R

The Tullahoma middle school football season began with a 16-14 victory over the E.A. Cox Cougars.

The Cougars are the defending Maury County football Conference Champions. The first quarter was slow, but action picked up in the second quarter. Early in the 2^nd, Tullahoma converted a fourth-and-long on a deep pass from Bradyn Scott to Landon Norwood. The completion moved the ‘Cats inside the 5-yard line, but a penalty on the next play backed them up to the 6-yard line. Two plays later they had trouble with the shotgun-snap and turned the ball over.  Three plays into the Cougars drive, they fumbled on the handoff exchange and the Wildcats recovered the ball inside the five. The ‘Cats once again had trouble with the snap as the ball went over Scott’s head. He recovered the ball, but now it was second-and goal from outside of the 10-yard line. The ‘Cats ran to the right on second down and got nowhere, then followed that up with two pre-snap penalties. The pass attempt over the middle to Michael Palmer was broken up by an E.A. Cox defensive back. On the following fourth down, while rolling out left, Scott hit Norwood on his out-route at the 10-yard line. Norwood turned up-field and powered through a Cougar defender to get into the end zone, but the play was called back because of another penalty by the ‘Cats. The second fourth down try was a short gain on a swing pass to Zion Jeffery on the left side.

E.A. Cox opened their next drive with an explosive run up the middle. Tullahoma quickly put an end to the drive with strong tackling on two outside runs to the right side of the field and stopping another run up the middle on third down. With time running down in the half, the Wildcats tried to hit some shot plays down the left sideline to score before the intermission. They just missed possible touchdowns on back-to-back plays as the receivers had gotten behind the defense. Jeffery on the first one and Norwood on the second. The fourth down attempt was a pass over the middle that was broken up. The first down play for the Cougars was a big run on the left side, after the running back broke a couple of tackles before a quick burst down the sideline to get them within scoring range. The Wildcats defense stepped up again with a strong tackle in the middle of the field to allow the clock to run out with the game tied 0-0 as the teams went to their locker rooms.

The second half started with Jeffery returning the kickoff down the left sideline all the way to the house for the first score of the season for the ‘Cats. The Cougars answered back with a six-play drive that resulted in a big play touchdown. They ran left and after breaking a couple of tackles the ball-carrier reversed field and out-ran the Tullahoma defenders to the end zone. On their first play of the next drive TMS once again had trouble hanging onto the ball, fumbling another handoff and turning the ball over. The defense stepped up after the turnover getting a quick stop.  They ended the third quarter on a keeper by Scott that brought the ball to the 1-yard line.

The ‘Cats opened the fourth quarter with a Jeffery run up the middle for their second touchdown of the game. On the two point conversion, Scott fought through a Cougar defender to fall into the end zone to make it a 16-8 ballgame. The Cougars picked up one first down on their drive and were facing a fourth-and about 9. They attempted a pass to the left side of the field, but Palmer was in perfect coverage and came up with a timely interception. While trying to just run out the remainder of the clock, a Wildcat ball-carrier was stripped by number 21 of the Cougars. After ripping the ball out, he returned it all the way for a touchdown, making it 16-14 with little time left. Knowing how important the 2-point conversion is the coaches told the ‘Cats defenders that this play was for the game. They answered that call and stuffed the run up the middle to hold the lead. Tullahoma recovered the ensuing kickoff and finished the game off by taking two quarterback kneels.

The Wildcats will look to add another win to their record on Tuesday when they host Harris middle.