Late game heroics by the Big Red of Montgomery Bell Academy fends off McCallie, 23-20, in a Friday night thriller between the two Tennessee football giants, that saw the Blue Tornado's 19 game win streak snapped.
It was a rematch of last year’s division II-AAA championship, where McCallie bested MBA 28-7. They are district foes. A ton of hate is between them, and a ton of history separated the schools.
MBA, the top-ranked Tennessee Division II school, found themselves staring 58 yards down the field, down by four with 3:32 left in the game.
Heading into the drive, the Big Red was held to only three points in the second half as the Blue Tornado rallied from a 13-0 deficit, taking a 20-16 lead earlier in the fourth quarter.
“It was all or nothing, all or nothing,” said MBA running back Johnothan Moore before breaking the huddle. With one timeout remaining, the Big Red faced not only the momentum of the Blue Tornado, but also the clock.
Nearly four-quarters of hard-fought, gritty, battles all came down to the final possession. Opening the drive, quarterback Marcel Reed connected with wide receiver Claiborne Richards for a 16-yard pass.
First down, MBA.
MBA’s Johnothan Moore barreled down the field off a counter, and as he was dragged down by multiple McCallie defenders a penalty marker rained down from the sideline. A facemask penalty on McCallie, pushing Big Red into Blue Tornado territory.
Another first down.
Inside of the 40-yard line, MBA’s Reed took the inside zone option and scampered for 15 yards. First down inside the red zone as time dwindled under two minutes. The weight of the game was on the backs of each player on the field.
Receiving the play call from the sideline, MBA’s Reed entered the huddle to bark out the play call. Lining up next to him was his running back, Moore, who pummeled the Blue Tornado defense throughout the night with his hard running.
Instead of taking the ball from his quarterback, Moore sprinted out and towards the center of the field. He was running a safety-valve type of route. The check down. As Reed scanned the field for his open receiver, there was nothing down field.
With the McCallie blitz barring down, Reed zipped the ball to his open check down. There, Moore sprinted faster than he could. He had pay dirt in his vision. Moore broke through the center of the field for 20 yards, evading the defensive backs that attempted to crash down on him, and strolled into the end zone.
“We all came together for one play. It was what we worked all summer for, and we came together at that moment,” said Moore about the play.
He was right, as the center of the field was split open like the Red Sea.
The score gave Big Red the lead with a minute left, 23-20. McCallie was able to move the ball all throughout the second half. They had one more opportunity to replicate their previous drives. With all three timeouts remaining, the Blue Tornado began to pace down the field with quick passes.
Blue Tornado quarterback Jay St. Hilaire lead his wide receivers toward the sideline, ensuring they could reach out-of-bounds to stop the clock, and moved McCallie to midfield in 20 seconds. The Blue Tornado bleachers, sideline, and huddle stood unwavering to the test at hand.
That is until McCallie called for a deep pass, down the left sideline, where the pass went through the hands of an MBA defensive back. A narrow escape for the Blue Tornado, but the nerves set in quickly. Dialing up another deep pass, the quarterback heaved the ball towards the endzone. A sprinting McCallie wideout was reaching out for the ball, but a Big Red defensive back outpaced the wideout.
The defensive back, Caiden Maddux, swept underneath the ball, intercepting it, and returned it to the opposite sideline where he would be embraced by a host of teammates. The interception sealed the hard-fought win for Big Red, with a party of maroon and white students taking the field in celebration.
The win keeps MBA perfect, sitting at 3-0, and avenges their championship loss from a season ago. Now, MBA faces the challenge of staying atop division II-AAA, undisputed, beginning next week against Nashville opponent CPA (2-1).
For McCallie, the loss is a first since the 2020 season. The Blue Tornado will look to get back on track against the West Broward Bobcats (1-0) before a visit against district opponent Knoxville Catholic (2-1).
As of now, the division II-AAA East/Middle district belongs to MBA and Baylor who both are undefeated at 3-0. McCallie and Knoxville Catholic both sit at 0-1 in district play.
Game Summary
MBA 7 6 0 10 — 23
MCCALLIE 0 0 14 6 --- 20
MBA – Marcel Reed runs for 9 yards (Liam Hackett kick) (0:49, 1st)
MBA – Johnothan Moore runs for 1 yard. (PAT failed) (1:00, 2nd)
MC – Jay St. Hilaire runs for 43 yards (Elliott Arnold kick) (10:02, 3rd)
MC - Tario Price runs for 10 yards (Arnold kick) (1:22, 3rd)
MBA – Liam Hackett 43-yard field goal (6:57, 4th)
MC – Jay St. Hilaire pass complete to Enrique Jaimes Leclair for 80 yards. (2-pt attempt failed) (6:43, 4th)
MBA – Marcel Reed pass complete to Johnothan Moore for 20 yards. (Hackett kick) (1:02, 4th)
MBA STATS MC
17 First Downs 14
32-163 Rushes/Yards 28-137
148 Passing Yards 206
311 Total Yards 343
8-25-1 Passing (Att-Comp-Int) 15-26-1
9-110 Penalties/Yards 4-35
5-39.8 Punts-Avg. 6-27.5
0-0 Fumbles-Lost 1-1
Individual Stats
Rushing: Marcel Reed 16-107-1 touchdown, Johnothan Moore 16-56-1 touchdown (MBA); Jay St. Hilaire 15-89-1 touchdown, Tario Price 9-27-1 touchdown (MC).
Passing: 8-25-1 148 yards, 1 touchdown (MBA); William Riddle 15-206-1, 1 touchdown (MC).
Receiving: Claiborne Richards 3-38, Jack Spellman 1-31, Blake Ragsdale 1-27, Johnothan Moore 1-20 1 touchdown, Hutton Durrett 1-18, Ty Burd 1-14 (MBA); Enrique Jaimes Leclair 1-80 1 touchdown, Mathieu Herbert 6-68, Andrei Delinois 4-44 (MC).
Records: MBA (3-0, 1-0 DII-AAA East/Middle); McCallie (2-1, 0-1 DII-AAA East/Middle).