McKenzie punches their ticket to Chattanooga
- stevenweaks74
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
By KEVIN WEAKS
McKenzie had some big plays and plenty of little ones that turned out to be big, too.
The Rebels piled up 432 yards of offense on 33 snaps and picked off four Fayetteville passes in rolling to a 39-0 win in the semifinals of the Class 1A state playoffs Friday night.
“I’m just really proud of these kids’ effort,” Rebel head coach Keith Hodge said. “I thought we played really hard and as a team. We made plays when we needed to. Just super proud of the team effort.”
Winning at home on Friday night guaranteed one more game for McKenzie — the state championship.
McKenzie will play South Pittsburg 3 p.m. Friday at Finley Stadium in Chattanooga.
It will be a showdown of the two teams that have occupied the top spots in the Tennessee Sports Writers Association/USA Today prep poll all season — McKenzie at No. 1, South Pitt at No. 2.
The big plays were many, including touchdown passes covering 74, 92 and 38 yards and a TD run that covered 72 yards. In addition, the Rebels went 95 yards in 15 plays for a touchdown, only two of those plays going for more than 10 yards.
On defense, McKenzie held Fayetteville to no gain or stopped the Tigers behind the line of scrimmage on 11 of the visitors’ 58 offensive plays.
More importantly, the Rebels picked off four Fayetteville passes, three of those by Kason Brown.
McKenzie junior quarterback Cole Brown had a monster game as he completed 8-of-10 passes for 248 yards and three touchdowns while also breaking off a 72-yard touchdown run.
The three scoring tosses, including some excellent catch-and-run tosses to Jacobi Melton for 74 and 92 yards, helped the Rebels jump out to a 25-0 halftime lead.
Getting the momentum early, and then putting away the Tigers in the second half, somewhat made up for McKenzie’s 40-34 loss to MASE at the same juncture last season.
“It feels great, especially after last year,” Brown said. “To come out here, go ahead 25-0 and put four quarters together was great.”
Melton showed his speed on his two TD catches.
The first came at 9:40 of the first quarter, Melton coming out of the backfield to grab a screen pass at the line of scrimmage and then sprinting 74 yards.
Coming on the Rebels’ second offensive play, and after McKenzie had held Fayetteville to a three-and-out on the game’s opening series, it gave the home team momentum out of the gate and set the tempo for the night.
Melton’s second TD catch, covering 92 yards at the midway mark of the second period, was a perfect toss over the middle that he took near midfield and ran to the visitors’ side of the field and then up the sideline.
That play was a huge 3rd-and-7 conversion after the Rebel defense had made a big 4th-down stop at its own five.
In between those scores, McKenzie put together the 15-play, 95-yard drive with Timmy Arline scoring on a one-yard run with 26 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
Arline carried the ball 12 times for 63 yards on the night.
While McKenzie was able to turn a long drive into points, the Tigers came up empty on three tries, two in the first half.
Fayetteville began to move the ball at the start of the second quarter but was stopped on downs at the Rebel five after driving 61 yards in 10 plays.
Fayetteville also held the ball for the final 12 plays of the half but netted only 23 yards, junior quarterback Nyles Barnett getting picked off by Cole Brown. The Tigers then opened the second half by recovering an onside kick and keeping the ball 13 plays only to have Kason Brown pick off a pass.
“It goes back to something we talked about in our staff meetings and with the defense,” Hodge said. “Make them run plays. In high school football, it’s so hard to drive the length of the field and not turn it over or make a mistake. We were able to score on a long drive and stop them.”
The Rebels also scored on a 38-yard pass from Cole Brown to Kason Brown at 3:05 of the second quarter, that coming one play after the defense blocked a Tiger punt attempt.
The Tigers had a touchdown pass in the second half called back on a penalty to help preserve the shutout.
Cole Brown’s TD run came at 2:50 of the third quarter, and McKenzie’s final score was a one-yard plunge by Jayden Callis at 5:35 of the fourth quarter.
Zyon Nnaji led the Tigers with 74 yards on 23 rushing attempts.
