MURRAYVILLE - It was an ominous sign early for the Johnson football team.
The Knights forced two early North Hall turnovers in its critical Region 7-AAA game Friday night, yet came away with no points and worse field position than they started with, including botching a punt.
That mistake led to a 58-yard run by T.J. Pitts on the next play and the Trojans carried that momentum to a stunning 47-0 win at The Brickyard.
On paper it had all the makings of a classic going in. Both teams had just one loss - to Gainesville - and were battling for a chance to finish second in the region and host a playoff game.
It never materialized. On Johnson's next possession after Pitts' electrifying run, a fake punt came up a yard short and North Hall drove 40-yards in four plays to take a 14-0.
But the killing blow came with six seconds left in the first half when Corey Hutchins hit Beau Whitmire on a Hail Mary-type pass for a 21-0 lead.
"That was a big play," North Hall coach Bob Christmas said. "I think that took a lot of wind out of their sails. (Johnson) Coach Armstrong does a great job over there and we just caught them on a bad night. We played well but if they had been able to score after our early turnovers this is a lot different game."
The North Hall defense was the story, holding Johnson's potent ground game to just 76 yards and only three first downs.
The Johnson defense, which came in allowing just 7.9 points a game was not able to slow down Pitts.
The Trojans (5-1, 5-1) piled up 363 yards rushing, 225 by Pitts, who also scored on runs of 9 and 69.
Corey Hutchins finished with 103 yards on 4-of-7 passing.
Johnson (5-2, 5-2) will play host to White County next week. The Knights are now just one game ahead of both East Hall and West Hall for third place.
North Hall will play host to Gilmer and has a near lock on second place behind undefeated Gainesville.
Monday
June 30th, 2025
4:57PM
