Honorable mention
› Ashton Boyd, Bradley Central: The receiver stepped up with nine catches for 235 yards and three touchdowns as the undefeated Bears beat Kingsport Dobyns-Bennett.› Corbee Wilson, Heritage: He completed 23 of 45 passes for 430 yards and five touchdowns in a shootout loss to Northwest Whitfield.› Cole Kibler, Ringgold: Kibler did all he could, throwing for 430 yards (31-47-2) with four TDs, but the Tigers fell to Murray County.
Murray County receiver Tucker Gregg tries to get open at the Southeastern 7 on 7 Championships on Friday, July 15, 2016, in Dalton, Ga.At a time when Murray County most needed him, Tucker Gregg was up to the task.
The Indians were locked in a football game of extremes, a region battle of consequence with Ringgold, and Gregg's team emerged from the shootout with a 45-40 victory last Friday night.
The visiting Tigers got a 426-yard passing performance from Cole Kibler, but Gregg, a junior, occupied much of the game clock, rushing 34 times for 323 yards and scoring four times. That outburst earned him the honor of Times Free Press Waffle House All-Star Player of the Week.
It also broke Murray County's single-game rushing record of 286 yards, set in 2005 by Cameron Hudson.
"He had a very special night for us," Murray County coach Chad Brewer said Monday morning as he and his staff reviewed video of their team's second-highest offensive output of the year. The Indians scored 55 in the season opener against Gordon Central.
Gregg, who also excels in the classroom, averaged 9.5 yards per carry to surpass his previous season high by 92 yards.
Perhaps born in Brewer's time at Polk County as a player for Derrick Davis, the idea was to use Gregg and the line to deny Ringgold as many offensive opportunities as possible.
"Our best defense was our offense, and Tucker and the offensive line kept pounding the ball," Brewer said. "Our idea was to keep the ball. With the receivers they have, they've scored a lot of points all year, and I felt we might struggle stopping them. If we could keep the ball away from them, we felt we would increase our chances."
The way he was running behind the up-front Indians, Gregg wasn't called upon as a receiver, but he was as a blocker to lead the way for quarterback Dominick Genitempo.
"We started out using Tucker as a receiver and then moved him to running back his freshman year. He has caught several passes for us, but he also is a great blocker and is the lead blocker for Genitempo," Brewer added.
Genitempo, who ran for 245 yards against Southeast Whitfield earlier this year, gained 150 yards on 10 carries against Ringgold.
"Our quarterback has gotten a lot of yards running behind Tucker," Brewer said. "Tucker has the fullback size and fullback mentality, but he has the speed to play tailback, and he's a very unselfish player."
It isn't so much speed that gets Gregg where he's striving to get, although he did have an 81-yard run for his second TD.
"He has that ability to break tackles and gets a lot of his yards after contact," Brewer said. "His most impressive runs were banging up inside and dragging guys 5, 6 yards, the kind of runs that kept the chains moving. But that comes from his dedication in the weight room, and we work four days per week in the offseason and during the season. The weight room is very important him."
Gregg is a perfect complement to the offensive line.
"It's a veteran bunch and those guys have been pretty solid all year. In games where we've had success they've knocked people off the ball," the chief Indian added.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765.