South Pittsburg 55, Fayetteville 23
The star: Sawyer Kelley ran 15 times for 185 yards, including a 46-yard TD, in the Pirates’ romp.Up next: South Pittsburg will host Columbia Academy next Friday in the Class 1A quarterfinals.
SOUTH PITTSBURG, Tenn. - Punting is the only remaining phase of the game that's tough to evaluate for South Pittsburg, but that's only because the Pirates haven't punted in their last three games. Otherwise it appears the Pirates have rediscovered their offensive identity, running wild to invoke the mercy rule for a third straight week.
A late score by Fayetteville stopped the running clock, but it mattered little as the Pirates ran wild in a 55-23 Class 1A second-round victory.
Coming into Friday's game, Fayetteville had three shutouts in the previous five games and scored 42-plus in four straight. But South Pittsburg dominated up front on both sides, rolling up 668 total yards, including 536 on 55 rushes, and held the Tigers to 68 rushing yards and 256 total.
"I like our chances the way our offense is hitting right now," Pirates coach Vic Grider said. "We've been able to keep the playbook pretty simple and keep a few things in our back pocket in case we need it, but really it all starts up front for us. Those guys have improved so much since the beginning of the season, it's unbelievable."
South Pittsburg (9-3) will host Columbia Academy (11-1) in next week's quarterfinal round.
The Pirates had three backs with 119-plus yards, led by sophomore Sawyer Kelley's 185 on 15 carries, junior Joseph Lilly's 155 on 12 carries and senior Chase Blevins added 119 yards on 15 carries and scored four touchdowns.
"Our line did a great job opening holes and getting us to the second level, and then it's our job to get as many yards as we can," said Kelley, who opened the second half with a 46-yard scoring run. "We've come a long, long ways from where we were as a team to start the year."
All but one of the Pirates' scoring drives covered at least 68 yards, including six of 80-plus yards, and they had just one play that went for negative yardage, when quarterback Hogan Holland was caught from behind for a 1-yard loss on a busted play. Otherwise only nine of 63 snaps went for fewer than 4 yards, and two of those were short TD runs.
"I've never seen anything like that," Grider said of the Pirates' offensive production, which includes 941 rushing yards in two playoff games and scoring TDs on 17 of their 19 postseason possessions so far. "To have three guys with more than 100 on the ground and our quarterback throws for 130, that says a lot about the unselfishness of this team. Our kids don't care who gets the credit, they just want to win.
"We got a little taste of success, and now they're carrying themselves with a lot of confidence."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.