South Pittsburg's Jamarion Farrior scores one of his two touchdowns Friday night in the Pirates state championship win over McKenzie.
photo by Greg Davick
There’s an old saying about how nobody remembers how you started, but everyone remembers how you finished.
That pretty much sums up the situation for the South Pittsburg Pirates and their improbable 14-7 comeback victory over the McKenzie Rebels at Finley Stadium late Friday afternoon in the second day of the BlueCross Bowl.
These two teams, who last played in the championship game two years ago with South Pittsburg winning then too, had a real defensive struggle in the first half as the two teams combined for eight punts and just 167 total yards.
And despite losing three fumbles in the third quarter alone and falling behind for the first time all season, the Pirates somehow and someway found a way to win.
South Pittsburg coach Wes Stone was all but speechless after this one finally ended with his team on top, marking the seventh time that the Pirates have claimed a state football title for Class A.
“I just can’t describe the emotions I’m feeling right now as that was the first time we’ve been behind all season,” he said during a television interview following the trophy presentation.
“Our starting quarterback Kamden Wellington suffered a high ankle sprain in last week’s game and then suffered a broken thumb early in the third quarter today, so we became a one-dimensional team after that.
“We took a timeout when that happened and I just told our kids to keep playing. That’s what they did and I give our defense the credit for us winning this football game.
“We finally found a way to get the job done and I couldn’t be any more proud as we just refused to lose,” Stone added.
McKenzie coach Wade Comer was somewhat downtrodden when it ended, snapping a 12-game his team had built since losing to Dresden in the second game of the season.
They lost that first one by a lopsided 42-14 final before making up for it with a 25-14 victory in the state semis last Friday. The Rebels obviously have a great football team, but they just ran into a bunch of Pirates who were just a little bit better on this given day.
“I couldn’t be any more proud of my guys as we totally laid it on the line. South Pittsburg has a great team and they caused a lot of problems for us today, especially on defense,” he said while standing outside his team’s dressing room later.
“That was a classic battle between two good teams and a perfect game for a state final. We forced them into some mistakes, but weren’t able to take advantage. And we just didn’t do enough offensively. We had our chances, but just couldn’t make a play when it counted,” the coach added.
The Rebels did take advantage of the second of South Pittsburg’s lost fumbles when quarterback Tate Surber hooked up with Jake Cassidy on an 18-yard TD pass with 5:46 left in the third stanza.
The Pirates finally recovered a McKenzie fumble when Racash Kelly covered a dropped ball at the Rebel 29.
Taking eight plays to cover that 29 yards, Jamarion Farrior took matters into his own hands as he scored the first touchdown on a run from the 3 with 11:01 left in the game. Alex Phillips then knotted the score with his extra-point kick.
Then on McKenzie’s next possession, the Rebels were in punt formation on fourth and 2 from their own 45. They tried a fake punt and senior Martavious Collins made the biggest tackle of his high school to stop Stafford Roditis a yard short.
Then with Farrior carrying on every play, the Pirates moved those 46 yards in seven plays to score the go-ahead TD with 5:31 to play on a keeper from the 9.
McKenzie had one final chance after a South Pittsburg punt rolled dead at the 5 with 1:35 left.
Surber threw three straight incompletions before his fourth was intercepted by Cavin Gilley with 1:10 left.
McKenzie was out of timeouts by this point, so all the Pirates had to do was snap the ball twice and take a knee before the final horn sounded.
Farrior ended the game with 160 yards rushing on 29 carries while also making seven tackles. He was an obvious choice for MVP honors.
A.J. Wallace was South Pittsburg’s leading receiver with one catch that covered 39 yards in the first half.
The Pirate defense was indeed on fire as they limited the Rebels to 90 total yards after allowing just 52 in the first half. The Rebels had 40 yards on the ground and just 50 through the air as Surber completed just six of 19 throws.
|
MCKENZIE
|
0
|
0
|
7
|
0
|
-- 7
|
|
SOUTH PITTSBURG
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
14
|
-- 14
|
SCORING SUMMARY
M Jake Cassidy 18 pass from Tate Surber (Stafford Roditis kick) (5:46, 3rd) 7-0
SP Jamarion Farrior 3 run (Alex Phillips kick) (11:01, 4th) 7-7
SP Farrior 9 run (Phillips kick) (5:31, 4th) 7-14
|
STATS
|
M
|
SP
|
|
First Downs
|
4
|
11
|
|
Rushes-Yards
|
17-40
|
48-208
|
|
Passing Yards
|
50
|
62
|
|
Total yards
|
90
|
270
|
|
Passing (Comp-Att-Int)
|
6-19-1
|
5-12-0
|
|
Penalties-Yards
|
4-30
|
11-69
|
|
Fumbles-Lost
|
4-1
|
3-3
|
|
Punts-Average
|
7-36.9
|
4-35.0
|
|
Time of Possession
|
15:52
|
32:08
|
INDIVIDUAL STATS
McKenzie Rushing: Brady Brewer 10-53; Drew Chappell 1-1; TEAM 1-(-2); Tate Surber 5-(-12).
South Pittsburg Rushing: Jamarion Farrior 29-160, 2 TDs; Kamden Wellington 8-33; JaMychal Buckner 8-23; Racash Kelly 1-3; TEAM 2-(-11).
McKenzie Passing: Tate Surber 6-19-1 for 50 yards, 1 TD.
South Pittsburg Passing: .Kamden Wellington 5-12-0 for 62 yards.
McKenzie Receiving:: Brady Brewer 2-4; Jake Cassidy 1-18, 1 TD; Cole Brown 1-11; Colt Norden 1-10; Stafford Roditis 1-7.
South Pittsburg Receiving: Racash Kelly 3-24; AJ Wallace 1-39; Jamarion Farrior 1-(-1).
Records: McKenzie 13-2; South Pittsburg 15-0
Most Valuable Player: Jamarion Farrior, South Pittsburg.
Notable: South Pittsburg wins its seventh state championship, second in three years.
(Contact John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)