The Greenback Cherokees fell 38-23 to the Lake County Falcons in the TSSAA Class 1A state championship at Tucker Stadium in Cookeville, Tennessee, on Friday, Dec. 6, 2019. (Photo by Danny Parker)
By DAVE LINK
COOKEVILLE – It was a tearful exit from Tennessee Tech’s Tucker Stadium on Friday afternoon for the Greenback Cherokees.
Lake County senior quarterback Tanner Snyder accounted for five touchdowns during a 38-23 victory over Greenback in the 2019 Class A BlueCross Bowl.
The Falcons (15-0) won their first state championship since 1985 and their third in school history.
“It feels great. This community loves us,” Snyder said. “They’ve been with us since sixth grade and we’ve worked for this since sixth grade.”
Greenback (12-3) was seeking its second state title in three years. The Cherokees won state in 2017 and lost in the semifinals last year.
They played much of the second half without Class A Mr. Football winner Holden Willis, who hurt his ankle in the third quarter and didn’t return. The 6-foot-4, 200-pound senior starts at wide receiver and free safety.
“To watch that one, it was tough,” Willis said. “Credit to the team. I can’t pick out one number of the 11 on the field that hung their heads. Every one of them kept going. We kept playing and kept fighting, but it just didn’t come out in our favor.”
Snyder (6-3, 235) rushed for 138 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries. He completed 12 of 22 passes for 266 yards with two touchdowns with two interceptions.
Snyder also returned an interception for Lake County’s last touchdown.
“We knew we would have to stop (Snyder),” Willis said. “He’s a big runner. He never gets tackled going backwards. He’s always going forward. We knew we would have to try to stop that. We did for the most part, but the few times we didn’t, he was just pounding it down our throats getting 10 to 12 yards every run.”
Lake County senior Izaiah Matheny had seven catches for 175 yards and two touchdowns.
Greenback senior quarterback Braden Carnes completed 8 of 26 passes for 157 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions. He was under a heavy pass rush almost the entire game and was sacked once.
“They were just bringing guys from everywhere,” said Carnes, who transferred to Greenback from Maryville for his senior season. “I’ll put this game on me 100 percent. We basically gave it to them, and for that to be the way my senior season ends, it’s tough.”
Greenback coach Greg Ryan took the blame for his team’s lack of pass protection.
“I’m not pointing fingers at any of the guys,” Ryan said. “I should have done something, whether that’s roll the quarterback out, throw more screens, change protections, whatever the case may be to help them out. It’s my fault that the protection leaks.”
Greenback bounced back from a shaky start and tied the game at halftime, 8-8.
Carnes threw incompletions on his first three passes – and his third was dropped by an open Willis, who beat two defenders down the field.
“That’s not on Holden,” Carnes said. “I’ve got to put it out there in front of him more. We left so many plays out on the field that we could have made. It’s just the way it works sometimes.”
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Lake County started at the 50 and used six plays to reach Greenback’s 1, but was backed up to the 17 after an offsides penalty and a bad-snap fumble for a 9-yard loss.
On third-and-goal at the 17, Snyder threw a touchdown pass to Matheny.
Snyder ran for the two-point conversion and 8-0 lead with 5 minutes, 18 seconds left in the half.
Greenback was stopped on downs on its next two possessions.
The Cherokees then stopped Lake County on a fourth-and-1 at their 18 when Snyder was stuffed for no gain with 5:35 left in the half.
Carnes threw a 9-yard completion to Duke Stinnett on first down, and on second down threw a 48-yard downfield completion to Stinnett for first down at Lake County’s 25.
One play later, Carnes ran 17 yards to the Falcons’ 1.
Willis scored on a 1-yard run, and Carnes threw the two-point conversion to Alexander Belcher. It was 8-8 with 3:19 left in the half.
Lake County’s next drive ended when Snyder’s fourth-down pass was intercepted by Blake Fields.
Greenback ran two plays and the half ended.
Lake County senior Larry Tubbs, who had 1,954 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns entering Friday’s game, had 71 yards on 10 carries against Greenback but was hurt during a kickoff return late in the half and didn’t return.
The Falcons scored on the opening drive of the third quarter, moving 80 yards on nine plays.
Matheny caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from Snyder. Cayden Puckett’s conversion run off a direct snap gave Lake County a 16-8 lead with 6:32 left in the third.
Greenback answered quickly.
Willis returned the kickoff to Lake County’s 43-yard line.
On first down, Willis caught a backward pass from Carnes and threw to wide-open Wyatt Rutgerson for a 43-yard touchdown.
Rutgerson’s conversion run tied it 16-16 with 6:13 left in the third.
Lake County scored on its next possession with Snyder bulling through the line for a 3-yard touchdown run. Snyder’s 68-yard pass to Matheny set up the score.
Puckett again took the direct snap, but was stopped for a 2-yard loss. The Falcons led 22-16 with just over 4 minutes left in the third.
Willis was hurt on the conversion attempt while trying to make a tackle.
“As soon as it happened, I just thought it was a little sting,” Willis said. “I got up and started to go to the sideline. In my mind, I wanted to stay in the kickoff.”
Ryan said there was no doubt about Willis’ status.
“He wanted to go, I’m sure, but there’s no doubt he couldn’t play,” Ryan said.
The shootout continued with Greenback scoring on its next drive.
Carnes’ 40-yard pass to Stinnett set up Rutgerson’s 5-yard touchdown run.
Lucas Holmes had the PAT kick for a 23-22 Greenback lead with 2:30 left in the third.
Lake County’s Malachi Taylor returned the kickoff for a touchdown, but it was called back for a holding penalty.
Late in the third, Greenback eighth-grader Brennen Duggan intercepted a Snyder pass at the 9 that went off the hands of a Lake County receiver.
The Cherokees didn’t convert. Two plays later, Carnes’ pass was intercepted by Puckett.
Lake County started at its 8 and moved down the field on nine plays.
Snyder scored on a 4-yard run, and Puckett ran for the conversion and a 30-23 lead with 7:28 left in the game.
Snyder’s 31-yard pass to Matheny was the big play of the drive.
“We had a feeling it may get like that,” Carnes said of the high-scoring second half. “They’re a good team. Credit to them. I wish we didn’t go out this way. It did turn into a little shootout there, and unfortunately we came out on the wrong end.”
On Greenback’s next play, Carnes was pressured and threw a short pass that was intercepted by Snyder, who returned it 33 yards for a touchdown.
“Basically what we ran was a bubble slant, and right as I was releasing the ball, I got hit on my blindside,” Carnes said. “It just came out funny and went right to him.”
Snyder’s conversion run gave Lake County a 38-23 lead with 7:10 to play.
Greenback’s next drive stalled on downs at Lake County’s 30-yard line.
Lake County took over and ran out the clock.
Ryan liked his team’s resiliency.
“The character of these boys has been next to none all season long,” Ryan said. “We were battle-tested in the first game of the season (a loss to Loudon). We were battle tested in the second game of the season (a loss to Meigs County).
“We had to be resilient last week (a 27-26 win over South Pittsburg) cause we were down going into the fourth quarter, so that didn’t surprise me at all. It’s a bunch of great character kids, and nothing shocks me. I knew they’d play to the last whistle and that’s what they did.”