WHITWELL, Tenn. – Austin Nunley did not see the football sail end over end through the uprights. He didn’t have to, however, as the entire population of Whitwell let him know that he had nailed the 21-yard field goal as time expired.
The senior capped an impressive eight-play, 50-yard drive that began with 3:41 remaining by kicking his first field goal of the season Friday night to lift Class 1A’s third-ranked Tigers to a hard-fought 17-14 win over 2A’s sixth-ranked Trousdale County.
“It’s easy to want to look up and see where the ball is going, but I just stayed down like I’m supposed to all the way through my follow-through and then heard everybody screaming,” said Nunley, who has a 43-yard field goal to his credit but had not made one yet this season. “I kept telling myself it was just like an extra point, trying to stay calm.”
The doubters, if there are any left, can now recognize that Whitwell is very much for real and is in the midst of a special season unlike this community has seen to this point. The Tigers improved to 7-0 for the first time in program history and play next week at top-ranked South Pittsburg (7-0) for the Region 3-1A championship.
Whitwell’s strength all season has been its defense – which had allowed just 15 points through six games – and that was the case again as Trousdale managed just 206 total yards, with much of that coming on the game-tying drive late in the third quarter.