By Thomas Sellers Jr.
MEMPHIS — Exercising faith, Munford Head Coach Slade Calhoun watched the Crump Stadium game clock ticked down to one second remaining in the game Friday night.
With the Region 8-5A championship on the line, Calhoun was prepared to call on his young kicker Braxton Brown to win the game against the Memphis Central Warriors. Facing a 23-yard field goal for the title, Brown took to the field and went through his normal routine. From the hold of Kail Driscoll, Brown booted the kick right through the uprights giving the Cougars the 30-29 victory and the 2021 Region championship.
“Braxton Brown is a tireless worker,” Calhoun noted. “He kicks his leg off in practice. We got a pretty good snap game and hold game. It’s kind of like we’re at a PAT distance and he probably makes like 300 a day. The dude kicks on weekends. He’s like nuts.
“So it came down to we felt like we could make an extra point to win the game,” he added. “We surely didn’t want to kickoff again. We didn’t want to give them another possession. That all factored into it. We had a short discussion there, should we run a play to get the ball in the middle. I was like, ‘Why snap it again?’”
Calhoun’s call and confidence in Brown sealed the championship for Munford and the No. 1 seed heading into the Class 5A playoffs. The Cougars’ championship was in doubt for about 47 minutes and 59 seconds.
The first score of the game was a safety in the favor of Central when a snap went over the Munford punter’s head. The score was 2-0 in favor of the Warriors with 5:02 left in the first quarter.
The first touchdown of the showdown came courtesy of Central standout Jamarious Brooks on a 71-yard run. The Warriors (8-2, 5-1 in Region 8-5A) went ahead 9-0 with 4 minutes and 38 seconds left in the opening period.
Munford (8-2, 6-0 in Region 8-5A) had a quick answer when quarterback Jordan Bell broke a big run to the 9-yard-line. On the next play senior running back Auvic White blasted through the Central defense for a touchdown making the tally 9-7 in the first quarter.
The Cougar defense settled down and started to force the Warriors backwards. With momentum going their way, Munford capitalized with another White TD run. The second score for White was from 8 yards away to make the score 14-9 in favor of the Cougars.
The Warriors rallied for 13 unanswered points to close the first half. Brooks crossed the goal line from 4 yards out to regain the lead. With a minute and 10 seconds remaining in the first half Brooks scored his third touchdown of the game with an 11-yard run making the halftime score 22-14.
“This is what people don’t understand, football games are hard to win,” Calhoun said. “And they last 48 minutes. It’s easy to win 10 minutes. It’s easy to win 24 minutes. We learned our lesson at the start of the year — winning the first 24 minutes doesn’t really mean anything. I told them at our halftime, ‘Don’t give up. It’s 48 minutes. Believe in each other and hang in there until the final bell.’”
The Warriors went ahead 29-14 in the third quarter when Law Wright connected with Isaiah Patton for a 14-yard TD pass. With 18 minutes and 30 seconds left in the game, the Cougars remembered the words of senior leader White to “Keep believing.”
The score remained 29-14 entering the fourth quarter. Munford cut into the deficit at the 7:49 mark of the final quarter when White scored from 3-yard out. The tally was 29-21.
The Cougars drew closer in the final minutes when Bell hit Hunter Gill on a 27-yard pass to the 12 yard line. White did the rest and scored on a touchdown run with 2:36 left on the clock.
Going for the tie, the Cougars were stopped on a two-point conversion try. The score remained 29-27 in favor of the Warriors.
Munford needed an onside kick to have a chance at victory. Brown’s attempt bounced off a couple of Central players and landed in the arms of DJ Vassar giving the Cougars possession.
Munford marched down field to the 6-yard line. Facing third down with one timeout, Calhoun knew Central was out of timeouts and wanted to give Brown a chance to win the game.
“We were thinking we would win the game,” Bell recalled. “I knew our team could do it — 100 percent. We had 100 percent faith in him that he could do it. We have 100 percent faith in this entire team, everybody. Vic preaches to us Jesus loves us and stay disciplined.”
The snapper got the ball to the holder. The line blocked long enough to give Brown time to kick the ball. The execution led to the three points as the final second ticked off the clock. Munford was victorious 30-29.
