SOUTH PITTSBURG, Tenn. – Anyone who thought the high school football game Friday at South Pittsburg would be a battle between the Pirates’ speed and Polk County’s physical prowess underestimated South Pittsburg’s physical characteristics.
Trailing by two, the Pirates took over the ball on their 20 with 4:21 to play. And 12 running plays later — the last a 1-yard run from Kahlil Mitchell with 29 seconds remaining — they were in the end zone with a 30-24 victory.
“We knew Polk County was going to be a big, physical team,” Tim Moore, coach of Class 1A’s top-ranked Pirates, said of the sixth-ranked Class 3A Wildcats. “We matched up with them at times. They pushed us around a little bit, but we found ways to stay in the game. Our kids showed a lot of heart and fight at the end and won that thing.”
Wildcats bruiser Zach Miller ended with 153 yards, but 41 of those came on one carry with a little more than nine minutes to play. Other than that, he averaged about 5 yards on his 23 carries.
“We knew he was going to get some yards,” Moore said. “He’s hard to gang-tackle. At times we did. He’s so big it takes four or five guys to tackle him. You tell the kids they’re going to have to get around the football. We did a pretty good job on him, but he wears on you over the course of the game. He’s not the only one. They have a lot of threats to keep up with.”