History was made at Copper Basin High School Friday night, September 19. Nathan Spencer scored seven touchdowns and broke the school record for the most touchdowns in a game. His stepfather Johnny Dixon held the record with six touchdowns.
Teammates Drew Crowder and AJ Pero each added a touchdown to the Cougar total, and Basin won the shootout with the Asheville Christian School Lions 61-41.
“It was very important last night for them to get the win,” said head coach Brett Graves.
Coming off a solid showing in spite of the loss to Rosman last week, Basin had 571 yards of offense with Spencer having 291 of those yards on 15 carries. Crowder rushed for 204 yards on 23 carries. Bird rushed four times for 67 yards.
“Our guys did a good job of running through tackles and blocking for their teammates,” said Graves. “They did a really good job of exploiting holes in the defense.”
Both offenses started slow. The game was tied 6-6 at the first quarter buzzer. Basin’s defense led by Easton Dockery and Dylan Beaver held Asheville to a turnover on downs before Basin scored first on Spencers first touchdown. It came at 4:51 on a 20 yard rush. Asheville would score at 1:37 to tie the game before the first quarter clock ran out.
Asheville took the lead 12-6 with an early score in the second before Basin responded with a touchdown to take the lead back 14-12. It was a Spencer 43-yard run. Spencer, Crowder and quarterback Dawson Pittman combined for 53 rushing yards for Basin’s third score. It was on a 10 yard rush by Spencer. Basin led 20-12. Donny Waters and the Basin offense would score another time before halftime at 1:12 on Byrds touchdown. Basin led at the half 26-12.
The second half was a shootout.
“It always felt like we had control of the game, but they were dangerous enough to strike at any time,” said Graves. “It was our game to lose.”
Spencer scored Basin’s first points of the second half at 10:39 on a 31-yard rush. Asheville would respond with a touchdown at nine minutes to make the score 34-20. Spencer scored his fifth touchdown at 5:40 left in the third quarter on a 15 yard rush. Basin led 40-20 at the end
of three quarters.
Asheville scored first in the fourth quarter early, then Spencer scored his sixth touchdown at 6:33 to play in the game. That drive included a 15-yard rush and a 19-yard rush by Crowder.
Spencer scored again at 4:43 left on an 83-yard run. Basin led 55-27.
Asheville scored again moments later before Crowder put up six points with a rush up the middle with 1:39 left. Asheville scored late in the fourth quarter, but time ran out.
Basin’s defense was solid. Basin had 32 solo tackles and 31 assists.
Thomas Seabolt led the Cougars with five tackles and five assists.
Trenton Davis had a pair of tackles in the game, and Donovan Holloway had three assists.
Graves said the biggest takeaway from the game is the team gained confidence they needed for the remaining weeks of the season.
“Even in the Rosman game, I never felt out of it. Our energy was always up,” he said.
Basin plays rival Whitwell Friday night for its homecoming game in Copperhill at 7:30 p.m.
“They’re a big physical team. It’s the kind of game you get excited for. If we win this game, we lock our spot in the playoffs.”