‘Cat’-astrophic: Wildcats hand WCHS fourth straight shutout

By ROB NUNLEY / Sports Editor for the Southern Standard

Warren County’s Heath Crisp tries to evade Tullahoma’s Edward Hammonds during a first-quarter kickoff return Friday night in Tullahoma. The Pioneers were handed their fourth straight shutout, falling to the Wildcats 44-0. (Dale Stubblefield photo)

TULLAHOMA — The Tullahoma High School marching band’s decision to base their halftime show on “Star Wars” seemed appropriate Friday night, as “The Force” was definitely with the Wildcat football team.

An early start against a porous Pioneer defensive unit helped fuel the Wildcats to their first win, and they handed Warren County its fourth straight shutout in the form of a 44-0 loss.

With the loss, their 24th straight in a streak dating back to the 2001 season opener, the Pioneers fell to 0-5 for the 2003 season. The team has failed to score in its last 17 quarters of play, and has been out-scored 207-7 in 2003.

Tullahoma’s first points came from a Pioneer miscue on Warren County’s opening drive of the contest. Held to just two yards on the possession, the Pioneers lined up to punt, but the snap sailed over punter Cole West’s head and into the end zone, where West fell on it for a THS safety.

Two minutes later, the Wildcats’ Quintus Brazelton scored the first of his three touchdowns, going in from the 1-yard line. Another Brazelton TD plunge, this time from five yards out, made it a 16-0 game by the end of the first quarter.

Midway through the second quarter Tullahoma took to the air, finding the end zone on a 17-yard strike from Joe Spence to Ben Edwards. After another Pioneer punt, the Wildcats’ second-teamers took the field, adding a touchdown on a George Childress run to carry a 30-0 lead into halftime.

Brazelton capped off a five-minute drive to open the third quarter by going in from the 6-yard line, putting the Wildcats on top 39-0, and backup QB Matt Mitchell scored from the 1 with just over three minutes remaining in the period for the game’s final touchdown.

The Pioneers’ closest chance to putting points on the board came late in the fourth quarter, as they drove to the Wildcat 12-yard line on a long drive which featured a 38-yard run from Heath Crisp. But a personal foul backed WCHS up to the 27-yard line, where they were stopped on fourth down. Tullahoma took over possession, and ran out the clock to seal the win.

Childress finished with 78 yards on 12 carries to lead the way for the Wildcats, while Spence passed for 95 yards on six completions. The Pioneers leading rusher was Crisp, with two carries for 45 yards, while Jimmy Cunningham had 37 on seven attempts.

The Pioneers hit the road for a Region 3-5A matchup next Friday, when they take on Cumberland County. The Jets downed White County 31-22 on Friday, and now stand at 3-3 on the year and 0-2 in region play.