Nashville-area high school football semifinals roundup: East Nashville gets rematch in final
Friday night saw 12 Tennessee high school football state semifinal games, including several teams from the Nashville area competing for a shot to advance to next week's Blue Cross Bowl in Chattanooga.
Class 3A: East Nashville 41, Covington 15
Trequan Waters ran 24 times for 123 yards and three touchdowns as East Nashville rolled past Covington in the 3A semifinals. Quarterback Zacc Beard was 9-for-16 for 166 yards and two touchdowns while wideout Frank Gordon had five receptions for 99 yards and a TD.
"Early in the season, we rode the wave of winning behind Trequan and then the past few weeks we've thrown the ball a lot better," East Nashville coach Jamaal Stewart said. "But I told Trequan before this game, 'Hey, this is your night'. And he played like it."
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULETSSAA state championship schedule 2022: Blue Cross Bowl
SEMIFINAL SCORESTSSAA football scores for 2022 playoffs: Tennessee high school semifinals
TOP PERFORMERSNashville area high school football semifinal top performers
East Nashville (12-2) returns to the 3A title game and will get a rematch with Alcoa (13-1) at 11 a.m. next Friday at Finley Stadium. Alcoa ran away from the Eagles, 45-14, in last year's championship game.
"The biggest thing we have to focus on is us," Stewart said. "We made too many mistakes in special teams last year against Alcoa and we spent a lot of time this season, coaching that up. We know it won't be easy next week but I think we have a better feel for how this should go."
Class 1A: Clay County 40, Coalfield 33
The Bulldogs survived two second-half fumbles and a Coalfield rally to knock off the Yellow Jackets in the 1A semifinals as Clay County advanced to the program's first state championship game.
Clay County imposed its will with running backs Joseph Marcom and Alec Kerr. Marcom had 20 carries for 190 yards and three touchdowns, while Kerr added seven carries for 150 yards and two TDs.
Clay County held a 40-14 lead before losing its first two fumbles of the season. But the Bulldogs stopped Coalfield on a fourth-down play with over a minute left and ran out the clock.
"It's a great feeling when your hard work pays off," Clay County coach Bruce Lamb said. "The maturity level of our nine seniors is unbelievable. When our backs were up against it late in this game, they pulled this team through. They just weren't going to let us lose."
Clay County (13-1) will face McKenzie (14-0) at 3 p.m. next Friday in Chattanooga.
"We talked, from the first day I got here, when I took this job, about playing 15 games and we've made it to Game 15," Lamb said. "These seniors have 48 minutes left and we want to finish what we started."
Class 2A: Tyner Academy 33, York Institute 0
Joshua Jackson was 10-for-14 for 206 yards and three touchdowns as Tyner Academy throttled York Institute in the 2A semifinals.
Tyner outgained York, 270-39 on the night, allowing just seven yards through the air. Rams receiver Jarius Cameron had four receptions for 106 yards and two touchdowns, and Tyner returned a fumble 20 yards for a first-quarter touchdown.
This is the first state championship appearance for Tyner since 2017. The Rams (13-1) will face Riverside (12-2) at 3 p.m. next Saturday at Finley Stadium.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TSSAA football playoffs: Nashville-area winners in 1A, 3A
