Hendersonville finished 2nd in Region 4-6A after losing at Mt. Juliet 13-28. The COMMANDOS trailed 0-21 at halftime, a dominating 3rd quarter would not be enough to overcome the mistakes HHS made in the 1s thalf as Hendersonville fell on the road in the final regular season game of the year. With the 2nd place finish, HHS did earn a home 1st round class 6A playoff game, and the COMMANDOS will host Riverdale next Friday night.
HHS would kickoff to begin the game, and #97 Ashton Dodd would put the ball in the endzone for a touchback. #32 Derek Kincaid would have a tackle for loss to begin the game, but MJHS would get a 1st down run that went into HHS territory. The Black & Gold defense would force a punt after three more plays. Hendersonville would go three & out on their first offensive series. The Golden Bears would find the endzone on their next drive as after a big pass play got the ball inside the 20 yard line, they would score with a 12 yard run. #25 Jacob Newton would block the PAT making the score 0-6. Hendersonville would turn the ball over on their next possession with a fumble and Mt. Juliet would take advantage with a 33 yard touchdown pass on the 1st play following the turnover. After converting a two-point play, HHS would be down 0-14. #2 Drew Hohenbrink would get the COMMANDOS going on offense by converting a 4th down with a run and then picking up two more 1st downs on the ground.
This drive would go into the 2nd quarter and despite getting to the MJHS 14 yard line, HHS would come up empty as a penalty would back them up and Hendersonville would miss a 40 yard field goal. The Golden Bears would convert a 4th down of their own on this drive and then pick up a couple more 1st downs on the ground. #50 Trevor Throneberry would end this drive by forcing a fumble that #76 Wilson Higgs would recover. A sack following the turnover would lead to a 3 & out for the Hendersonville offense. #82 Austin Halas would come up with a big tackle for loss on the next Mt. Juliet offensive series, but a penalty by HHS would put the Golden Bears near midfield with time running down in the 1st half. MJHS would go on to score with a 12 yard run to go up by 3 scores. HHS would pick up a first down as #8 Brent Rowe had a good run, but HHS would then fumble and MJHS would have one snap before the teams broke for halftime with HHS down 0-21.
Hendersonville would get the ball to begin the 2ndhalf and march the ball down the field. Hohenbrink would have runs for 1st downs as well as Kincaid before #15 Dalton Jones put the ball in the endzone with a 3 yard run making the score 7-21. The Black & Gold defense would force a 3 & out, but a penalty on the punt would give MJHS a fresh set of downs. Hendersonville would be up for the challenge as they would force the Golden Bears to punt again after 3 plays. Two runs by Kincaid would give HHS a 1st and goal, and Hohenbrink would score. After getting the extra point blocked the score would be 13-28. Mt. Juliet would move the ball on their next possession with a long run to midfield before converting a 4th down on the last play of the 3rd quarter slowing down the COMMANDOS momentum.
Hendersonville would get the ball back down by 8 points as HHS would get a turnover on downs with the defense holding MJHS on the 1st 4 plays of the 4th quarter. Hendersonville would be forced to punt after 3 plays as the COMMANDOS running back would slip down on a promising 3rd down play. Hendersonville would force the Golden Bears to a 3 & out, but after getting the ball down by one score, the COMMANDOS would punt after 3 plays. Rowe would have a tackle for loss to begin this MJHS series, but after the Golden Bears converted a 3rd and long, they would score with a 25 yard run. Hendersonville would again not get going on offense and have to punt. Following the punt, Mt. Juliet would be able to run the clock out.
Hendersonville (7-3) will be at home in the first round of the TSSAA class 6A playoffs next week as they finished as the Region 4-6A runner-up. The Riverdale Warriors (5-5) will travel to HHS next Friday night for the 1stround match-up. The game at Memorial Stadium will begin at 7:00.