Maryville football seniors linger on field after quarterfinal win over Farragut in final home game

The game had ended and the stands had cleared, but six Maryville seniors couldn’t muster the courage to leave the field yet, so they sat on the giant red M at midfield for the last time.

Behind them was the banner they had raised in 2017 when they won the 6A state football championship. In front of them was the scoreboard that reflected what they accomplished Friday night: They had beaten Farragut in the quarterfinals 26-10.

Maryville (12-1) will play at Oakland in the semifinals next Friday.

That meant that for these five seniors, their win against Farragut (11-2) was the last time they will play at Maryville’s stadium. So, before they went home, Spencer Shore, Mike Jones, Bryson Teffeteller, DaVon Kimble, Garrett Everett and Jack Cone sat in a circle and faced a hard reality.

“Dang,” Shore said. “Y’all we are never playing here again. The lights will never be on this field while we’re in uniform.”

And they all acknowledged that reality. Jones then lay down right on the 50-yard line. In the third quarter of his final game, he intercepted a pass — his first interception of the season. He was facing Kimble, who had also intercepted a pass, but in the second quarter.

“We had to be ultra-focused,” Kimble said. “We knew this was a big-play team.”

Farragut had scored 49 points in its first two playoff games. The Admirals had averaged 35 points this season and could score in bunches.

But Farragut couldn’t take care of the football. And the Admirals couldn’t put it in the end zone until there was a minute left after the game had already been decided. Maryville put the ball in the end zone twice, and two of the touchdowns had come from seniors, Kimble and Teffeteller.

“What are you guys still doing here?” a teammate walking to his car asked them.

“Just some guys being goons after their last game here,” Shore said.

Then at 10 p.m, the cold finally got to them, so they all got up and started walking toward the end zone, the same one where Teffetteller and Kimble scored their last touchdowns at home. They walked through the end zone, and toward a gate. But first, they all stopped and looked down to the turf. They bent down and plucked a piece of it.  

Then they went through the gate and walked off the field.