Oakland Rolls To Three-peat In Class 6A Championship

Taylor Runs For 175 Yards, Four Scores In 42-6 Win Over Beech

  • Saturday, December 3, 2022
  • Richard Roberts

If 2022 was a rebuilding year for the Oakland Patriots, the rest of the 6A football world had better take notice and prepare.

The Patriots dominated from start to finish in the 6A finale of the Tennessee football championships Saturday night at Finley Stadium with a 42-6 dismantling of Beech to earn their third consecutive 6A title.

"This is our rebuilding year. We lost a lot of good players and we lost a lot of good coaches. We had four of our coaches take other jobs and get promotions. We're happy for them,” Kevin Creasy said amongst the post-game celebration.

The Patriots ended the year 14-1 while the Bucs finished with a 13-2 record.

Oakland took the early lead with a seven play drive for the first touchdown of the game after the opening kick was returned to the Beech 40-yard line by Tamari Hill.

After a 9-yard gain, Patriots quarterback Kade Hewitt handed the ball to senior Eric Taylor four times for 20 yards to the Beech 11. Two plays later, Mason Bell covered the final four yards for the score. Jacob Taylor's PAT made it 7-0 with 7:53 left in the first quarter.

The Patriots continued to feature Taylor on their second scoring drive as the speedy back carried nine times on a drive that started on their own 10-yard line. Taylor highlighted the 90-yard attack with an 11-yard run for the TD that put Oakland up 14-0.

Taylor ended his career as a Patriot with 18 carries for 175 yards and four touchdowns. The performance earned the Oakland senior the game's MVP Award.

The Buccaneers answered on their next possession moving from their own 23 to the Oakland 31 where three plays later they were staring at a fourth-and-11. Bucs quarterback Justyce Law found an open Tyler Nix for 20 yards to the 11-yard line. JP Courtney took the handoff from Law to the 9-yard. From there, Law connected with a wide open Trent Sheely for the score. The PAT was no good and with 28 seconds left in the first half Beech trailed 14-6.

“I knew it would be a tough game and it was back-and-forth there for 2 1/2 quarters. Our defense came up big stopping them deep in our territory and we just took all the momentum after that,” said Creasy.

Darius Johnson led the Bucs' rushing attack with 122 yards yards on 22 touches.

Oakland rushed for 157 yards in the first half while Beech totaled just 50. The Patriots ended the night with 277 yards on the ground thanks to Taylor's superlative performance while Beech finished with 121 behind the effort of Johnson.

The Buccaneers came out after the break determined to make up for lost time and promptly moved 65 yards to the Oakland 6-yard line. The Bucs again found themselves with a fourth-and-3 after a run for no gain. This time the Patriots held Beech to two yards to take over at the 4-yard line.

On the first play from scrimmage Taylor broke through the Beech defense for 83 yards to the Bucs' 17-yard line. Taylor finished the drive with his third TD of the night from 1-yard out to make it a 21-6 game.

The next two Bucs possessions turned into disasters as a bad snap on a punt and a fumble led to Taylor adding two more 3:00 left in the third quarter.

“He got hurt in the spring and had shoulder surgery and missed half of his senior regular season. It was just rough on him as much as he loves football to sit on the sideline,” Creasy said. “He took out all that frustration the last few weeks when he's been playing, especially in the playoffs. He's been unstoppable.”

The Patriots invoked the running clock mercy rule with 21 seconds left in the third when Hewitt connected for 57 yards for the TD on the first play after Oakland recovered a Beech fumble.

Beech made a final push in the fourth as the clock continued to run pushing to the Oakland 6-yard line. But, again the Patriots denied the effort to capture their fourth consecutive championship.

“Everybody was saying this is the year to get Oakland. They lost all their talent and lost a lot of their coaches,” said a smiling Creasy. “I'm proud of our seniors. They refused to lose. I couldn't be happier for them because they have really over achieved.”

SUMMARY

OAKLAND

7

7

28

0

-- 42

BEECH

0

6

0

0

-- 6

OKL

-

Mason Bell 3 run (Jacob Taylor kick) (7:53, 1st)

OKL

-

Eric Taylor 11 run (J Taylor kick) (4:51, 2nd)

BCH

-

Trent Sheely 9 pass from JP Courtney (kick fail) (0:28, 2nd)

OKL

-

E Taylor 1 run (J Taylor kick) (7:27, 3rd)

OKL

-

E Taylor 4 run (J Taylor kick) (4:30, 3rd)

OKL

-

E Taylor 4 run (J Taylor kick) (3:00, 3rd)

OKL

-

Quincy Jackson 57 pass from Kade Hewitt (J Taylor kick) (0:21, 3rd)

YARD STICK

OAKLAND

BEECH

First Downs

15

15

Rushes-Yards

39-277

44-121

Passing Yards

65

78

Total yards

342

199

Passing (Comp-Att-Int)

3-5-1

4-11-0

Penalties-Yards

5-46

3-13

Punts-Average

0-0.0

4-18.0

Fumbles-Lost

0-0

3-1

Time of Possession

18:40

29:20

Individual Stats

RUSHING: Eric Taylor 18-175; Kade Hewitt 8-33; CJ Puckett 3-25; Mason Bell 4-23; Khalil James 5-23 (OKL); Darius Johnson 22-122; JP Courtney 10-45; Justyce Law 4-1; Trent Sheely 1-(-1);): Caden Thieman 4-(-23 (BCH).

Passing: Kade Hewitt 3-5-1 for 65 yards, 1 TD (OKL); Justyce Law 3-9-0 for 69 yards; JP Courtney 1-2-0 for 9 yards, 1 TD (BCH).

Receiving: Quincy Jackson 1-57; Marcus Bullard 1-7; Tamari Hill 1-1 (OKL); Cooper Brown 1-43; Tyler Nix 1-20; Trent Sheely 1-9; Caden Thieman 1-6 (BCH).

Records: Oakland 14-1; Beech 13-2

Most Valuable Player: Eric Taylor, Oakland

(Email Richard Roberts at richardvol55@yahoo.com)

Latest Headlines
Prep Sports
PREP SCHEDULES
  • 4/30/2024

Prep Schedules for Week of: March 25th All times are local to the event (Coaches/ADs: Please send any schedule corrections or addititions to Dennis Norwood, Prep Sports Editor, at ... more

Soddy Daisy Tennis Sweeps Red Bank
  • 3/29/2024

Soddy Daisy High School hosted Red Bank High School at the Middle Valley Recreation Courts on Thursday, 3/28/24. SDHS Girls won 9-0 and the SDHS Boys won 6-3. Girls Singles ... more