For the second consecutive week the Tullahoma Wildcats activated the TSSAA mercy clock on their first possession of the second half and cruised to a 41-14 victory over Lawrence County at Hendrix-Staggs Stadium in Lawrenceburg Friday night.
With the win the ‘Cats (8-2, 4-1) now turn their attention to the TSSAA state football playoffs. Tullahoma is the third seed in Quad 2 of the Class 5A playoff bracket, and will host sixth-seed Centennial (6-4, 2-3), from a very tough District 11-AAA, this Friday night at 7pm at Wilkins Stadium. The broadcast will begin at 6pm on Fantasy 101.5, FantasyRadio.com, and Charter channel six.
“I continue to be very proud of the seniors on this team and their leadership in helping us finish the season strong heading into the playoffs,” said THS head coach John Olive on the field following the game. “All season my question to them has been do you want to make a playoff appearance or a playoff run. We will start finding that out next week.”
Centennial ended the regular season with a 42-14 rout of Hillsboro. The Cougars have won four games in a row, including a 35-7 shellacking of Shelbyville last week. Centennial beat District 12-AAA champion Antioch 31-8 earlier this season and also has wins over Nashville Overton, Wilson Central, Cane Ridge, and Ravenwood.
Friday’s winner will advance to the second round of the playoffs and face the winner of #7 Lenoir City (5-5) at #2 Columbia (9-1). Other opening games in Quad 2 of Class 5A are #8 Anderson County (5-5) at #1 Powell (10-0) and #5 Shelbyville (7-3) at #4 Ooltwah (7-3).
Tullahoma exhibited its dominance over Lawrence County on its first possession following a failed onside kick attempt, and didn’t let up until it had a 41-0 lead with 5:20 remaining in the third quarter. Lawrence Co. did not have a first down until it faked a punt with eight minutes left in the first half trailing 21-0.
The Wildcats once again rode a number of big plays to their big lead. Trey Burks returned a punt 93 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter, and Jared Davis connected with Austin Creasman for an 18-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter.
Davis, who needed only seven completions in 12 attempts to gain 239 yards and four touchdowns, connected with Zane Price from 42 yards away to give the Wildcats a 27-0 lead with 3:56 left in the half.
On its final possession before the intermission, Davis found Shaquille Harris in the middle of the field and Harris outran the Lawrence County secondary for an 87-yard score. The final score came in the third when Davis found Ryan Lawson in the middle of the field and Lawson exploded into the end zone for a 33-yard score.
Lawrence County’s two late touchdowns came against Tullahoma defensive reserves and were helped by the home team recovering two consecutive onside kicks.
Tullahoma’s offense continued its season-long pattern of scoring on quick strikes and big plays as opposed to sustained offensive drives. The ‘Cats only ran 36 plays while gaining 400 yards total offense, its second straight week averaging more than 10 yards per play.
The THS first-team defense tossed its second straight shutout, with over half of Lawrence County’s 281 total yards coming in the fourth quarter. Tullahoma did not punt in the contest and held Lawrence County four different times on fourth down.
