By Thomas Sellers Jr.
MEMPHIS — First the Tipton-Rosemark Academy Rebels arrived on the campus of Harding Academy.
Then lightning and rain made their presence felt throughout the Memphis area including the home of the Lions. Next to appear was game time of 7 p.m. But the rules say at least a 30 minute delay must occur at a football game after lightning has been spotted by officials.
Needing his players to be focused on beating Harding Academy, TRA Head Coach William Dean knew it was time to trust his seniors Tyler Byrd, Payne Fullen, Thomas Patton, Gibson Phillips, Jonathan Stewart, Gavin West and Ben West Aiden.
“I give them all the credit,” Dean acknowledged. “They keep each other focused and they keep each other grounded. I think we got a great group of leaders, a great group of seniors. They feed off each other.
“Whenever we hit that delay, they didn’t hang their heads,” he added. “They stayed the course and kept telling each other, ‘Hey get off your feet. Our time is going to come.’ The biggest thing was staying loose. Not pressing and having fun. They weren’t nervous. They were loose having fun and when they took the field it carried over.”
TRA and Harding finally kicked off slightly before 8 p.m. After a sluggish offensive start, the Rebels got things rolling leading to a 34-0 win over the Lions.
“In the first half, offensively it wasn’t very pretty,” Dean said. “Defense kept us in it, coming up with stops. They kept coming up with stops.”
It was the TRA special teams strike first. Forced to punt, the Lions booted the ball toward Rebel athlete Tyler Byrd. One of the biggest sins on punt returns is fielding a ball off the ground with the opposition breathing down your neck.
With total calmness, Byrd picked up the ball about 73 yards away from the end zone with a pride of Lions around him. After retrieving the rock, Byrd jetted toward his own sideline and then exploded upfield for the touchdown to make the score 7-0 with 4 minutes and 57 seconds left in the first quarter.
“Tyler makes a huge play on special teams,” Dean said. “I’m literally the whole time, ‘What are you doing? What are you doing? OK, OK, good play.’”
Both teams traded possessions without scoring until Rebel quarterback Payne Fullen hit receiver and cousin Ellis Fullen with a pass along the sideline. Fullen escaped a tackle and lounged to the goal line for the 35-yard TD. The first half clock expired on the play and TRA led 14-0 at the break.
“I told the kids at halftime, ‘Stay the course, keep pressing,’” Dean recalled. “’Something good will happen.’ In the second half we made a couple of plays happen and gained momentum. The defense was a huge part when our offense was sputtering. Defense held their ground and gave us an opportunity to stay in the football game. We took advantage of it.”
The hard-hitting Rebel defense led by Phillips, Patton, Robert Teems and Jay Brown on the first line forced multiple fumbles in the second half. Harding Academy even had an interception when Rebel Sam Cannon picked off a pass.
Harding Academy’s first fumble of the third quarter transformed into a Payne Fullen short touchdown run to make the score 20-0.
The next Lions cough-up gave the Rebels a short field. Once again Fullen used a quarterback keeper to reach paydirt. The 1-yard TD run made the score 27-0 with 4:41 left in the period.
Fullen scored the final touchdown of the night also running the ball. But this time his TD run was in the fourth quarter and came from 52 yards away.
TRA (4-4, 2-3 Division II-A West) kept their playoff hopes alive. Win next week in the showdown with the FACS Crusaders, TRA will be in a good spot to travel across state in the postseason. Dean said his team has to take it one game at time and do the basics of keeping their heads up, pressing forward, understanding the moment and executing.
“We have the guys to do it and continue with it to make a playoff run,” he concluded. “We’ve just got to execute. The biggest thing for us is to understand we can do it and it can happen.”
