ENGLEWOOD, Tenn. – Unbeaten McMinn Central came into Friday’s District 5-AA high school football game against winless Polk County riding high. But this series has produced some wild games over the years, and this can be considered another one.
The Chargers, who have been underdogs more often than not since Derrick Davis took over as Polk County coach in 2000, were clearly the favorites this time. However, they needed an interception by linebacker Hunter Stokes in their own territory that enabled them to run out the final 1:09 of a 20-18 victory.
The loss ended a long streak of league domination for the Wildcats, who had won 21 consecutive conference games. Their last league loss was 16-0 to McMinn Central, one year after the Chargers won a 42-41 overtime game at Polk.
McMinn Central (5-0, 2-0) was in control in the first quarter, picking up seven first downs on the way to a 7-0 lead. Then things changed in the second quarter with Polk (0-4, 0-1) picking up seven first downs while holding the Chargers to one.
McMinn Central still managed to lead 13-12 at halftime, thanks in large part to Jordan Brooks’ 78-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and Polk missing one extra point and having a mishandled snap on the other.