Pioneers come up empty: Tullahoma takes 35-0 victory over Warren Co.
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With the loss, the Pioneers fell to 0-6 on the season. WCHS hasn’t picked up a victory in its last 15 contests, and was shut out for the second time this year.
Despite the lopsided eventual final score, the Pioneers held their guests in check for much of the first half. The first quarter ended with neither team lighting up the scoreboard, but Tullahoma erased its goose-egg with a 5-yard quarterback keeper from Patrick Rogers midway through the second. Rogers connected with teammate Joseph Garcia late in the half for a 19-yard TD pass, sending the two teams into halftime with Tullahoma on top 14-0.
As the second half wore on, however, the Pioneers began to feel the effects of their lack of depth — a condition worsened by losing several players to injuries and other reasons.
“We’re not trying to make excuses, but we don’t have many backups, and we’ve got a lot of guys that have to play both sides of the ball,” said coach Chris Madewell. “So I knew it would be tough in the third and fourth quarter, when we started to wear down.
“I told them before the game to come out in the first quarter and play hard, and have fun, and I thought we did a good job in the first half. We showed the kind of potential we have as a team. But we started to wear down, and Tullahoma was able to take advantage of it.”
The Wildcats took advantage, and took command, in the third quarter, scoring three touchdowns to all but seal the victory. Rogers went in from the 18 to complete a long drive that opened the second half, and after forcing the Pioneers to punt, the Wildcats scored again on a 2-yard run from Leslie Eggleston.
A Joey Haston pass was intercepted by Charlton Hardin and returned 40 yards to the 18, and Tullahoma took over on first-and-goal at the 8 after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Adam Dawkins, who finished with 99 yards, went in on the first play from scrimmage, and kicker Michael Wheeler converted his fifth straight extra-point attempt for the Wildcats’ final points of the night.
Rogers finished with 102 yards through the air on six completions, while Haston completed five of his 15 attempts for 24 yards and was intercepted twice.
Several regular starters were out of action for the Pioneers, including tailbacks T.J. Jarvis and Preston Smith. Jarvis was unable to play due to a hamstring injury, while Smith has left WCHS and moved back to Murfreesboro.
With their regular backs out of action, the Pioneers turned to Cody Mitchell, who responded with 26 hard-fought yards on eight attempts.
“I thought Cody did a really good job,” Madewell said. “He’s the kind of running back I like to see out there — he’s hard-nosed, and comes right at you. He gets after it, and it takes three or four people to bring him down.
“I was really happy with the way Jimmy Cunningham played defensively, in a position that was new to him, and overall I thought everyone that we had to move around stepped up and played well.”
The Pioneers return to Region 3-5A play next Friday night, when they play host to Cumberland County for their Homecoming game. The Jets improved to 5-0 Friday night, when they handed White County a 58-0 loss.
“From what I hear, they’re big, and they’re just running over people,” Madewell said of the Jets. “So we’ll have to go back to work Monday, and prepare for another tough team.”