COLUMBIA ACADEMY 56, SOUTH PITTSBURG 28
The star: Bulldogs senior receiver Taylor Thompson had nine catches for 147 yards and two touchdowns. He ran for 20 yards and another TD.Up next: Columbia Academy will travel to Greenback for next week’s semifinals.
SOUTH PITTSBURG, Tenn. - South Pittsburg simply had no answer for Taylor Thompson, Jacob Johnson and the Columbia Academy offense. Johnson completed all 13 of his passes, Thompson caught nine of those and the sixth-ranked Bulldogs rolled up 504 yards of total offense on their way to a 56-28 Class 1A quarterfinal victory.
The Bulldogs (12-1) will travel to Greenback for next week's semifinal round.
"All glory goes to God," said Thompson, who had two TD catches, ran for another score and finished with 167 yards of total offense. "I just tried to make something happen for my team. When you have great teammates, and everyone is playing together, we're tough to beat.
"This is what it's all about."
South Pittsburg began the game with a seven-play, 80-yard drive capped by a 49-yard TD pass from Hogan Holland to Cade Kennemore. But in a sign of things to come, the Bulldogs answered right back, needing just five plays to score on a 19-yard pass from Johnson to Thompson.
The teams continued to trade TDs for each of their next three series, the Pirates getting an 80-yard scoring run from Joseph Lilly to regain the lead and a 31-yard scoring pass to Lilly to reclaim the lead again after the Bulldogs had evened the game at 14.
The turning point in the game came early in the second quarter. Trailing 21-14, Johnson twice threw the ball up for grabs on third down, and Thompson came down with it both times to keep the drive alive. The Bulldogs eventually scored to tie the game for a third time in the half, then finally forced a punt and took a 28-21 halftime lead with a 13-play, 65-yard drive, capped by Thompson's 1-yard dive into the end zone with 19 seconds left.
"We knew he was a special player," Pirates coach Vic Grider said of the 6-foot-3, 185-pound Thompson, who will make an official visit to Wisconsin in two weeks and has had more than 120 receiving yards in each of the last two playoff games. "We thought if we could just get one stop we could really put some pressure on them with our offense. But every time we got them in a position to make a stop, he bailed them out. Just a heck of a player."
Columbia Academy converted all nine of its third-down opportunities, and Thompson was responsible for five of those conversions.
The Bulldogs opened the second half with a four-play, 65-yard scoring drive to take a two-score lead. After holding the Pirates on downs, Thompson caught his second TD throw of the game, giving Columbia Academy a 42-21 lead.
The only possession that didn't result in points for the Bulldogs was their final one, as they ran out the clock after scoring twice in all four quarters. Not only did Columbia Academy never punt, it also didn't turn the ball over in winning its 12th consecutive game and advancing past the quarterfinals for the first time in program history.
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.