GRAY DEYOSports Writer

The Tullahoma football team played the team that ended their 2024 season, the Nolensville Knights, on Friday night. They were unable to get their revenge, losing to the Knights, 27-19.

The score was 14-13 at Wilkins Stadium going into the second half, with Nolensville having the lead. The Wildcats were able to keep it at a one-point game thanks to some heroics from their senior kicker Chase Dodson in the first half, who went two for three on field goals, with one coming from 49 yards and the other one coming from 51. His first made kick barely carried the goal post where his second, which he hit from 51 yards out as time expired in the first half, had the distance to be good from near 60. Tullahoma came out and built upon Dodson’s last kick at the 5:41 mark of the third quarter with the first score of the second half.

Quarterback Lucas Reed located his  speedster wide receiver, Zion Jeffery, for a four yard touchdown pass, to take a 19-14 lead. And although the Wildcats landed the first punch of the second half, the Knights ended up landing more in the final two periods. They quickly responded to Reed and Jeffery’s touchdown connection with a scoring strike of their own.

No later than a minute later, a Knights wide receiver with 4:39 left in the third quarter raced past the endzone for an 87-yard touchdown reception thrown by Nolensville junior QB Ryan Newell. This gave Nolensville a 20-19 lead, and they decided to go for two to separate themselves by a field goal in the game. Tullahoma senior ATH Will Hyden sacked Newell on the attempted conversion, keeping it at a one-point game. However, Nolensville, a couple of minutes later, found the endzone again off of a 53-yard run from junior RB Tristen Lithmexay, with 2:22 left in the third to take a 27-19 lead.

Both teams then went scoreless for a while, but the Wildcats then got a drive going with a little less than five minutes in the fourth quarter. Tullahoma on this possession made good progress down the field, but things came to a slow halt near Nolensville’s 20-yard line. They made the decision to go for it on fourth and 11.

Reed dropped back in the pocket, surveyed the field, did not find anyone open, and took off down the middle of the gridiron to try to pick up the first down himself. He was unsuccessful.

The Wildcats with little time left in the game needed a stop fast, to get the ball back, and they got off to a great start with Hyden dropping the Knights’ RB in the backfield for a big loss. After a short gain on second down, the Knights were in third and seven, and Newell took off on a QB run and picked up a first down. This left the Wildcats in a must stop situation, because if the Knights picked up a first, the Wildcats had no timeouts remaining and Nolensville could just kneel out the game and the rest of the clock could trickle away.

The Knights were in a third and nine and unfortunately picked up a first down again, which then ended the game. A couple of Wildcats who had big performances were Wildcat RB Marvancy Johnson Jr., who had 18 carries for 106 yards and a TD, and Alex Bobo, who led Tullahoma in receiving yards with five catches for 53 yards.

The Wildcats’ next game will be on Thursday against Lawrence County High School (4-1), who are currently coming off their first loss of the 2025 season, losing to Columbia Central (2-2) 38-22.