local teams represent well at state

East Tennessee high school football was again well-represented at the TSSAA Blue Cross Bowl in Murfreesboro this past weekend.

Perennial prep pigskin powerhouses Maryville, Alcoa and Fulton each made repeat appearances in their respective state title games with both Blount County schools bringing home their fourth consecutive state championship trophies.

In winning their 60^th game in a row, the Class 4A Red Rebels put on a vintage Maryville performance to collect  a 28-13 win over Maplewood.

Head Coach George Quarles’ Red Rebels have not lost a football game since the semifinal round of the 2003 state playoffs. Maryville has not lost a regular season contest since 2001.

“I remember what it feels like,” Quarles was quick to point out when asked how long it’s been since he’s felt what losing is like after his team won its fifth state title in the last six years.

“It was in the playoffs against Morristown West up there,” he recalled. “It was a sick feeling. I’m one of those guys that takes losing too serious. I know I hate to lose more than I love to win.”

With his unprecedented success at Maryville High School, it seems that Quarles’ biggest challenge so far has been to keep living up to his own high standards.

Folks are already speculating on the Red Rebels’ fifth straight state championship.

“I heard that Saturday night,” said Quarles. “Somebody said, ‘What are you going to do next year’? I said, ‘you gotta be kidding. Let’s enjoy this one for a while.’”

The Red Rebels benefited from senior quarterback Brent Burnette’s 15-of-22 passing performance that generated 222 yards and two touchdowns.

Quarles put his personal stamp of approval on his latest championship with one of his trademark trick plays that was executed to perfection and couldn’t have come at a better time for the Red Rebles.

With Maryville holding a 21-13 advantage late in the third quarter, the Red Rebels made a loud statement with a 30-yard halfback pass touchdown that tailback Steven Shiver lofted to Thomas Shuler to make Maryville’s final victory margin with 1:52 left in the third.

As incredible as Maryville’s success has been on the state level over the last four years, the Red Rebels are actually not the only high school program in Tennessee with four straight championships. They’re not even the only one in their own county.

The Class 2A juggernaut Alcoa Tornadoes have strung together four straight state titles under the guidance of two different coaches. Former head coach John Reid led the Tornadoes to the first two back-to-back titles in 2004 and 2005. When Reid left for greener pastures before the 2006 season he left the next Alcoa coach with a bevy of talent and a newly revived winning tradition at the prideful Tornadoes program.

Enter Gary Rankin, the highly-successful former Murfreesboro Riverdale head coach who led the Warriors to four state titles during his tenure at that Class 5A school. Rankin was picked to replace Reid and hasn’t missed a beat.

The Tornadoes destroyed Goodpasture 35-3 Friday night in the Class 2A title game.

Alcoa, whose lone loss of the 2007 season was to Maryville, stormed out to a 21-0 halftime lead as senior quarterback Randall Cobb, a University of Kentucky commitment, scored rushing touchdowns of 2 and 4 yards and threw a 14 yard touchdown pass to Tyler Robinson. After a third-quarter Goodpasture field goal, the Tornadoes tacked on two Troy Hodge touchdown runs to provide the final margin.

The only disappointing decision for a Knoxville-area football team this weekend in Murfreesboro was Fulton’s 32-24 loss to David Lipscomb in the Class 3A Championship Game.

The Falcons, from powerful Region 2-3A whose only regular season loss came to Class 5A Oak Ridge, fell to Lipscomb (13-1) despite a fine effort from running back Terence Cobb. The Fulton running back was named the game’s offensive MVP after finishing with 165 yards on 24 carries and thee touchdowns. Cobb was the Defensive Most Valuable Player in last year’s state title game,

A 10-yard second quarter Cobb touchdown run—he had a 57-yard TD run in the first quarter—brought the Falcons to within 14-12 after a failed two-point conversion attempt followed Cobb’s run.

Lipscomb added a field goal with 3:42 left in the first half to lead 17-12 at the break.

Cobb’s third touchdown of the day came from three yards out and capped an impressive nine-play, 75-yard drive but Lipscomb scored back-to-back touchdowns to go up 32-18 with 2:01 left in the game.