St. Marys’ Eli Wilson (44) stiff-arms Tyler Consolidated’s Christopher Hackathorn (21) during Friday’s game at Bill Hanlin Stadium. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

ST. MARYS – The St. Marys Blue Devils wanted the Bill Hanlin Trophy back at their school and they wanted it badly heading into Friday night’s annual rivalry game with the Tyler Consolidated Silver Knights.

After losing to Tyler last season the Devils got their revenge with a hard-fought 21-18 win over the Knights to regain possession of the trophy named after the former head coach that meant so much to both programs.

“This is a very special win because of Coach Hanlin and we wanted to get that trophy back in the worst way,” said St. Mary’s head coach Jodi Mote. “It was one of those games where it took a total team effort to get it done and Coach (Hanlin) would be proud.”

It wasn’t easy to wrestle the trophy away from the Knights by any means as the game was up for grabs until the closing minutes.

Neither team could muster a point in a ball-control first quarter but it wouldn’t take the Devils long in the second as they scored on the second play.

St. Marys celebrates after defeating Tyler Consolidated 21-18 Friday at Bill Hanlin Stadium. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

Quarterback Jeremiah DeMoss capped an 11-play, 82-yard St. Marys drive with an eight-yard run for a touchdown.

St. Marys kicker Angelos Palata nailed the extra point, something that would come into play later in the game.

After struggling to move the football in their first few drives, the Knights broke through in a hurry on their next possession.

A 35-yard pitch and catch between Knights quarterback Ashton Morris and Gideon Winfrey moved the ball to the 7-yard line where one play later Winfrey scored on a seven-yard run.

The Knights were unable to convert the P.A.T. leaving St. Marys with a 7-6 lead.

The Blue Devils had an answer for that drive as well as they played a little ball control offense of their own as they marched 65 yards on nine carries to move the ball to the two-yard line where DeMoss finished the drive with a 2-yard plunge.

Tyler Consolidated took over possession of the ball with less than 90 seconds to play in the half but that would be all the time they needed as they drove 58 yards eight plays to score again before halftime.

Facing a fourth and five at the St. Marys 12-yard line, Morris connected with Kayden Utt on a 12-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to two.

This time the Knights elected to go for two to make up for their earlier missed kick but once again they came up short sending the Blue Devils to the locker room with a 14-12 lead.

Both teams would come up empty on their first possessions of the second half before the Devils extended their lead to nine on their next one.

A 10-yard scramble for a score by DeMoss, his third touchdown of the game, gave St. Marys a 21-12 lead with less than four minutes to play in the third quarter.

The Devils stopped Tyler Consolidated on their next possession but gave the ball right back to them when the punt glanced off of a St. Marys player making it a live football which was recovered by the visitors deep in Devil territory.

That drive ended in a missed 33-yard field goal that would have made it a six-point game.

The Knights defense played quite well in the second quarter as besides the one scoring drive in the third they kept the Devils in check.

The Tyler Consolidated defense gave the ball right back to the offense and this time they found a way to get back into the end zone.

The drive didn’t get off to a good start at all as the Knights fumbled a snap and after a penalty found themselves facing an incredibly long third and 28 at their own 37-yard line.

Morris completed a 24-yard pass to Gideon Winfrey and Winfrey carried the ball five yards on the next play to give TC a very big and unexpected first down.

Three plays later Morris connected with Kolbin Highley on a beautifully thrown 29-yard touchdown run that cut the lead to three.

This time the Knights tried to pass the ball into the end zone for the two-point conversion but for the third time in a row were unable to convert the PAT leaving The Devils with a three-point lead with just over four minutes to play in the game.

The Silver Knights tried a little bit of trickery on the kick-off as they narrowly missed recovering an on-side kick giving the Devils the ball back near mid-field.

The Tyler defense rose to the occasion once again as they forced St. Marys into a three and out.

With the momentum clearly in the favor of Tyler Consolidated the St. Marys defense needed to come up with a big play.

They did just that when Eli Wilson came up with a huge sack on Morris for a 15-yard loss pushing the ball all the way back to the TCC 21-yard line.

Unlike their earlier improbable first down the Knights were unable to find any magic on their final possession as the Devils hung on for their seventh consecutive victory.

“We seemed to be able to come up with a big stop when we needed to,” said Mote. “That was a big play and even in the first half we came up with some big stops.”

Wilson led St. Marys in rushing with 81 yards on 18 carries while DeMoss ran the ball 12 times for 33 yards.

DeMoss completed 4-of-his-6 passing attempts for 75 yards.

Tyler was led by Winfrey with 60 yards rushing on 15 carries while Kayden Hill rushed the ball 7 times for 53.

Morris completed 12-of-25 pass attempts for 192 yards.

Tyler Consolidated slipped below .500 at 4-5 with the loss while the Devils improve to 7-2

“They had beaten a couple of teams that we had lost to so we knew this was going to be a real battle,” said Mote. “We knew it was going to take a total team effort in all three phases and I’m just very very proud of these guys for getting it done.”

The Devils will remain home next week as they host Wirt County in their regular season finale while Tyler Consolidated hosts Roane County.