By David Grindstaff
david@wkyk.com
yanceysports.com
A young Cougar varsity football team was overwhelmed by a senior dominated Hendersonville ballclub Friday night in the opening game of the Western Highlands Conference season at E.L. Briggs Stadium.
 
The 8th ranked 1A Bearcats jumped on the Cougars early and never let up in a torrid display of offensive firepower that sent the Cougars to the dressing room at halftime trailing 56-12.
 
Hendersonville (4-1, 1-0) stuffed the Cougars opening drive and then scored on their first play from scrimmage when Desean Jackson, who rushed for 255 yards on 13 carries, busted a 78 yard touchdown  run to open the floodgates for the Bearcats.
 
Jackson went on to score twice more in the first half, running behind a big strong offensive line that dominated the Cougars up front on their way to the 70-33 victory.
 
Heritage (1-3, 0-1) could not contain the Bearcat passing game either, as the Cougar secondary got burnt for three touchdowns and gave up 196 yards through the air.
 
The Cougars managed to put up two scores on the Bearcat defense in the first half. After stopping a Hendersonville scoring threat with a recovery of a Bearcat fumble in the end zone, the Cougars moved 80 yards in a couple of plays. The final 70 yards was covered by a perfectly timed pass from QB Trevor Robinson to a wide open Jake McClellen who got behind the Bearcat defenders and after catching the ball won a footrace to the end zone to trim the lead to 28-7 as the two teams entered the second quarter. Robinson finished with 163 yards passing for MHHS.
 
Heritage continued to play hard and added another score before halftime. The Cougars strung together 9 plays to reach the end zone after Jonathan Renfro and Dalton Robinson teamed up to block a Bearcat punt, giving Heritage possession at the Hendersonville 38 yard line.
 
Trevor Robinson got the touch on a five yard keeper off left tackle to give the team some life just before the intermission.
 
The Cougars played with a lot more poise in the second half and out scored the Bearcats 21-14 in the third and fourth quarters.
 
Heritage drove 70 yards in the third quarter to add to their point total. Trevor Robinson again kept the ball after making a good fake and ran four yards for the score.
 
Heritage reached the end zone midway through the 4th quarter after a fumble recovery by Jonathan Renfro set the Cougars up at the Cat 18. Lucas King scored from 10 yards out and Dalton Robinson ran in the two point conversion to help make the score a little more respectable.
 
King, who rushed for 90 yards on 20 carries, scored again on the final play of the game on a 14 yard run and Eddie Magana added the PAT to cut the Cougars final deficit to 37 points.
 
The Cougars travel to Polk County this Friday to try and even their WHC record with a win over the Wolverines.