The defense that had been absent without leave in Signal Mountain’s first two playoff games reported ready and willing Friday and overwhelmed visiting Boyd-Buchanan in a Class 2A semifinal.
The Eagles’ 51-12 win propelled them into their first state championship game as a second-year program.
It was the Eagles’ ninth win of the season with at least a 35-point final spread but their first mercy-rule game of the postseason.
Signal Mountain (13-0) now possesses a 23-2 record as a varsity program with one game remaining on the second-season docket. That game will be at 1 p.m. next Saturday at Cookeville, where the Eagles will play Trinity Christian for the 2A state championship.
“Everybody said we could not do it on Signal Mountain, that you couldn’t do it and that you’d never make it to the state championship game. Well, boys, we’re going and it’s special,” Eagles coach Bill Price told his team.
Price got a shower from senior running back and linebacker Gervell Morgan with less than 90 seconds left in the game, and it was about the only time all night the veteran coach had reason to gasp.
“After two tough games against two really tough opponents, I was concerned that we might have a little bit of a letdown. There wasn’t any letdown,” he said.
The Eagles didn’t need the heralded passing portion of their offense, as they ran for 403 yards and capitalized on six turnovers (four fumble recoveries, two interceptions) provided by the defense.
Morgan, who didn’t play football until he arrived at Signal Mountain, scored two touchdowns and proved defensively why he is a Mr. Football finalist with an interception and two fumble recoveries.
“Tonight we had to come out with intensity. We didn’t want to get ahead of ourselves,” Morgan said. “We knew we had to beat Boyd-Buchanan. People said their offense was better than our defense.
“We had something to prove to Boyd-Buchanan because they got past us last year when we got upset in the second round.”
The Signal defense had a point to make because it was shredded for 43 points in a second-round shootout with Friendship Christian and for 36 last week in a victory at top-ranked Trousdale County.
“The kids wanted it all week long,” Price said. “We haven’t played good defense the last couple of weeks, but tonight we came out and shut them down. It was a total team effort. Our kids really battled in practice, and they wanted to play great defense tonight.”
The Eagles surrendered seven first downs, but the Buccaneers didn’t pick up their second till the clock reached the 3:56 mark in the third period. Boyd-Buchanan was limited to 172 yards on 34 offensive snaps.
Offensively, Price employed seven backs – Morgan, Andrew Price, Zack Bowman, Donnie Garner, Hogan Whitmire, Mitchell Hall and Darien Hogans – to top the 400-yard rushing mark. Price led with 160 on 15 carries, the bulk of which came on his first carry after he foiled a Bucs scoring opportunity with a fumble recovery inside the Eagles’ 10. On his first carry on the ensuing series, he turned the corner outside left tackle and sailed 93 yards for Signal’s seventh TD and a 45-6 lead.
“We can run the football. They came out with a good passing defense, and so the guys did a good job of running tonight,” Andrew Price said.
Garner scored twice to match Morgan, Bowman got the first one of the night and the Eagles’ lone TD via the pass was a 19-yarder from Whitmire to Reese Phillips.
Boyd-Buchanan’s first-half score came on a 96-yard kickoff return by John Hale after Signal had gone up 14-0. The Bucs’ other TD came with 2:31 left in the game on a 36-yard run by Chase Reed.
“I’ve been coaching for a long time and this is my first chance to go to the state, and it means a lot to me,” Coach Price said. “I think it means a lot to this community, and this community has really been behind them.”