming on the ground. On Friday, that proved to be enough to prevent a loss, but Carter has a clear message for his players as they approach the meat of their schedule. "What I'm going to tell them is we have a long way to go," Carter said. "We're not really good right now. We know we have the potential to be good, but when you're young like that, you've got to do a lot of things right to overcome your youth. They've just got to buy in." Up Next: The Hilltoppers will welcome Tennessee High to Kermit Tipton Stadium next Friday night. Science Hill 49, Morristown West 28 MW &emsp;0 &emsp;7 &emsp;14 &emsp;7 &emsp;- &emsp;28 SH &emsp;0 &emsp;21 &emsp;14 &emsp;14 &emsp;- 49 Second Quarter SH - Mackey Keramidas 17 pass from Pearson Harrison (Bryson Phillips kick) SH - Kiantai Harris 6 run (Phillips kick) MW - Bobby Fair 4 run (Diego Bonities kick) SH - Keramidas 2 pass from Harrison (Phillips kick) Third Quarter MW - Gabe Kimbrough 8 run (Bonities kick) SH - Hunt Simpson 37 pass from Harrison (Phillips kick) MW - Danaris Ewing 5 pass from Riley McClellan (Bonities kick) SH - Harris 80 run (Phillips kick) Fourth Quarter MW - McClellan 21 pass from Collin Rouse (Bonities kick) SH - Harris 81 run (Phillips kick) SH - Harris 25 run (Phillips kick)