GRAY DEYOSports Writer

The Tullahoma Middle School football team took on Warren County Middle School on Tuesday night for their last game of the regular season. They got a convincing win in the finale, winning 42-22.

It was eighth grade night at Wilkins stadium, as fans packed in to watch one of the TMS boys’ last games of their middle school tenure. The boys in red, white, and black gave a worthy performance to attend.

They took over this game late in the third quarter after a flurry of rain hit the field. Warren County was able to score a touchdown during the monsoon, but the Wildcats quickly responded with a score of their own. In a smart play given the conditions, Tullahoma, after their responding score, opted to try an onside kick. This move was successful as Warren’s player, who was in position to grab the kick, could not get a grip on the ball, and a swarm of Tullahoma players then jumped on the ball.

Running back Macc Chapin,  early on in Tullahoma’s drive following the Wildcats’ recovery, found a hole on the right side of the field and raced past multiple Warren County defenders untouched to score in a 45+ yard TD run to give Tullahoma a 36-22 lead with 7:48 left in the fourth quarter. The opposing pioneers’ offense tried to get back and respond to cut it to a one-score ball game as the closing minutes ticked away, but they just could not figure out a way to drive the ball down the field. On fourth down in what ended up being Warren’s last offensive possession, their quarterback’s pass was swatted down by a Wildcat defender.

1:28 shined on the clock following, which proved to be more than enough time for Wildcat QB Haiden Brinkley to find Jett Damron on a touchdown pass. This connection stapled the final score of the game 42-22.

 Brinkley showed earlier in the contest that he can come back from adversity. He threw a pick late in the second quarter. On Warren’s possession after the interception, they ended up throwing an interception of their own—the Pioneer pass was picked off by Damron. This left less than 30 seconds left on the clock for Tullahoma to go and get a score. Without hesitation on the drive, Brinkley delivered a dot during the drive to Brody Phillips that set Tullahoma up near the endzone. Wildcat Coaches scrambled on the sideline to get the referees’ attention, yelling for a timeout call, which they received with five seconds remaining. The Tullahoma offense huddled with the coaches to get a play call, and Brinkley went out and executed it. The 8th-grade QB dropped back in the pocket and found an open teammate, Christian Halsey, for a 12-yard touchdown with the clock at Wilkins showing 0:00.

This was an overall great win for Tullahoma, and they will look to keep this Wildcat winning machine rolling into postseason play.