Maryville football crushes Science Hill, sets up ninth straight TSSAA semifinal vs Oakland

Toyloy Brown III
Knoxville News Sentinel

Maryville football's Jason Manaker “plays with his head on fire.”

With his head on fire? 

That is how coach Derek Hunt described his senior defensive end’s play style Friday night, and make no mistake: it’s for good reason. 

Manaker’s exuberance was on full display in the early juncture of the fourth quarter in Maryville's 38-14 victory over Science Hill in the Class 6A state quarterfinals. Manaker sprinted off the line of scrimmage and knocked down the football with both his hands to block a Hilltoppers punt.

The effort was rewarded with a fortuitous bounce from the oblong ball, and Manaker went on his way to deliver the momentous final blow to help send the Rebels to the state semifinals for the 23rd straight season.

“I’m telling everybody, this is the truth, it wasn’t supposed to happen. But that entire game, they'd been getting chippy and talking,” Manaker said. “Something comes in me sometimes in the games where I just want to go do something and blocked punts is one of those things." 

Maryville (10-3) will travel to play Oakland (12-1) in next week's Class 6A semifinals. The Rebels have played in a semifinal game every year since 1999.

“Silly, that’s what it is,” Hunt said of the streak. “I mean, it's just mind-blowing to think that a team's been in the semifinal for that many times.”

ROUND THREE SCORES:East Tennessee high school football scores from TSSAA playoffs: Quarterfinals

ROUND THREE PLAYOFF PREDICTIONSPredicting every Knoxville-area TSSAA football playoff game, including Maryville-Science Hill

MARYVILLE'S MENTALITY:Maryville football playing with chip on shoulder with rare two-loss regular season

Gage LaDue had 207 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 26 carries for Maryville, and Matthew Clemmer completed 12 of 16 passes for 110 yards and one TD. 

Manaker blocked punt two punts against Science Hill (8-5), the first in the first quarter to set up the first touchdown of the game and the second in the fourth quarter to atone for a Maryville fumble on the goal line.

“What a night by Jason Manaker," Maryville co-defensive coordinator Kenny Cobble said. “He blocks two punts, scores one of them. He’s just one of those guys that’s a high-motor guy, high-energy guy. He helped set the energy for our defense.

“His motor is so strong, and he’s always running. And he's long, and he's aggressive, and honestly, he loves to play. I think as much as anything this year, I've seen him love playing with all these other guys and just enjoying every moment of it.”

Manaker has enjoyed the moment he’s had playing with this team because of the struggles they've had, relative to the program's usual dominance. Maryville lost its most regular season games since 2000 this season, and it fuels Manaker.

“Very much so," Manaker said. "We have a lot of people to prove wrong."

The next challenge is the biggest, as Maryville gets set to face Oakland in the semifinal game for the ninth straight season. Maryville's last win over Oakland, the two-time defending state champion, came in 2019, when the Rebels won the last of their 17 state titles.

Hunt is leaning into the doubt.

Hunt has told his team to ignore the “outside noise," utilizing a quote written in the locker room to keep the Rebels forging ahead.

“They tried to bury us, but they didn’t know we were seeds,” Hunt said. “Dinos Christianopoulos I think is the Greek poet who wrote it. But just proud of our kids, they just continue to fight, and found our way, one week at a time. And here we are back in the semifinals."