COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Facing a fourth-and-5 and his team trailing by one point with just under seven minutes remaining, Trezevant football coach Teli White called for the punt team.
But with the knowledge that Marion County already had fought back twice from two-score deficits and was riding a wave of momentum, White’s initial call was vetoed. Junior Cordarrian Richardson, a 6-foot, 225-pound all-state runner who has major college programs throughout the Southeast salivating, jogged near the sideline and pleaded the offense’s case.
“No, Coach!” Richardson yelled. “We’re going for this!”
White smiled and yelled back, “You got me on this?” To which Richardson fired back, before trotting back to the huddle, “I got you, Coach!”
Richardson took the snap and made his way toward the visitors’ sideline before cutting it up, breaking through the Marion defense and outrunning the secondary for a 48-yard touchdown.
It proved to be the final statement by a wonderfully gifted athlete who finished with 41 carries for 342 yards and three touchdowns. That total was all but 152 of the Bears’ total yards.
“I just had confidence in my blockers and in myself,” said Richardson, who is being recruited by Alabama, Auburn, Florida State and Tennessee, among others. “I knew my coach and my team were depending on me after I convinced him to go for it, so I just ran as hard as I could.”
It took one of the best individual performances in TSSAA state finals history to finally knock out a Marion team that refused to accept defeat.
The Bears took the opening kickoff and marched 80 yards in eight plays with Richardson scoring his first TD, then built a 15-point lead late in the second quarter and were set to get the ball back. But they roughed the punter, giving the ball back to Marion, and after another personal-foul penalty on Trezevant, the Warriors began to pick themselves up off the mat and land haymakers.
First came a 36-yard TD pass from Logan Walters to Bryce Massengale on fourth-and-16 with just six seconds to go before halftime. Then the Warriors opened the third with an impressive 14-play scoring drive to pull within two.
After falling behind again by two TDs, the Warriors showed a lot of guts in fighting back to take their first lead, scoring first on a fumble recovery by Massengale and later on a nine-play drive, capped by the go-ahead score with just over eight minutes remaining.
“That was just the leadership of our seniors,” Walters said. “Our senior class has had a lot of bad things happen in our career, but that just taught us how to keep fighting. That’s what we were doing.”
But that’s when Richardson took matters into his own hands, carrying the ball on three of the next four snaps, including the back-breaking fourth-down run. And after the Warriors were forced to punt at midfield, pinning the Bears back at their own 2, again it was Richardson who salted the game away, carrying on seven of the final nine plays, his last covering 38 yards.
“If somebody was asked to pick teams just based on how athletic they look, not too many would pick our kids,” Warriors coach Ricky Ross said. “But we stood toe to toe with them, and I’m very proud of that. It’s a testament to the attitude and the heart on this team.
“Last year it was a big deal just to get here, but for this year’s team that wasn’t enough. The goal for our guys all year was not just to get here but to win it. We didn’t get that done, but we’ll go back to work and get ready to try again next year now.”
Considering the Warriors lose just two defensive starters and three on offense, they’re a solid pick to return for a third straight year. But the Bears also bring back all but two starters, including Richardson, which could mean a rematch on the horizon.
If that should happen, the Warriors already know the effort and physical toll it’ll take to take the next step.
All-state linebacker Alex Kirkendoll, who was named the game’s defensive MVP, said he and his returning teammates wouldn’t take much time to recover from the disappointment.
“We’ll be back in the weightroom Monday,” Kirkendoll vowed. “And next year we will win it.”
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.