Knoxville Central vs Memphis East

[kwc]

TSSAA CLASS 4A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

 

At Cookeville, Tenn.

 

EAST 27, KNOXVILLE CENTRAL 3

 

KNOXVILLE CENTRAL 0 3 0 0 â€” 3

East 7 0 14 6 â€” 27

 

E — Timothy Taylor 9 run (Ntirenganyi Karamba kick)

KC — Holbert 36 FG

E — Barnes 66 pass from Justin Lynn (Ntirenganyi Karamba kick)

E — Timothy Taylor 5 run (Ntirenganyi Karamba kick)

E — Jaylon Burrus 22 pass from Justin Lynn (kick failed)

 

 

                                                           KC        East

 

First downs                                         12          17

Net yards rushing                               98        185

Net yards passing                             112        169

 

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

 

Rushing â€” Knoxville Central, Sackie 20-110. East, Timothy Taylor 21-133, McGhee 9-68. 

 

Passing â€” Knoxville Central, Mitchell 14-27-112-1. East, Timothy Taylor 1-1-46-0, Justin Lynn 8-11-123-0.

 

Receiving â€” Knoxville Central, Reeves 7-44, McNair 3-27. East, Jaylon Burrus 4-44, Barnes 2-73, Qwinnterrio Cole 2-50.

 

Records â€” Knoxville Central 12-3, East 13-2.

Edited December 5, 2016 by kwc

[BlackHavenSenator]

East wins 4A state title

John Varlas , john.varlas@commercialappeal.com 10:59 a.m. CST December 4, 2016

 

COOKEVILLE â€” After losing 17 talented seniors from last year's team, East could have easily just settled for playing in Cookeville Saturday. After all, they had defied all but their own expectations by simply getting to the BlueCross Bowl 4A championship game. 

 

"But why waste everybody's time," said coach Marcus Wimberly. "If we were going to (lose), we could do that in the first round."

 

East never looked like losing, using a dominating defensive performance and two touchdowns from University of Memphis commitment Timothy Taylor to defeat Knoxville Central 27-3 at Tucker Stadium.

 

It's the first state championship for East (13-2) since 1999, when they also defeated Central for the 4A crown. It also matches the AAA basketball championship the school won back in March, as the Mustangs joined White Station and St. George's as the only Shelby County schools to win state titles in both sports in a calendar year.

 

"Shoutout to the E!," said lineman Timmarious Jefferson. "Shoutout to (secondary coach) Cassius Vaughn, all of our coaches. We couldn't do it without them."

 

Jefferson, a bowling ball senior, said he received no particular advice from his brother Alex Lomax, the MVP of the basketball state tournament.

 

"He just wanted his big brother to go out and play a good game," Jefferson said. "It's going to be good now, both of us walking around the house with a (championship) ring."

 

The Bobcats (12-3) opened the game with a seven-plus minute drive but came away scoreless after a missed field goal. They never looked much like scoring after that and managed only 210 total yards (56 in the second half). Knoxville Central averaged just 3.6 yards per game and was held to its lowest point total since a shutout loss in the first round of the 2014 playoffs.

 

"We just knew we had to execute," said defensive Most Valuable Player Zechariah Zolliecoffer, who finished with eight tackles â€” two for lost yardage â€” and a quarterback sack.

 

"That's my best friend since middle school," said Jefferson. "I wouldn't want anybody else beside me."

 

Taylor carried the offense, running for 119 yards on 21 carries. His 9-yard run with one minute to go in the first quarter capped a 63-yard drive that opened the scoring and he pretty much sealed the contest with a 5-yard burst on the final play of the third quarter that stretched the lead to 21-3.

 

"I just did my job," he said. "We were stronger and faster ... we came to play as a team."

 

Sophomore quarterback Justin Lynn â€” who was the team's biggest question mark heading into the season â€” was steady as a metronome, completing 8 of 11 passes for 123 yards and two scores. The first came on a perfectly-designed underneath pass in the third quarter that Tarique Barnes took 66 yards to the house.

 

The second was a 22-yard hook-up with Jaylon Burrus with 1:22 to go that got the celebrations started in earnest.

 

"This is real special," said Wimberly. "Of course, we're always going to be known as a basketball school but we've sent a lot of kids to college in football. We've been better than most at that.

 

"All week long, they were very focused. When we were at that thing in Nashville (Monday's Mr. Football Awards and BlueCross media day), they were studying film. I feel like they got more focused as the season went on. It got sharper the closer they could come to tasting it."

 

Qwynnterrio Cole, who had seven tackles in the secondary, said he thinks the victory puts an official stamp of approval on the program. In other words, it won't be 17 more years before East is back at state.

 

"We were more hungry," he said. "All season long people have slept on us ... so we had to show them what we could do."

I certainly slept on them all playoffs long... S/O Binghampton for running ish in BOTH Major Boys sports in 2016!!! 

 

I would like to point out that Whitehaven scrimmaged both Memphis East and Trevevant... What's that old saying about Iron sharpening Iron?

[BlackHavenSenator]

http://www.knoxnews.com/story/sports/high-school/2016/12/03/central-falls-short-bid-first-state-title/94895842/

 

The other side