Wild night for WCMS: Pioneers rally over Wildcats
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“You’re playing like you’re beat,” he said seconds after the Pioneers’ 8-6 halftime deficit had swelled to a 16-6 Wildcat lead, “and if you keep this up, you’ll be beat.”
Apparently, that idea didn’t sit too well with the Pioneers.
Morgan Wilcher and the Pioneer offensive line marched over the Wildcats for three touchdowns in the game’s final period, and the WCMS defensive unit shut down any hope Tullahoma had of holding its lead as the Pioneers rallied to win a thriller, 24-16.
“It’s like I told them after it was over — this was a hard game, against a good team, and they’re going to keep getting harder,” Turner said. “But they stepped up when they had to step up, they got the job done, and I couldn’t be prouder of this bunch of guys.”
Leading 8-6 at the half, Tullahoma had to kick the ball away to the visiting Pioneers to open the third quarter. The Pioneers promptly gave possession back to their hosts, however, when Casey Dunn dropped the opening snap and TMS’s C.J. Mann recovered the fumble.
The WCMS defense held its ground on Tullahoma’s drive, with Carzell Robinson breaking up a pass on fourth down to give the ball back to his team. The Pioneers went four-and-out, however, and Tullahoma took over at the 30-yard-line.
Jay Whitworth, who had been the go-to man for TMS the entire night and had amassed over 100 yards by halftime, plunged in from the 3-yard line on Tullahoma’s opening play of the fourth, then carried the ball for a 2-point conversion to put Warren County down by a 10-point margin with 7:55 to play.
But that’s when the tables turned.
Zack West fielded a short kickoff, and turned in a big return for the Pioneers, giving them the ball at the Wildcat 37. That was close enough for Wilcher, who took the ball around the right side of the Pioneer line and barreled his way to the end zone. The 2-point run failed, however, and the Pioneers found themselves trailing 16-12.
A short kick gave TMS possession near midfield, and the Pioneers went back out on defense expecting, and receiving, a healthy dose of Whitworth out of the backfield. They not only stopped the drive, they pushed Tullahoma back a few yards, forcing a punt and taking over with less than six minutes to play.
Wilcher got the call again, taking the ball three straight times, with a 41-yard run followed by a 23-yard touchdown gallop which put WCMS on top 18-16.
Scott Murphy came through with the first of his two huge defensive plays on Tullahoma’s next drive, recovering a fumble from the Wildcats’ Derrick Lawson. Warren County took over from the TMS 37, and a pair of big runs from Wilcher and Jay Hutchings gave them first-and-goal, and Wilcher bulled his way in from the 2-yard line for the game’s final touchdown with 1:42 to play.
Tullahoma had time for one more drive, and completed a 27-yard pass to move into Pioneer territory. But Murphy came up with a sack of TMS quarterback Garrett Olive on the next play, and Robinson intercepted a fourth-down pass attempt to put the exclamation point on the Pioneers’ come-from-behind victory.
Wilcher finished with a whopping 123 yards rushing on 10 carries, with 93 of those yards coming on his five fourth-quarter rushing attempts. Wilcher had 55 yards on five attempts.
Whitworth led the Wildcats with 176 rushing yards, carrying the ball 30 times in the losing effort.
The Pioneers will play host to a day game Tuesday, when they take on Coffee County at 1 p.m.
The Pioneers rallied from a 16-6 deficit in the fourth quarter to win, improving to 4-0.