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Tullahoma High School’s football season began with a 21-7 loss at home Friday against Stewarts Creek.

The defensive battle was defined by big plays. Every score in the game was from a big play. No touchdown was shorter than 29 yards.  Stewarts Creek had three big plays while Tullahoma only had one.

“Defensively we gave up three big plays, we’re not good enough to give up the big play,” said head coach Coy Sisk. “That’s one thing we preach is eliminating the big play. That is something we have to do. We have to work on the big play, we have a young secondary but up front we’re good enough to handle that. Eight (Javarian Otey) is explosive and Stewarts Creek has an explosive offense. Congratulations to them.”

The Red Hawks started the game with the ball. Their first drive of the season was quick, as they went three and out. The ‘Cats defense sent the Red Hawks backwards on the drive with help from a penalty. Tullahoma’s first drive of the season showed promise for the rest of the year. The possession opened with a quick pass to the left from starting quarterback Mason Bratcher to Ethan Hargrove for a gain of seven yards. After putting the ball on the ground and recovering, the Wildcats faced a third-and-6. Bratcher found an open Bryson Steverson running an out route to the right side of the field for the first down. Steverson made an incredible diving catch on the play. After an incomplete pass on first down and a 1-yard run by Ryan Denby, the ‘Cats faced another third down. This time Bratcher found Khani Johnson coming across the middle. Johnson caught the ball in stride, found a lane between the Red Hawks defensive backs and outran them into the end zone for the first score of the season. Grant Chadwick booted the extra point through the uprights, giving Tullahoma the 7-0 lead with 7:51 left in the first quarter. The Red Hawks took little time responding. After a Wildcat penalty and a first down, Otey took a handoff going left and turned it into a 51-yard touchdown run. The Stewarts Creek kicker added the extra point to tie the game 7-7 with 5:14 left in the first quarter. Tullahoma’s ensuing drive resulted in a three and out. Chadwick was brought out or his first of six punts on the night. The Hawks began driving the ball down the field, they gained 41-yards within the first six plays. They got down to the 9-yard line before the Wildcats stopped them. While facing a fourth-and-4 at the 9, the Red Hawks went for it and failed. They threw a pass into the end zone on a slant to the right side, but Aiden Kelley and company had the wide receiver blanketed. The Wildcats took over, and began trying to run the ball. Marvancy Johnson got three carries and gained 10 yards with them. The ‘Cats drive ended on an incomplete pass on the second, third down of the drive. Both teams then went three and out, followed by another short drive each that resulted in punts. Stewarts Creek broke the tie with just six seconds left in the half. The quarterback Jacob Jones hit Otey on a wheel route to the left, and he took it 83-yards for his second touchdown of the game. The point after made it 14-7 when the game went to halftime.

The offensive struggles for Tullahoma continued as they opened up the second half going three and out. Otey continued his huge game for the visitors as on the fourth play of the drive he went 63-yards for his second rushing touchdown and third total touchdown of the game. After the kick, the Red Hawks led 21-7 with 9:07 remaining in the third quarter. The next drive for the Wildcats started with a holding penalty pushing them into a first-and-20. Bratcher hit Johnson across the middle for a first down. That is where the drive stalled, with Tullahoma having to punt the ball away again. After a couple of first downs already, Stewarts Creek was facing a second-and-short. Decarlos Slaughter made a tackle for loss to force a third-and-8. The ‘Cats defense forced an incomplete pass and got the ball back. Tullahoma had one of their best drives of the game on their next drive getting down inside the 30 thanks to a big catch and run from Hargrove. As the third quarter wound down, the Wildcats went for a fourth-and-short but the pass was incomplete. The defense once again came up big, with Colby Tucker forcing a fumble and Will Hyden recovering. The offense was unable to convert. They got the ball back one more time after a Red Hawks three and out, but a pass over the middle was intercepted. Stewarts Creek then kneeled out the rest of the clock to claim their 21-7 victory.

For Tullahoma this was their fourth straight game against a playoff-level team. They went perfect in the preseason including a win over recent state runner-up Summit.

“I think we stepped up and played well against summit, and I don’t think we executed as well this evening,” Sisk said. “You can blame it on a lot of things, you can make excuses about a lot of things, but we just didn’t play up to our potential tonight. It’s there, we’re going to get it, and it’ll happen.”

The Wildcats are now looking forward to their cross county rival Coffee County this week. They will travel to Manchester for the 98^th edition of the Coffee Pot, which the Red Raiders won for the first time in six years last season.

“You’re gonna get the best game, regardless if they’re a good team or a bad team, you’re gonna get the best game,” he said. “It’s a real emotional game, what we have to remember is that we have got to concentrate on ourselves right now and be ready to go over there and take care of business next Friday.”