Lining up in victory formation as his team ran out the clock on its BlueCross Bowl state championship at Finley Stadium Saturday was everything Tyner senior Josh Jackson could have dreamed of.
The Rams solidified their legacy by winning the Class 2A state title by two points over Decatur-Riverside, and did so in a game in which Jackson, the Rams’ record-setting quarterback, threw for three touchdowns over the final three quarters and also ran for four first downs.
Tyner (14-1) posted the largest comeback victory in this year’s nine state championship games, erasing a 15-0 first quarter deficit in which it did not pick up a first down until the final 14 seconds of the quarter when Jackson ran for 10 yards.
The win came at a physical cost for Jackson and fellow senior Rayshaun Hinton. Jackson tore ligaments in his left wrist when he landed hard on the turf after leaping over a defender in the second half, while Hinton continued playing despite a broken hand he suffered during the game. Even with the injury, Hinton was in on the game-deciding tackle in which he and teammate ZaShun Hubbard stopped a Riverside ballcarrier short of the goal line on a two-point attempt with just 40 seconds remaining.
“Everyone gave their all for that state championship game,” Jackson said. “We had nearly 10 guys playing through injuries. (Jersey) Chubb tweaked his knee, I messed up my wrist, Trae (Ruffin) had to have his shoulder popped back in to place and Rayshaun (Hinton) hurt his hand.
“After the game I tried to pull off my pads, and I couldn’t lift up with my left hand because it was so swollen. I couldn’t really even grip anything. We emptied the tank and not at any point did we give up. We had too much to play for and too much adrenaline flowing to stop because of pain.”
Jackson, who is also a finalist for the Mr. Football award in which the winner will be announced on Wednesday, will forever be immortalized as having one of the greatest seasons of any Chattanooga high school quarterback. In just his second season playing the position, Jackson finished with 3,300 passing yards, 41 touchdown passes and completed nearly 70 percent of his attempts. The 6-foot-4, 210-pounder also rushed for over 300 yards and added five touchdown runs.
In perhaps his finest moment, Jackson threw his last high school TD pass as he avoided a pass rusher to roll to his left, then threw a bullet over another incoming rusher to senior Trae Ruffin for a 21-yard scoring connection that gave Tyner its first lead midway through the third.
“We all faced adversity and showed we play together as a team,” Jackson said. “To be able to break records this year, win a state championship and have a chance to win Mr. Football, is something I am so grateful for. God’s grace. There’s nothing like it.”
Ruffin finished the year with 10 of his 16 touchdown catches coming in the postseason. Jackson and senior running back Markel McKinley combined for 100 rushing yards in the second half alone as McKinley earned MVP honors after gaining 114 yards and scoring on a 17-yard run in which he made a defender miss in the backfield and sped around the left side, shoving a defender out of the way and outracing three more to the left pylon.
“What’s crazy is, Josh came up to me last Monday and told me that I was going to win MVP of the state championship game,” said McKinley, who finished the season with 1,200 total yards. “He said he knew that Riverside would be dropping back a lot to try and defend the pass and that the running lanes would open up for me.
“I definitely shed a tear after that win. The love we got from the city was real. Even before the season started, we had a group chat that was called ‘state’. We all had one goal. We are so proud.”
Baylor made impressive turnaround
Baylor’s Division II-AAA state championship was not only the program’s first title in 49 years but also came just one year after finishing last in its own region. The Red Raiders went 1-4 against East/Middle region competition last season but made a dramatic turnaround under first-year coach Erik Kimrey, who also brought in former Red Bank head coach Chris Brown to oversee the defense.
Under the new staff, Baylor ended a six-year skid against rival McCallie, then claimed its first playoff win in program history over Brentwood Academy before avenging a regular-season loss to MBA with last Thursday’s dramatic championship.
“To do what we did in a short amount of time speaks to those kids and the impact of them and the coaching staff all buying in to what we want to build,” Kimrey said.
MBA began the title game with touchdowns on its first three possessions and four of five first-half possessions, but Baylor’s defense responded by forcing two punts and a fumble the first times the Big Red ahd the ball in the second half. Those defensive stands opened the door for the rally that led to Baylor’s four-point win over its previously unbeaten foe.
Red Raiders junior quarterback Whit Muschamp, who threw for 252 yards in the title game to surpass the 3,000 yard mark for the season, picked up a scholarship offer from Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin on Sunday. Muschamp already had offers from Missouri, Louisville and Appalachian State and is being heavily recruited by Vanderbilt.
The D-II AAA East/Middle region was already the toughest, most talent-filled league in the state but will get more competitive next fall. That’s because Lipscomb Academy, which won the past two D-II AA state championships, is moving up in classification and will be grouped in that region, along with Baylor, Brentwood Academy, Knoxville Catholic, MBA and McCallie.
Those six programs have combined to win 37 state championships and routinely have more FBS level prospects than any other class. The D-II AAA West region will consist of Christian Brothers, Briarcrest, Ensworth, Father Ryan and MUS for the next two years.
“I had heard a lot of people already calling our region the SEC of high school football in Tennessee, but now it might be the SEC of the entire southeast,” Kimrey said. “When you look at the number of Power Five prospects and the coaching staffs at all of those schools, it’s pretty clear it’s a huge challenge every week.
“But I’m excited. It’ll make for a lot of entertaining games. We were in our share of those type games this year when you think about McCallie, Brentwood Academy and both MBA games, so if I’m a fan that’s what I want to see.”
Year two ran smoother
The number of volunteers who worked throughout the BlueCross Bowl helped make the three-day event run noticeably smoother, according to Chattanooga Sports’ chief sports officer Tim Morgan.
“We added about 250 more volunteers to what we had last year, so there were close to 500 total this year,” Morgan said. “We could not have done it without them because those folks helped make the logistics of getting people into the stadium better.
“I didn’t see many people having to stand in line and we’ve heard nothing but good things from the early feedback. Some of the changes we made from year one really seemed to extend the fun environment outside and inside of Finley Stadium.”
Morgan said preliminary conversations with TSSAA representatives began over the weekend and that he expects more detailed discussions about a potential two-year contract extension to pick up around the first of the year.
“We still need to close out our event budget for this year, account for all expenses and revenue, and then figure how our relationship looks with all the event’s partners moving forward,” Morgan said.