An emotional night at Tommy Baker Field pumped up Cherokee, but it was Harrison which left with the 21-16 win Friday.

The emotions began in a pre-game ceremony, where the usual sea of red shirts were replaced by purple shirts with the No. 4 on back and an image of the Incredible Hulk on the front. The change was in tribute to Matthew Blaylock.

The day before his graduation in May, a swimming pool accident left Blaylock paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. He was honored for his athletic career at Cherokee and had his number retired and hung underneath the scoreboard.

"There was a lot of energy in the stadium, a lot of positive energy," Cherokee coach Brian Dameron. "It was a great night except for the score. Matt is a teammate of ours and we are really pulling for him."

By the end of the night, almost $6,000 was raised in an effort to help Blaylock buy a handicapped-accessible vehicle. His brother, Andrew, played in the game and wore Matthew's No. 4 jersey.

Momentum and emotion swung the Hoyas' way after a 78-yard drive on their first possession gave them the 7-0 lead. A 29-yard pass from Austin Cain to Christian Turnipseed put the Hoyas (1-1, 1-0) in Warrior territory. A few plays later, the same play was called again and resulted in a 27-yard touchdown pass from Cain to Turnipseed.

The Warriors' running game ran like a slow locomotive in the first half. They chipped away at yards and were able to put two scores on the board by halftime.

One long drive produced a 33-yard field goal by Marc Valle. Dylan Haynes' 19-yard run with less than a minute left in the second quarter then gave the Warriors (0-2, 0-1) a 10-7 lead.

That lead vanished early in the third quarter when a handoff from Haynes was fumbled. The ball was recovered by the Hoyas' Preston Neely, who ran it back 20 yards for the touchdown and a 14-10 lead.

Momentum continued to jump back and forth all night long.

The Hoyas defense forced a three-and-out to get the ball back. The offense was driving deep into Warrior territory until Cain was intercepted again. Lladnar Thompson grabbed the interception and ran it back to inside the Hoyas' 20. Kenny Foster dove in from 1 yard out to give the Warriors a 16-14 lead.

With just over 11 minutes remaining in the game, the Hoyas' offense stuck to their game plan of running the football. Nine plays, and almost 5 minutes later, the Hoyas got the lead back on Turnipseed's 6-yard touchdown run.

The Warriors got the ball back with 6:30 left on the clock and drove down field. They were stopped at their own 48-yard line and faced with a fourth-and-3 with 3:12 remaining in the game. Dameron decided to punt the ball and let his defense get the ball back.

The Warriors defense forced a fourth down as hoped, but it was fourth-and-inches instead of fourth-and-long. Harrison coach David Hines gambled and went for it with the ball at their own 16.

The result was an easy first down and the win.

"That fourth down is where we wanted them, but we didn't want them that close," Dameron said. "If we knew we weren't going to get the ball back, we would have went for it. But we expected to get the ball back."

With its losing streak now at 13, Cherokee will have to regroup next week before it hosts Marietta.