By Thomas Sellers Jr.
A quick search on CoachT.com or MaxPreps.com, two teams hail from Millington, Tenn — the Millington Central High School Trojans and Tipton-Rosemark Academy Rebels.
Until Friday night the two institutions have never played on the gridiron. By 7 p.m., that fact was no longer true when Trojan Eli Roberts booted the ball into the air toward Head Coach Shannon O’Brien’s Rebels.
Quickly both teams established a hard-hitting tempo with the public school Millington Trojans prevailing over their private-school rivals 36-0. The unpredictable 2020 season concludes for the Rebels with a 2-7 record.
Meanwhile the 3-7 Trojans will host a Class 4A playoff game next Friday at Mooney Boswell Field on the campus of MCHS.
“I didn’t know in August if we would ever see October 30th, much less who would be playing on Oct. 30,” Millington Head Coach Chris Michael said. “This has certainly been a year of uncertainty, twists and turns. It’s been quite an experience this year for sure.
“We got 10 games in,” he continued. “I don’t know how but we did. A credit to them because they’ve been like us. They’ve had their struggles throughout the year. They didn’t have a game this week and we didn’t have a game this week. I’m sure their kids are like any other high school kids and wanted to get out here one more week and I’m sure their seniors wanted to get our here and compete one more time. So we really appreciate them allowing us to come over here and play a 10th game.”
Millington’s 10th game of the 2020 season began with a 4-yard touchdown run from senior Devin Knight. Known for his defense, Knight got a couple of carries at full back on the night with that first score making the tally 7-0.
The Trojans held a 14-0 advantage at halftime after a Milton Yarbrough 71-yard interception return for a touchdown. The defensive back jumped the route and snatched the ball out of the air and raced toward the end zone for the TD.
Millington’s lead grew to 21-0 when senior athlete Reggie Caldwell took a handoff from McCoy Pugh and broke loose through the Rebel defense for a 60-yard TD.
TRA kept the game competitive throughout the night with big plays on offense from players like Aidan Sprenkle, Tucker James, Jalen Hurt and Payne Fullen. Defensively the Rebels got some big hits from players like Fullen, Evan Coats and Heath Harrald.
“They got out there and got after us from start to finish,” Michael said. “In the interior line they pushed us around a lot. They did a lot of good things. We were able to make some plays throughout the game to keep momentum kind of dashed on their side and keep momentum for us going from time to time.
“I appreciate Coach O’Brien for having us and they have a great facility over here,” he continued. “They’ve got some good football players over there and I wish them the best of luck in the future. I know they’re building some good things over here.”
Millington kept building toward the postseason Friday night with 15 points in the fourth quarter. Jonathan Temple-Dowdy raced to the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown to make the score 28-0. Moments later the final touchdown of the night came courtesy of Garrett Haley 37-yard score. Perry Harrold added a two-point conversion to close out the scoring.
“We’ve played young people all year long really,” Michael noted. “We had a bunch of ninth graders throughout on offense and on the defensive side. Some of those guys played more snaps than others. But some of them got some significant doses from starting in the backfield in multiple positions.
“It’s going to be good for them in the long run,” he added. “They’re young guys out there carrying the ball the wrong way, not hitting the hole hard enough and bouncing outside like a typical young player. But in all it was a good experience for them.”
Michael is hoping that experience will kick in starting Friday night when the Trojans of Dyersburg come to town to start the Class 4A playoffs. Michael said keys to victory for his Trojans will be to continue to get better executing offensively and handle the cold weather by not being loose with the football. And also limit turnovers against Dyersburg.
“Both Ripley and Dyersburg are going to be way bigger than us and more players on their side of the field,” Michael concluded. “It’s going to be a challenge. We have to do is work hard to make sure we can execute our game plan the best we can and give ourselves a chance to possess the ball and give ourselves a chance.”
