Kyree Pryor (1) breaks into the open for the Pirates. The Boyd-Buchanan Buccaneers visited the South Pittsburg Pirates in TSSAA football action on October 21, 2016.SOUTH PITTSBURG 62, CORNERSVILLE 12
The star: Senior Kyree Pryor ran for 240 yards on just 10 carries and scored three touchdowns. He ran for 147 of that total all three TDs in the first half.Up next: South Pittsburg will host Fayetteville in next week’s second round.
Friday's second-round Tennessee playoff pairings
(All kickoffs at 7 p.m. local time) CLASS 6A Bradley Central (9-2) at Blackman (8-3) CLASS 5A Farragut (10-1) at Rhea County (9-2) Walker Valley (7-4) at Ooltewah (9-2) CLASS 3A East Ridge (6-5) at Red Bank (8-3) Notre Dame (7-4) at Sequatchie County (11-0) CLASS 2A Watertown (10-1) at Marion County (10-1) Meigs County (10-1) at Forrest (10-1) CLASS 1A Fayetteville (9-2) at South Pittsburg (10-1) Whitwell (6-5) at Columbia Academy (10-0) DIVISION II McCallie (7-4) at Brentwood Academy (7-2) Baylor (7-4) at MUS (10-0)
SOUTH PITTSBURG, Tenn. - The guys operating the cannon atop the pirate ship that sits in one end zone and fires off a deafening round after each South Pittsburg score nearly ran out of ammo to fire.
If the Pirates were looking to make a statement to open the Class 1A playoffs, consider it delivered as they cruised past Cornersville 62-12 on Friday.
South Pittsburg averaged 12 yards per play in rolling up 593 total yards, 467 of which came on the ground. Senior Kyree Pryor led the way, rushing for 240 yards on just 10 carries and scoring three first-half touchdowns.
"We wanted the rest of the state to see this score and know that we're back," said Pryor, who ran for 147 yards in the first half. "The way our line was blocking, I loved it. They made it easy."
After allowing the Bulldogs to rush for more than 100 yards in the first half, the Pirates held them to fewer than 30 total yards in the second half.
The Pirates (10-1) have now scored 50-plus points in eight straight games and will host Fayetteville (9-2) in next week's second round.
On the second play of the game, Hogan Holland connected with Joseph Lilly on a 54-yard touchdown pass, and less than three minutes later Pryor reached the end zone on a 35-yard run. Pryor added second-quarter scoring runs of 9 and 30 yards as the Pirates raced to a 41-12 halftime lead.
"Kyree had been hurt so much last year, then missed several this year, so I'm just really glad for that kid that he's healthy and back out there," Pirates coach Vic Grider said. "He can be as good as anybody, and I love the way he runs with an attitude.
"When we've got all of our people healthy, we're pretty hard to stop."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.