GORDONSVILLE, Tenn. -- South Pittsburg's Demetric Johnson had such a good night in the Pirates' Class 1A high school football semifinal against Gordonsville, he piled up more yardage than any group of people -- barely.
Johnson totaled 235 yards from scrimmage, which proved to be 7 more yards than the officials covered in markoffs and 10 more than the Tigers, whom South Pittsburg beat 32-14.
The Pirates (12-2) will play Wayne County, a 33-0 winner over West Carroll in the other semifinal, next Friday at Tennesse Tech University in Cookeville.
Johnson's only pass reception was on a quick screen to the outside that he turned into a 59-yard touchdown with 7:19 to play in the third quarter and broke a 14-14 tie. He carried 15 times for 176 yards, including an 84-yard touchdown run with 8:37 left that put the Pirates up by 12.
The officials were equally as busy throwing flags with 11 marked off against the Pirates for 103 yards. Gordonsville (10-3) had 125 yards on six penalties, half of which were either personal fouls or unsportsmanlike-conduct calls -- all from late in the third quarter on -- and two Tigers were ejected in the fourth.
"We emphasized keeping our composure all week," South Pittsburg quarterback Jake Stone said. "Not a lot of teams get to play this time of year. We're fortunate we are."
And the Pirates are fortunate to be headed to the final with a full squad.
"The kids set a goal before the season that they wanted to be the first team at South Pittsburg to win back-to-back state championships," coach Vic Grider said. "Seven days from now we have a shot, and we're taking everybody with us."
Gordonsville's first possession came after a fumble recovery by Austin Vaden, and the Tigers drove 59 yards in 10 running plays. The last was Tyler Coleman's 2-yard touchdown run.
Other than a 69-yard jaunt by quarterback Payton Watson, the Tigers didn't threaten much. They were held to 57 yards rushing and four first downs in the second half.
Grider said defensive coordinator Danny Wilson made a few formation adjustments at halftime but put more of an emphasis on the Pirates raising their level of play.
"We thought we could get out on the edge on them," Stone said. "I thought we executed pretty well. We even executed well at times when we didn't mean to. Our defense kept us in it."
Stone was referring to two bounding kickoffs by South Pittsburg that were recovered by Pirates Payne Mosley and Kam Cunningham. However, neither possession ended in a score.
Still, South Pittsburg managed 422 yards of offense. In addition to intercepting a pass, Stone ended up 7-of-16 for 124 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown pass to tight end John Wells.
Jajuan Lankford supported Johnson with 100 yards on 14 rushes. His 6-yard scoring run with 2:33 to go capped the scoring.
"I mean this in the most respectful way: We're going to do what we do," Grider said. "If other teams can stop us, more power to them. We're going to run our base eight to 10 plays. That was nothing but a bunch of off-tackle plays, but I though the only times we were stopped was when we stopped ourselves."