Goal-line stand keys Oakland’s win over Blackman

MURFREESBORO – A week ago, Oakland could not get out of its own way on the goal line. Friday night, the Patriots made their biggest impact there.

A four-down goal-line stand with under four minutes left preserved Oakland’s 20-7 lead, essentially serving as the game-winning stop, and the Patriots went on to defeat host Blackman 20-9 in a TSSAA Class 6A quarterfinal game.

“Probably the greatest goal-line stop I’ve ever been a part of,” Oakland coach Thomas McDaniel said after his fourth-ranked Patriots moved to 12-1, avenging a Week 0 loss and a loss in last year’s quarterfinals.

“In that situation we just bowed our neck. We just found a way to win that series. It was about our kids’ will all night. Our kids willed themselves to win.”

Trailing 20-7 with 6:09 remaining, Blackman’s drive started at its own 31. The third-ranked Blaze (11-2) quickly got down to the goal line, the last positive gain being quarterback Jauan Jennings’ 1-yard run from the 2 on first-and-goal.

On second-and-goal, Charlie Davidson was stuffed. On third-and-goal, Jennings was stuffed.

“All I said was keep going, keep pushing,” linebacker Dexter Hurd said. “I hit the center as hard as I could trying to push him back toward Jauan. I’m glad my defense came in and hit him and pushed it back.”

Two straight runs of no gain left Blackman facing fourth-and-goal. The Blaze called time out to talk it over.

Oakland was talking, too.

“After the timeout we came into the huddle and said, ‘They’re not going to score. Period,’” Oakland’s Josh Smith said. “It was a big stand for us. We came into the game and we wanted to impose our will; that was our plan. On that goal-line stand that was our chance. We took our chance and we made it.”

There was one final chance for the Blaze, and the call was another Jennings run. However, Cameron Newman was there to make the initial stop for Oakland, the Pats’ swarm followed, and with 3:43 remaining it was still 20-7 and Oakland’s ball at its own 1.

“The goal-line stand was something else,” said George Gbesse, who had an interception and a fumble recovery for the Patriots. “It was something amazing. Everybody bought in, we all bought in as a family.”

Last week, Oakland’s troubles on the goal line were in the form of three turnovers inside the La Vergne 3-yard line. However, its defense stood tall then as well, allowing the Wolverines to collect just three yards of offense after the three miscues.

The defense winning games is nothing new for the Patriots. They entered the game allowing under 10 points per game and 160 yards of offense. And Smith does not expect the routine to change with Maryville coming to town for next week’s semifinals.

“Every time we step on the field we feel like it’s our defense’s job to win the game,” he said. “That’s our mentality and that’s going to keep being our mentality through the whole thing.”