Blackman’s Taeler Dowdy (3) is tackled by Siegel’s Justin Perry (15) and Gef Elder (12) on Friday.

MURFREESBORO — Taeler Dowdy ran the football with aggression, bouncing off Siegel defenders and taking hard hits Friday night.

Nothing was going to stop the Blackman senior from reaching the Class 6A state quarterfinals.

Dowdy ran for a career-high 288 yards to lead the fifth-ranked Blaze to a 49-28 win over Siegel at The Inferno in a second-round playoff game.

“I’m super sore,” said Dowdy, who had four touchdowns. “I can already feel it. I usually feel it the next day.”

Blackman (10-2) will play at top-ranked Maryville (12-0) next Friday. Maryville is the two-time defending Class 6A state champions and defeated the Blaze in the 2013 6A semifinals.

“It’s been our goal the whole year,” said Dowdy, a Mr. Football semifinalist, who went over 2,000 rushing yards in the win. “I’m glad we got there.

“Maryville, that’s all I’ve heard about since I began playing high school football. I’m glad I finally get to play against them.”

Friday’s high school playoff scores

Siegel cut a third-quarter, 28-point deficit to 35-22 thanks to a Ricco Gregory 39-yard touchdown catch from Jordan Middleton, a safety and a Michael Scruggs 13-yard touchdown catch. The Stars had a chance to trim it even more when they appeared to recover an onside kick. But Blackman tight end Joeseph Sewell came out of the pack with it.

“We made a couple mistakes that hurt us,” Siegel coach Greg Wyant said. “We got behind the 8 ball a little bit.

“It would have been real easy to walk away in the first half when we got down 21 points. But our kids fought to the last whistle, like we asked them to do.”

Blackman drove down to push the lead to 42-22 thanks to Dowdy’s 4-yard touchdown run and put the game away.

Tennessee high school football playoff brackets

Siegel’s Greedy Howse answered with a 29-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter. It was Howse’s longest run of the night. The senior finished with 56 yards on 18 carries.

“(Stopping Greedy) was the key to the game,” Blackman safety Blake Taylor said. “We had to shut him down in order to have a good chance to win.”

Dowdy had touchdown runs from 29 and 8 yards in the first quarter to build a 14-0 lead. Teammate Miller Armstrong added a touchdown on a quarterback sneak to open the second quarter for a commanding 21-0 lead.

But Siegel (3-9) bounced back. Rodney Murray finished off a 78-yard drive with a 10-yard touchdown run.

​Reach Tom Kreager at 615-278-5168 and on Twitter @Kreager.