R

Tullahoma traveled to Spring Hill Friday night and came home with a 29-7 victory.

The win guarantees the ‘Cats will host a playoff game and means that the game this Thursday at Shelbyville will decide the 5A Region 5 championship.

“That is what you want in week 10,” head coach Coy Sisk said. “This one secures us, this one locks us into a home playoff game. That is important 1, number 2 this is what we want, we control our own destiny. We are in the driver’s seat, if we win we’re Region Champs. It is not dependent on anybody else, this game is to decide who this 5A Region Champ is.”

Tullahoma handled the challenges they faced Friday night. They dealt with coming off of fall break, playing so far away, being at a unique field and environment and the technical difficulties that paused the game at the very beginning.  

“I think the guys did a good job tonight,” Sisk stated. “There were so many distractions that were there to take their attention off of the game, but these dudes stayed focused, kept their eyes ahead, showed class and took care of business. It was a great team win.”

The opening kickoff from the Raiders went out of bounds. Tullahoma elected to have them re-kick. The kick went out of bounds again so the Wildcats took over at their 40-yard line. After a delay for clock difficulties, the first play from scrimmage was a fumbled handoff. The ‘Cats recovered it for a loss of 3 yards. Marvancy Johnson carried up the middle for a gain of 11. He got it again going left this time for a gain of 7. Mason Bratcher threw a pass right to Malik Grizzard for a pickup of 12. After an offside penalty on Spring Hill, the two connected again on a quick screen for an 11 yard chunk to the 18. Johnson lost 2 yards on a carry. A Bubble screen to Khani Johnson got the ball to the 1. Then M. Johnson ran strong up the middle for the touchdown. Grant Chadwick’s kick was good, 7-0 with 8:08 left in the opening quarter.

His ensuing kickoff was returned to the 32, but a hold on the Raiders brought the ball back to the 13. Will Hyden made a tackle for a loss of 3 yards. Colby Tucker’s tackle at the 11 made it third and 12. The Raiders’ pass was completed, but only got to the 18. K. Johnson returned the punt to the 25 but a flag on the return backed the ‘Cats back to their own 42. A quick screen to K. Johnson gained 7 yards. M. Johnson ran for 13 yards. At the end of the play the ball was fumbled and recovered by the Raiders at their own 37. Spring Hill ran left for 2 yards, Tucker and Ezra Myers made the tackle. DeCarlos Slaughter made a tackle for a loss of 3. Offside on Tullahoma made it third and 6. The quarterback run was sniffed out by Slaughter and Tucker. They made a tackle for loss. The punt was downed at the Tullahoma 37. A flag moved the ball back to the 27. M. Johnson ran to the 42. A false start made it first and 15, Jack Damron gained 3 on a carry. Bratcher was sacked back at the 32. A screen to Damron got the ball to the 45, but it was still fourth and 7. Chadwick’s punt was fair caught at the 14. The QB run on first down was stopped by Myers, who came from the backside of play. It resulted in a loss of 1. After an incomplete pass, Slaughter sacked the QB at the 8 to end the first quarter. Tullahoma led 7-0.

The punt was nearly blocked by Hyden, the ball rolled to the Spring Hill 43. After two incomplete passes and a false start, Tullahoma threw a middle screen to Ryan Denby for a pickup of 5 yards. Chadwick’s punt was returned to the 30 where he assisted in the tackle, but a block in the back flag backed the Raiders up to their own 7. They ran left for no gain, a host of ‘Cats made the stop. On second down the handoff was fumbled at 1. Jalen Hill picked up the ball and walked into end zone for the TD. Chadwick’s extra point was good, 14-0 with 10:01 left in half. The kickoff was caught at 1 and returned to 20 Tucker made the tackle. A run left lost 11, Hyden made the tackle. The pass on second and 21 was incomplete, Denby and Russell Simmons pressured the QB. The QB ran up the middle for 2 yards to avoid a sack bringing up fourth and 19. The punt was shanked, it rolled to a stop at the 19. M. Johnson went up the middle for 5 yards. He got another carry on second down but was stopped for a gain of 1. The pass to K. Johnson in the end zone was incomplete, bringing up fourth and 4. Tullahoma called a timeout with 7:21 left in half. Chadwick came out for the 31-yard field goal, the kick was good. Wildcats leading 17-0 with 7:17 left in the second quarter. The QB keeper gained 4, Bryson Steverson with the tackle. The next play broke down, the quarterback tried to handoff the ball but no one was there, so he ran left for a gain of 3. They ran another keeper and gained 8. He rolled out right and threw an incomplete pass, Robert Tatum was in his face to force the throw to be short. A QB run got 1 Myers and Steverson combined for the tackle. Then they gained nothing on a run, Tatum chased down the running back. K. Johnson caught a fair catch at Tullahoma’s 34-yard line. Bratcher’s pass left to Aiden Kelly got the ball to the 46. M. Johnson ran for 3. Ran again for no gain. Bratcher was sacked for a loss of 8. Chadwick’s punt rolled down to the 5 before being downed with 1:58 left in the half. Multiple ‘Cats made a tackle for a loss of 3 yards. An offside flag moved the ball to the 7. The Raiders tried another QB run, but Tucker blew the play up and made a tackle in the end zone for a safety. Tullahoma was getting the ball back while up 19-0 with 1:10 left in half. K. Johnson returned the kick to the 33. Bratcher dropped the ball off to M. Johnson for a gain of 9. M. Johnson ran to the 15, then the team hurried up and spiked the ball. Bratcher attempted two passes over the middle that were incomplete. The field goal unit attempted a 32-yard try that was no good. Spring Hill was unable to score before the time ran out.

The second half opened with Slaughter making a tackle at the line of scrimmage. Denby forced the ball carrier out of bounds short of the sticks on third down. K. Johnson fair caught ball at his own 49. A pass left to him gained 5. M. Johnson ran on the next play and out-ran the entire Raiders’ defense for the 46-yard TD. Chadwick’s extra point split the uprights, 26-0 with 9:40 left in the third. A run picked up for 2 before Tucker met the RB in the hole. The snap was muffed, but the QB got 1 before Hyden brought him down. Incomplete pass then a punt to the Tullahoma 44. Denby gained 3 on a carry. A delayed handoff to Denby moved the ball to the 45 for a first down. He got 9 on the next play. The Damron got two carries to get the ball to the 35 for another first down. A penalty and sack stalled the drive there forcing Chadwick to punt it.  Spring Hill picked up a first down on fourth and 3 with a run for a gain of 4. They picked up another first down with an 11 yard scramble by QB. Their drive stopped there after a holding flag, their pun was downed at the Tullahoma 32. Bratcher threw a pass to Alex Bobo that moved the ball to the Spring Hill 49 as the game went into the final quarter.

M. Johnson ran for a gain of 6. Denby was hit as soon as he got the handoff for a loss of 2. After an incomplete pass, Chadwick’s punt bounced back to the 28. On third and 10, Tatum made a tackle for a loss of 4. K. Johnson returned the punt to the Spring Hill 33. Beau Banks gained 5 yards. He got it again on a counter left and picked up 7. Banks on his third straight carry gained 3. On fourth and 7 from the 18, Bratcher was sacked. The swing screen left on third and 3 gained nothing as Tucker shed a block and make the tackle at the line of scrimmage. Turnover on downs with an incomplete pass. Tullahoma put some backups in, Lucas Reed ran to the 11. On third and 13 he found Bobo for a gain of 9. Hailey Prebola kicked in the 22-yard field goal with 1:24 left. Tullahoma up 29-0. Chase Dodson kicked off, the Raiders returned it all the way back for the TD to prevent being shut out on their senior night with 1:04 left, making it 29-7. K. Johnson returned the kickoff to the 35. Banks ran for a gain of 1 to end the game.

Tullahoma travels to Shelbyville Thursday for the final regular season game, kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.