Marshall County's Kamron Liggett wins running back dual over Spring Hill's Dontae Smith

LEWISBURG — It wasn't as though Marshall County’s Kamron Liggett went looking for motivation prior to Friday’s pivotal Region 4-4A matchup against Spring Hill.

He didn’t have to, though. That extra bit of incentive found him.

“Yeah (Dontae Smith) is always talked about in the paper, but I’m 4-0 against him,” Liggett said after Friday's 34-27 region championship win over the Raiders. “So, I feel like I’m winning.”

In addition to the two's head-to-head record, Liggett, a three-year starter for the Tigers (6-2, 4-0), also finished with the upper hand in the highly-anticipated battle of top Nashville-area backs which featured a combined 502 yards on the ground.

 “We knew in the first half when we were getting four and five yards per run that (the running game) was going to be key,” said Liggett, who finished with 189 yard on 29 carries. “They’ve got a lot of players that go both ways, and they were getting tired — tired of facing that downhill running.”

And Liggett, coming off a 250-yard, five-touchdown effort in last week’s win over Giles County, only got stronger as the game went on.

After churning out 55 yards on 12 first-half carries, the bruising 5-foot-11, 210 pound ball carrier went right back to work, running six times for 50 yards, including a 10-yard touchdown on the Tigers’ opening possession of the second half.

“He’s a special player — a real bell cow back — and he wants the ball every time,” Marshall County coach Thomas Osteen said. “I bet he broke over 50 tackles tonight. I’m thrilled he’s on our team and he’s just a terrific high school football player.”

Liggett, who later added a pair of five-yard touchdown runs, eclipsed the 1,000-yard for the second straight season Friday as he's now rushed for 1,134 yards and 23 touchdowns in eight games. He’s tallied 3,429 yards and 63 rushing scores for his career.

Smith, a Georgia Tech commitment who’s well on his way to a second straight 2,000-yard campaign, finished with 173 yards on 18 carries, and the 5-foot-10, 170-pound senior tallied three of Spring Hill’s four touchdowns.

It was a pretty solid night for the three-star prospect, especially considering the uncertainty heading in.

“Coming off a bye week and facing a really tough team, you don’t know what’s going to happen,” Smith said. “And I didn’t practice at all this week (because of an ankle injury) so this was my first running in two weeks.”

Smith provided the game’s opening touchdown with a nine-yard run and later ripped off a 61-yard score to spot the Raiders a 14-7 advantage with 8:40 left in the second quarter.

“We had a lot to play for, fighting for first place, and I think everybody came out and played hard,” Smith said. “We played the best we could, and that’s all I can ask for.”  

Reach Michael Murphy at mfmurphy@tennessean.com, 615-259-8026 and on Twitter @Murph_TNsports.