Show Of Hands

Tornadoes claim record 10th straight title

By Stefan Cooper
Editor
Blount Press Row

Chattanooga — Eli Owens, Jamir Turner, Jacob Crowe, Rhyin McCourt, all four did their job, wonderfully, we might add, as did Colton Moore and Marlee Watt, who sealed the backside.

Micah Jones isn’t a sophomore anymore. The collision with the Westview safety at the goal line was real grown-man stuff.

The final and, arguably, key piece on Alcoa’s opening touchdown against the Chargers at the Class 3A BlueCross Bowl on Friday at UT-Chattanooga’s Finley Stadium was a guy who doesn’t get talked about much, senior left guard Isaiah Emert.

“I was happy for him,” Alcoa offensive line coach Brian Gossett said. “He’s one of those kids who’s been with us since he was little.”

Emert’s perfectly-timed kick-out block removed the last player between Jones and the aforementioned safety. When Jones got to his feet after the score, the Tornadoes were revved up and leaving, going on to rout Westview, 40-21, to extend the school’s records for multiple state championships to once-unimaginable heights.

The win for Alcoa (13-1) lifted its TSSAA record for state championships to a mind-bending 23 — in 25 championship game appearances.

This year’s gold ball was the 10th consecutive the Tornadoes have brought home to Blount County, another TSSAA record.

Alcoa holds the second spot with a recent run of seven in a row.

Senior quarterback Eli Graf was named BlueCross Bowl Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive season, the Harding University commitment and Tennessee Titans Mr. Football finalist delivering an impressive stat line in the process.

Carrying 21 times for 225 yards and touchdown runs of 2 and 49 yards, the Tornado signal caller championed an Alcoa ground game that rushed for 345 yards and five rushing scores on the afternoon. Jones punched in for scores 7, 5 and 4 yards, tacking on 76 rushing yards to Alcoa’s totals.

Graf went to the air sparingly, completing six of his 10 passes for 39 yards and a 6-yard touchdown toss to Owens.

The 2024 Mr. Football awards will be announced Tuesday during ceremonies at the Titans Nissan Stadium in Nashville.

Statistics for the 3A BlueCross Bowl can be found by clicking here.

If the 345 rushing yards really grabbed you, you’re not alone. Your offensive line is really getting the job done when you put up numbers like that in a title game — any game, for that matter. So we decided early on to give the guys up front their due.

“That group they really gelled and grew as the season went on” Gossett said. “I knew we were going to be OK up front in the second half against Greeneville (in Week 3).”

The blocks from Turner and Owens, a Michigan signee who’ll depart for Ann Arbor later this month, were genuine attention grabbers on the first Jones score. We were sure the Chargers (14-1) would take a timeout when they shifted sides of the formation prior to the snap. We were certain of it. When they didn’t — and the defense didn’t shift along with Owens and Turner — the Tornadoes had a significant firepower advantage on the right side.

When Emert pulled and kicked out the linebacker trying to plug the hole, Jones had a 6-yard running start at the safety.

“Basically, it was a little trap play, with the H-back (Owens) doing the trapping,” Gossett said. “We used to run it with (former Alcoa) coach (Gary) Rankin with a guard and tackle. Anytime we could get Owens to the point of attack (this season), we were going to do it.”

As impressive as the play was, when they ran it a second time for Jones’ second touchdown later in the quarter, it got really wild.

Crowe didn’t just pin the Westview left tackle this time. He full-on pancaked him to the Finley Stadium turf. Owens again smashed his block. Turner didn’t just reach the linebacker; he drove him all the way to the back of the end zone.

When Emert again got there with the kick out, Jones walked in from 5 yards — untouched.

Six passes and 384 yards of total offense.

For O-lines everywhere, Messrs. Owens, Turner, Crowe, Emert, McCourt, Moore and Watt — well done.