Whitehaven football rallies with 33 second-half points in 6A semifinal win over Ravenwood

Whitehaven used an enormous second-half comeback to defeat Ravenwood 43-24 in the Class 6A football semifinals on Friday and advance to its second state title game in the last three years.

The Tigers trailed 24-10 at the half and scored 33 unanswered points in the second half. 

"We decided to get out of our own way in the second half, that's pretty much it," said Whitehaven coach Rodney Saulsberry. "I told the guys at halftime, it's not what we're doing it's how we're doing it. We were not executing." 

Whitehaven will play Oakland for the 6A state championship on Thursday at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville. It is a rematch of the 2016 state title game, which Whitehaven won 12-9. 

Whitehaven defensive back Vincent Guy was ejected on a targeting call in the first half. Linebacker Bryson Eason said that was the turning point of the game

"We had to wake up then. When they put him out the game we were like, 'We gotta play this game for Vincent,"' said Eason. "Because I know he wanted to be out there so bad." 

Ravenwood jumped out to a 17-0 lead behind touchdowns from Will Baine and Anthony Holmes and a field goal from Luke Akers. 

Mamadou Anne kicked a field goal and Cameron Sneed scored his first of three touchdowns to bring the score to 17-10. Then Ravenwood scored a minute before halftime to stretch the lead to 24-10. 

Whitehaven showed total dominance in the second half. Sneed scored two more touchdowns on the ground, and Keveon Mullins hauled in two touchdown passes. 

"I was just telling coach, '*Put the ball in my hands,'" said Mullins. "He trusted me and I did it." 

Ravenwood coach Matt Daniels said that his team fought hard but ran out of gas at the end. 

"We're an undersized team going up against a bunch of SEC and Big Ten commits. It was one of those things where our guys laid it all on the line but at the end were physically exhausted, mentally exhausted from the season, and the grind," said Daniels. "We just didn't have enough left in the tank to have a counterpunch."