DECATUR, Tenn. — They don’t call him Tuff for nothing.
Running through contact, Meigs County junior quarterback Tuff Ricker was determined to not be brought down easily Friday night, and his hard-fought yards helped deliver an utterly dominant first half on the way to a 42-7 home win over Polk County.
The state-ranked No. 10 Tigers improved to 6-2 — they bounced back a week after a 15-14 loss at Pigeon Forge — while dropping the Wildcats to 4-4 in the nonregion matchup of TSSAA Class 3A teams.
Ricker ran with steam and purpose as he rushed for 135 of his game-high 161 yards in the first half on just 11 carries. At one point, he met a linebacker in the middle of the field and kept his legs churning to power through and spin off the would-be tackler on a 46-yard run.
(READ MORE: Final scores and photos from Friday night’s Chattanooga-area prep football games)