30 years...
Once again overcoming late missed chance, Bulldogs out-run Maryville in OT thriller
Overcoming such disappointment for a second straight week — this time at Maryville, of all places — Josh Jones’ Bulldogs are learning how to stay composed while asserting their will on even top-level opponents.
This would be a monumental victory at one of the toughest places for visitors to win high school football games in Tennessee — and the first versus the Red Rebels in 30 years — ending with a senior linebacker’s game-saving tackle.
Junior Daniel Kinney, known to have one of the strongest kicking legs in the state on top of being deadly accurate, had a rare miss of a short field goal, 28-yards, that would have given the Bulldogs a 17-14 lead with just under one minute to play in regulation.
But in overtime, Kinney split the uprights for an all-important extra point after sophomore running back
Jayzon Thompson — having another huge night of finding and making holes for substantial gains — scored from 2 yards out, giving BHS a 21-14 lead.
After Maryville scored on a 5-yard TD run (helped by an offsides penalty), the Red Rebels decided to go for the victory and attempt the 2-point conversion.
But senior linebacker Ross Elder broke through and made initial contact to stop MHS running back Ory Vananda-Walker 2 yards behind the line of scrimmage, while teammate Tra Dennard, a junior defensive tackle, helped finish the stop and cause a massive Maroon and Gray eruption of joy on the field and in the visitor’s stands.
“We knew it was going to be a run — they have a very run-heavy offense — and I knew I had to penetrate my gap because penetration is key on the goal-line,” Elder said.
“Way to compete, good job,” an excited head coach Jones told his team, winners of four in a row while improving to a perfect 3-0 atop the Region 2-6A standings, as it gathered in the end zone after the game.
“... Heck of a job, way to fight. Way to believe. And hey, what do we say? ‘Be the most physical team and we win the ballgame.’ Way to hit them in the mouth,” which ended with a big team cheer.
“Coach Jones had been preaching all week, ‘just be there to make a play,’” said Dennard, one of the team’s top defenders. “That’s what we came to do. We stopped them.
“Coach said it’s been 30 years, so it’s been a long time coming,” the big junior added.
“Beating them, especially on their own field where most (teams) don’t even think about doing that, is a great feeling.”
After his runs of 31 and 18 yards on the Bulldogs’ first possession of the game, Thompson scored from 2 yards out making it 7-0 visitors.
Like Bearden, the Red Rebels (4-3, 1-2) stayed mostly on the ground and tied the game with an 80-yard TD drive.
A controversial fumble call after a Thompson nine-yard run that would have been a first down at the MHS 29 in the third quarter, instead went to MHS. And the Red Rebs marched 71 yards to take a 14-7 lead with 10:27 left in the game.
But Bearden answered back, led by some tough and effective runs by junior Torian Riggans and a 24-yard pass from junior quarterback Drew Parrott to seenior receiver Sam Tummins. Then Thompson broke free up the middle on a 35-yard TD scamper to tie the game 14-14 with 7:13 to play.
Tory Beaufort’s 67-yard punt return landed Bearden at the MHS 18 with 2:42 remaining before the missed field goal.
Defensively for BHS, sophomore linebacker Rocky Brown was in on a number of stops.
Bulldogs junior punter Williams Pendergrass booted a 47-yard punt.
