TSWA Class 1A All-StateOFFENSEQB--Payton Watson (Gordonsville), Jacob Tucker (Perry County), Austin Rice (Wayne County), Cody Hill (Coalfield); RB--Jajuan Lankford (South Pittsburg), Jamal Jones (Lookout Valley), Keylon Hyde (Union City); WR--Antonio Chubb (South Pittsburg), Rafael Tyler (Lake County); TE--Dylan Ragsdale (Clarksville Academy); OL--Colin Pruett (Huntingdon), Cody Branham (South Pittsburg), D.J. Roberson (South Pittsburg), Boston Ray (Wayne County), Sheyenne Reeves (Wayne County); ATH--Demetric Johnson (South Pittsburg), J.P. Evans (Moore County); K--Ary Albequerque (Huntingdon).DEFENSEDL--Tyler Coen (Gordonsville), Kyle Churchwell (Perry County), R.J. Brown (Perry County), Nathan Burkhart (Clarskville Academy); LB--Coltin Blevins (South Pittsburg), Nathan Jernigan (Eagleville), Robert Reynolds (West Carroll), Wesley Bland (Columbia Academy), Daniel Miller (Clarksville Academy); DB--Tyler Warbritton (Huntingdon), Jacob Warbritton (Huntingdon), Brandon Adkins (Jo Byrns), Anthony Wilkins (Coalfield), Hogan Goodson (Greenback), Peyton Mathis (Wayne County); P--Carter Salyers (Clarksville Academy).Coach: Rick Rice (Wayne County)TSWA Class 2A All-StateOFFENSEQB--Gatlin Hatchell (Dresden), Garrett Miller (Oliver Springs); RB--Chase Reed (Boyd-Buchanan), Phillip Waters (Hampton), Jordan Romero (Oliver Springs); WR--Jake Minga (Grace Christian), Randy Chambers (Wooddale), Zack James (Community); TE--Tyler McPeak (Dresden); OL--Preston Morris (Grace Christian), Eli Perryman (Forrest), Conner Gaines (Friendship Christian), Josh Turnbow (Dresden), Jesse King (Oneida); ATH--Ryeon Medley (Humboldt); Devon Turczyn (Trousdale County); Joseph Walker (White House Heritage); K--Douglas Manning (Oneida).DEFENSEDL--Jordan Holder (Trousdale), Christian Steward (Grace Christian), Tevin Bryson (Humboldt), Mitchell Lester (Friendship Christian), Trevor Allen (Oneida); LB--C.C. Moody (Humboldt), Eric Van Dyke (Dresden), Zach Britton (North Greene), Kyle Wood (Friendship), Seth Jowers (Scotts Hill), Austin Lees (Community); DB--Kyle Thomas (Boyd-Buchanan), Shaquille McCorry (Humboldt), Cordorez Jackson (Westwood), Jordan Harper (Trousdale), Dalton Peterson (Friendship), Will McKamey (Grace Christian); P--Quinn Frost (Community).Coach: John McNeal (Friendship Christian)
Although South Pittsburg and Boyd-Buchanan came up painfully short in their quests for state football championships, both schools have multiple players on the Tennessee Sports Writers Association all-state teams.
Boyd-Buchanan, which lost a heartbreaking quarterfinal game in overtime to eventual state champion Friendship Christian, had senior running back Chase Reed earn a spot on the Class 2A all-state offense and senior linebacker Kyle Thomas on defense. Reed rushed for more than 1,200 yards with 23 touchdowns and Thomas had five interceptions, four fumble recoveries and three forced fumbles to go with 35 solo tackles.
"It's a great compliment to our program, and both those kids are very deserving because of all their hard work for our program," Bucs coach Grant Reynolds said. "It's a total team effort any time you have individual kids get honored like this, and those two guys understand how much their teammates helped them earn this honor."
In Class 1A, state runner-up South Pittsburg had five players make it on offense and one on defense. Sophomore running back Jajuan Lankford, a Mr. Football finalist, is joined by receiver Antonio Chubb, junior athlete Demetric Johnson and offensive linemen Cody Branham and D.J. Roberson. Senior linebacker Coltin Blevins, a Mr. Football award winner, was named to the defensive first-team.
Lookout Valley junior running back Jamal Jones, who rushed for 14 touchdowns and more than 1,400 yards, also earned a spot on the 1A offense.
Lankford rushed for 29 TDs and more than 2,100 yards, Johnson had more than 1,800 all-purpose yards and 22 TDs and Chubb had 800 receiving yards with eight TDs and also returned three kickoffs for scores. Branham was a three-year starting center; he and Roberson helped pave the way for the Pirates to rush for more than 4,300 yards and average nearly 40 points. Blevins led the Pirates with more than 120 total tackles, eight for loss.
"That says a lot about where our program is right now," Pirates coach Vic Grider said. "The majority of those guys are players who waited their turn to contribute, and once they got their opportunity they stepped up and became big-time players for us.
"Coltin is the only one of those guys who is a repeat all-state player on that list for us, and the exciting thing is two of them will be back next year."