A sunny, but cold Davenport Field greeted Macon County and Melrose Saturday as the Tigers and Golden Wildcats lined up to do battle for the Tennessee 4A football championship inside Chattanooga's Finley Stadium.
The Tigers, after a slow start, put together a strong second half to capture the title by a score of 45-14 over the Wildcats.
Macon County finished the season with a 13-2 record while Melrose (Memphis) ended the year at 10-4.
The Tigers, in their first Blue Cross Bowl appearance, have participated in 24 postseason football games beginning in 1969 as a 2A team. They reached the semifinals in 2003 in Class 3A. Macon County is now 12-19 in postseason play.
The Golden Wildcats were semifinalists in in 2003 in 4A and have appeared in the postseason 87 times with a record of 56-32.
A sloppy first quarter by both teams saw numerous penalty flags cover the ground before Macon County finally settled down in the second quarter to run up a 17-0 lead over the Tigers at halftime.
The Wildcats were flagged five times in the first half for 30 yards and committed four fumbles, losing two, while the Tigers turned the ball over once on a fumble.
A 66 yard drive set up the first Macon County score as senior Tiger quarterback Gabe Borders took advantage of a fallen Melrose defender to connect with Luke Gammon for a 32 yard touchdown with 9:16 left in the half. Eli Gammon finished the drive with the point after to put the Tigers up 7-0.
Following a Melrose fumble, TD No. 2 for Macon County came on a 2-yard plunge to the end zone by senior Braylon Flowers. With 6:17 on the clock.
Gammon stepped in to make it a 17-0 game with a 35-yard field goal with four ticks left on the halftime clock.
Borders racked up 90 first half yards on 14 carries for Macon County while Zach Borders had six touches for 61 yards.
The Golden Tigers broke up the shutout on their first possession of the second half as senior quarterback Jamarion Morrow engineered a quick 49 yard march. Morrow and fellow senior Rhyan Brown did the job for the 'Cats with Brown's spectacular run covering the final 25 yards. Morrow split the uprights to cut the Macon County lead to 17-7.
Macon County answered right back on its next touch taking just five plays, aided by a 15 yard Melrose penalty, to push the score to 24-7 courtesy of a 20 yard Borders TD run.
Melrose continued the scoring spree with a quick six play drive capped off with 25 yard TD run by Brown to make it a 24-14 game.
Macon County kept the barrage going on its next touch with a five play strike. Zach Borders covered the final yard to help push the Tigers' lead to 31-14.
After taking over on downs on the Wildcat's next possession, it took just one play for the Tigers to seal the championship as Borders streaked to the end zone from 47 yards out with 7:54 left in the game.
Borders scampered to paydirt one final time for good measure with 2:49 left to play to make the final score 45-14.
Zach and Gabe Borders carried the load for the Tigers with Zach crossing the end zone four times while piling up 249 yards on 25 carries. Gabe Borders racked up a total of 117 yards on 18 touches.
Brown's two TDs for Melrose came after an afternoon that saw the Golden Wildcat's running back book 94 yards on 14 carries. Teammate Morrow notched 64 yards on 12 touches.
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MACON COUNTY
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0
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17
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7
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21
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--45
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MELROSE
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0
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0
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14
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0
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-- 14
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SCORING SUMMARY:
Second Quarter
MC 09:17 Luke Gammon 32 pass from Gabe Borders (Eli Gammon kick) 0-7
MC 06:17 Braylon Flowers 2 run (Eli Gammon kick) 0-14
MC 00:04 Eli Gammon 35 field goal 0-17
Third Quarter
M 09:09 Rhyan Brown 25 run (Michael Serino kick) 7-17
MC 05:44 Zach Borders 100 run (Eli Gammon kick) 7-24
M 03:07 Rhyan Brown 20 run (Michael Serino kick) 14-24
Fourth Quarter
MC 09:42 Zach Borders 1 run (Eli Gammon kick) 14-31
MC 07:54 Zach Borders 47 run (Eli Gammon kick) 14-38
MC 02:49 Zach Borders 5 run (Eli Gammon kick) 14-45
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TEAM STATS
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Macon Co.
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Melrose
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First Downs
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19
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11
|
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Rushes-Yards
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48-370
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29-134
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Passing Yards
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32
|
78
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Total yards
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402
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212
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Passing (Comp-Att-Int)
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1-4-0
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8-15-0
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Penalties-Yards
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1-0
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9-77
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Punts-Average
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2-36.5
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3-30.3
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Fumbles-Lost
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1-1
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4-2
|
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Third Down Conversions
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3-7
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3-9
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Time of Possession
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25:12
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22:48
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Individual Stats
Rushing: Zach Borders 25-249; Gabe Borders 18-117; Braylon Flowers 2-3; Luke Gammon 3-1 (MC); Rhyan Brown 14-91; Jamarion Morrow 12-42, Jaden Jones 1-13; TEAM 1-(-3); Tavarco Jackson 1-(-9) (M).
Passing: Luke Gammon 0 of 3; Gabe Borders 1 of 1 for 32 yards and 1 touchdown (MC); Jamarion Morrow 8 of 14 for 78 yards; Tavarco Jackson 0 of 1.
Receiving Luke Gammon 1-32 (MC); Jaden Jones 4-10; Rhyan Brown 2-7; Tavarco Jackson 1-41; Jarlando Stowes 1-20 (M).
Most Valuable Player: Zach Borders (Macon County).
Records: Macon County 13-2; Melrose 11-4..
(Contact Richard Roberts at richardvol55@yahoo.com)