Dobyns-Bennett, Maryville Set For State Quarterfinal Showdown
by STEVE WILMOTH
TriCitiesSports.com
November 21, 2019
The state’s two winningest high school football programs and two of the nation’s Top 30 will meet in a Class 6A quarterfinal contest when Maryville visits Dobyns-Bennett Friday night at J. Fred Johnson Stadium.
The winner will host Oakland or Blackman in the state semifinals next week. For Dobyns-Bennett (10-2) it would mean advancement to the final four for the first time since 2002 while Maryville would notch a semifinal appearance for a 20th consecutive year.
“The last time Maryville didn’t make the semifinals, their seniors weren’t even born,” said Dobyns-Bennett coach Joey Christian. “That really says something about their prowess and the sustainability of their program.”
The home quarterfinal contest is the Dobyns-Bennett’s first since facing Oak Ridge in 2003 and the first in recently expanded J. Fred Johnson Stadium.
“It’s going to be a great night,” added Christian. “It’s a great night for the community to come together and rally for these kids and rally around these kids. Sometimes in playoff football, people find different reasons not to come to the game. We need everybody to find a reason to be there. Don’t find a reason not to be there, find a reason to be there. I’m going to dress out 90 reasons for you to be there.”
The Tribe held the distinction as the state’s winningest team for years, but Maryville surpassed the Indians with a 45-10 third-round playoff victory over Bradley Central on November 17, 2017.
Earlier this season, the Rebels became the first program in the state of Tennessee with 800 wins thanks to a 49-14 win at Cleveland in week three. Maryville is currently tied for 23rd nationally with Lawton, Oklahoma with 809 all-time wins, just one behind Arkansas’ Central Little Rock and Pine Bluff High Schools.
Meanwhile, Dobyns-Bennett is up to 796 wins, good for a tie for 30th all-time with Nashville High School, another school out of Arkansas.
While the Indians lay claim to six state championships in the pre-TSSAA state playoff years, Maryville has 16 state championships, all since the playoffs were implemented in 1969.
“It really is wild,” said third-year Maryville head coach Derek Hunt. “It’s just a testament to this program and the people who invest in this program. It’s just a team effort and you have to enjoy it while you can.”
Since opening the 2000 season 0-4, the Rebels have won 278 of 290 games with a dozen state titles and four runner-up finishes.
“I addressed the elephant in the room Friday after our game against Bearden,” noted Christian. “Maryville is a great team. They have great individuals and great coaches. They do a fantastic job. But so do we. We have great coaches, we have a great history and we have great players.”
The teams have met in the playoffs three times previously, with the Rebels taking all three rather handily. The closest was a 41-20 Maryville quarterfinal victory in 2012 over the Malik Foreman and Devaun Swafford-led Indians.
Christian says this year’s Maryville squad is better than any of those three.
“It’s a daunting task and it always has been,” Christian said. “Honestly, it’s the best Maryville team we’ve faced since I’ve been at Dobyns-Bennett.
“But they’ve not faced a team that will play as a team like us. That’s just a fact. We play team football. They don’t see people run to the football like our kids do. They haven’t seen people play with a passion like our kids do.”
Maryville has won twelve straight since its humiliating 38-0 semifinal defeat last year at Oakland. The Rebels have shutout Science Hill and Farragut by identical 42-0 counts in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
Dobyns-Bennett won its first eight games of the season and sported a ten-game winning streak until losing to Science Hill in week ten and then dropping a hard-fought 21-6 game at Alcoa, a team Maryville beat 17-3 in week four.
“The week eleven game against Alcoa no doubt prepared us for the first two weeks of the playoffs and now against Maryville,” noted Christian. “There’s no question we were sharper coming out of that game against Alcoa.”
MARYVILLE OFFENSE vs DOBYNS-BENNETT DEFENSE
Maryville Offense | Dobyns-Bennett Defense | |
Scoring | 499 (41.6) | 111 (9.3) |
First Downs | 228 (19.0) | 134 (11.2) |
Rushing Yards | 2842 (236.8) | 560 (46.7) |
Passing | 139-206-7 | 139-255-3 |
Passing Yards | 2282 (190.2) | 1665 138.8) |
Total Yards | 5124 (427.0) | 2225 (185.4) |
Third-Downs | 48-of-89 | 41-of-130 |
Fourth Downs | 13-of-21 | 5-of-24 |
Red Zone Chances | 42-of-45 |
Since the transition from the legendary George Quarles to former Rebel quarterback Derek Hunt as head coach, the most significant changes for Maryville have come offensively.
Gone is the Quarles’ preferred two-back, twenty formation and in is a vastly expanded playbook.
“That’s where they have changed,” explained Christian. “Under Quarles, they might make it through the season and run four different formations. They are not as much twenty formation now. That was their bank with Quarles.
“They will do that some now with their two guys, but they really like their skill position personnel and now the playbook has exploded for them formation-wise.”
The Rebel offense is led by senior Cade Chambers, a Mr. Football semifinalist and an Indian State commit. Chambers is a former safety who moved under center after a multiple shoulder dislocations led to a pair of shoulder surgeries.
“I really liked hitting people,” Chambers said. “The coaches will still get mad at me because every once in a while I’ll run into somebody and they’ll tell me, ‘Just go down.’”
That’s because Chambers no longer shares the position as he did a year ago. Last season, Chambers split time with Braden Carnes, who is now the starter at Greenback.
Taking over as the full-time starter, the 6-4, 200-pound Chambers has thrown for 1,753 yards and 27 touchdowns while completing 67.3% (105-of-156) of his passes for an offense that is averaging 42 points and 427 yards per game. He’s also run for 309 yards and four more touchdowns.
“Chambers does a good job of finding the right guy and getting the ball out to them quickly,” said Christian. “He’ll run it but so much by design. He’ll scramble out of trouble and pick up a few yards and get out of bounds. The biggest thing he does is use his feet to avoid negative plays. That will be a challenge for us because we will need a few of those.”
University of Tennessee commit Tee Hodge, a bruising 6-2, 225-pound senior, has rushed for 635 yards and 11 touchdowns this year, but missed the Alcoa game two others early in the season with a turf toe injury that also limited him at times during the second half of the campaign.
But in Maryville’s two playoff wins, Hodge has rushed 19 times for 171 yards and five scores.
“I think Tee has knocked that rust off from the injury,” said Hunt. “I’m really proud of him. He’s been such a great teammate the entire season.”
With Hodge out, 5-10, 200-pound junior Parker McGill has piled up 1,146 yards on the ground and scored ten touchdowns.
“Like a typical Maryville player, he (McGill) waited his turn,” added Hunt. “He took advantage of his opportunity when Tee was out.”
Hunt says the two are subtle different runners and compliment the other very well.
“For McGill, he’s got a just a little wiggle,” explained hunt. “It causes defenders to just get an arm on him and he’ll run through an arm. Tee will run through anything.”
The Rebels go with Louisville commit Ashton Maples (6-4, 185) at one wide receiver. The senior’s older brother, Tyler, is a former Tennessee Volunteer.
Senior A.J. Davis (5-11, 195) starts at the slot. Davis has landed Power-5 offers from Purdue, Indiana and Mississippi State and a slew of group of five offers.
Davis leads the Rebels with 43 receptions for 685 yards while Maples has 27 catches for 607 yards. Both have ten receiving touchdowns. Additionally, h-back/tight end Brody Sloan (6-1, 210) has 24 grabs for 343 yards and five scores while senior Tanner Shiver (5-10, 165) has six receptions for 170 yards and four touchdowns.
“The guy that makes their whole offense go is Sloan,” noted Christian. “He sets everything by lining-up out wide, he’ll line up as an h-back as a true tight end and they’ll even stick him in the backfield some.”
Up front the Rebels start five seniors and a sophomore. Senior Mason Hobby (6-4, 190) is an undersized left tackle while senior Fisher Coalson (6-3, 210) gets the nod at right tackle.
“Hobby is my favorite person on their team,” smiled Christian. “He plays extremely hard, he’s their typical Maryville guy, gives you 1000% every play and plays with tremendous pad level. The game means everything to him.”
Inside the Rebels are big with senior Tommy Ledford (6-6, 300) at left guard, senior Seth Hair (6-1, 285) at center and sophomore Trevor Abdella (6-0, 275) at right guard.
“That’s a typical Maryville thing,” continued Christian. “In the core, those two guards and center are bigger guys and they will flat out knock you off the football. They will get after you. They don’t want to block you, they want to embarrass you off the football.”
In two playoff games, the Rebel first-team offense has played twelve possessions and scored eleven touchdowns. The only non-scoring drive ended with a fumble. Turnovers have been the only thing that’s slowed the Rebels. They have committed multiple turnovers in six games this season and 21 overall on the season.
“The later you get into the playoffs, the more important it becomes to take care of the ball,” noted Hunt. “It will be a priority like it is every week and we’ll have to make sure we do a good job of protecting it.”
While the Maryville offense averages 237 yards per game on the ground, the Tribe defense has allowed just 560 yards rushing all season and less than two yards per carry.
Linebackers Braxton Kulbacki and Nate Whitley are tied for the team lead with 90 tackles. The senior Kulbacki also has 14 tackles for loss including six quarterback sacs and six quarterback hurries while the junior Whitley also has 14 takedowns behind the line that includes four sacks of the quarterback. Senior strong slide linebacker Josh Romero had his best day of the year last week with nine tackles against Bearden.
Up front, Tribe defensive ends Jet Harris and Jackson Martin have been disruptive all season. Both have recorded 74 tackles on the season with Martin a team-best 21 tackles for loss and nine quarterback sacks. Harris has 16 tackles for loss and seven sacks. The duo have combined for 16 quarterback hurries.
The defensive line rotation includes senior Ricky Wagner and Jesse Greer and junior Fonzo Booker. Booker and Greer have 36 tackles and Wagner 35. Together the threesome have 15 tackles for loss, ten hurries and nine sacks.
The defensive backfield for the Tribe goes with senior Cam Williamson at one corner and junior Trent Cody at the other. Juniors Isaac Ratliff and Thomas Church are the safeties.
DOBYNS-BENNETT OFFENSE vs MARYVILLE DEFENSE
Dobyns-Bennett Offense | Maryville Defense | |
Scoring | 394 (32.8) | 95 (7.9) |
First Downs | 240 (20.0) | 108 (9.0) |
Rushing Yards | 2182 (181.8) | 725 (60.4) |
Passing | 127-209-1 | 118-244-15 |
Passing Yards | 1829 (152.4) | 1209 (100.8) |
Total Yards | 4011 (334.3) | 1934 (161.2) |
Third-Downs | 56-of-113 | 26-of-112 |
Fourth Downs | 5-of-13 | 8-of-26 |
Red Zone Chances | 11-of-16 |
Of Maryville’s 95 points allowed this season, only 20 have come against the Rebel defense with the outcome of the game still undecided.
An Alcoa field goal gave the Tornado a 3-0 lead on September 12 in a game Maryville won by two touchdowns. A Farragut touchdown a week later tied that game a 7-7 and ten Admiral points sliced a 21-7 Maryville lead to 21-17 in a game that the Rebels eventually pulled out to a 35-17 advantage before winning 35-24.
Additionally, two of Fulton’s three touchdowns on October 4 came via defensive scores on returned fumbles long after Maryville had quickly assumed a 35-0 lead.
“All those other points were cheapo touchdowns when they had the second-string band in,” said Christian. “Their defense doesn’t get the accolades like their offense, but I’ve watched them shut down a very good Alcoa offense and everybody else they’ve played.”
Maryville has coughed up just 21 points at any juncture the past six weeks with four shutouts. The Rebels haven’t surrendered a playoff point yet.
Science Hill mustered just 52 yards total offense, including minus-six on the ground in the first round while Farragut finished with 205 total yards in round two. Both teams were intercepted twice by the Rebels.
“Science Hill and Farragut just ran into a buzz saw defensively,” added Christian. “They had turnovers and three-and-outs. They went from trying to gain yards to just trying to gain inches.”
All of the Rebel defensive work comes out of a 4-3 base that varies little.
“They are not going to blitz a whole lot, although they’ll twist up front some,” Christian explained. “They are pretty much base and you just have to beat them.”
The Indians and offensive coordinator Chris Thacker have used motions and formations to their advantage all season, but will be tasked to create match-ups in the Tribe’s favor against Maryville.
“They are going to line up with a 4-2 box and most of the time it’s hard to formation linebackers out,” continued Christian. “They want to leave two ‘backers in the corridor. They just say that we are good enough to stop your run that way and we are good enough to re-route your receivers and stick on your receivers. Then they create a good enough pass rush to make it happen.”
The front four may not pass the eye test and would seem to be undersized going against the Indian offensive line. Senior defensive tackles are Colton Peek (6-2, 210) and Ethan Ensley (6-1, 210) with junior Lou Burchfield (6-1, 185) at right defensive end and sophomore Zach Braden (6-0, 220) at left defensive end. Ensley has 26 tackles for loss and 7½ sacks on the season while Burchfield has recorded 15 takedowns behind the line of scrimmage to go with six sacks.
“Their front four may not be very big or not have elite size, but they get off the ball and just don’t stay blocked,” advised Christian.
The linebackers are outstanding with seniors Matthew Brooks at strongside, Seth Orren in the middle and Coastal Carolina commit Mason Shelton (6-3, 225) at the Will. Shelton has registered 100 tackles on the season, tops on the team, and 13 tackles for loss. Orren has ten tackles behind the line
“Brooks at the Sam does a great job in pass defense and will also fold in on the run and he’ll knock your eyes crossed,” said Christian. “Orren makes a lot of plays at the MIKE.”
Christian adds the Rebels are very good on the back end with senior corners Will Myers (5-11, 185) and Jackson Jett (5-10, 165), senior safety Drew Crowder (6-2, 160) and sophomore safety D.J. Burks (6-1, 180). Burks has three interceptions on the season while Crowder has two and Myers one.
The Tribe offense was one of four to dent the scoreboard against Alcoa’s defense, but also one of nine not to find the Tornado end zone. Still the Indians were able to garner 106 yards rushing and moved the chains 14 times.
“First downs will be very key,” noted Christian. “Alcoa’s defensive line was so good and overwhelmed us at times. Maryville when you look at their d-line, you think 6-1, 210, you should be able to block him, that’s easier said than done.”
Junior Indian running back Phillip Armitage and Tyler Tesnear were productive against Alcoa and need the same kind of output against the Rebels.
Armitage is up to 874 yards rushing and nine touchdowns while Tesnear has compiled 789 yards and ten scores.
Quarterback Zane Whitson’s touchdown-to-interception ratio of 25:1 is among tops in the state, if not the best. The junior has completed 126-of-207 passes for 1828 yards.
His top targets have been senior Dalton Harkleroad (25 rec., 362 yds., 5 TD), junior Hayden Sherer (20 rec., 277 yds.), junior Nacir Sensabaugh (19 rec., 306 yds., 4 TD) and Armitage (17 rec., 193 yds., 4 TD).
Senior tight end/h-back Ben McCluskey (11 rec., 157 yds., 2 TD) and senior Cam Williams (10 rec., 118 yds.) and Tesnear (8 rec., 151 yds., 2TD) are reliable options as well.
Up front, the Indians have overcome season-ending injuries to three offensive linemen. The group of senior left tackle Kyler Banks, junior left guard Aidan Neale, junior center Caleb Burleson, senior right guard Seth Hale and junior right tackle Blake Collier now have six starts together.
“They have developed a lot of chemistry up there now,” said Christian. “We said before the year we felt comfortable with eight, nine, ten guys up there and we’ve needed all of them.”
Neale recorded what could be a school-record 12 pancake blocks against Bearden last week.”
“That’s a stat that we started keeping not too long ago,” added Christian. “It’s impossible to know for sure, but it’s the most for a single game that I can remember since we started keeping it.”
Even with its reserves in the line-up frequently, the Maryville defense coughed up scoring plays greater than ten yards only twice all year. Christian knows splash plays will be hard to come by.
“We are going to have to execute on every play,” Christian said. “We can’t have negative plays, we can’t have pre-snap penalties, anything that gets us behind the chains. Third-and-long will not be our friend.”
SPECIAL TEAMS/INTANGIBLES
Maryville | Dobyns-Bennett | |
Turnover Ratio | +1 | +8 |
Fumbles-Lost | 23-17 | 12-6 |
Punting-Avg | 8-22.3 | 29-35.1 |
Punt Returns-Avg | 9-112 (9.3) | 29-196 (6.8) |
KO Returns-Av | 11-300 (27.3) | 20-518 (25.9) |
Penalty-Yards | 48-550 | 95-880 |
PAT | 66-of-69 | 51-of-51 |
Field Goals | 3-of-5, 35 | 9-of-11, 42 |
Maryville has punted just eight times all season and just for an average of just 22.3 yards per boot. Dobyns-Bennett’s Jaden Alderson has averaged 35.1 yards on 29 punts with eight inside the twenty-yard line.
Maryville has returned two kickoffs for touchdowns this season while D-B’s Harkleroad had taken a pair to the house themselves.
Red Rebel place-kicker Corbin Price is 65-of-67 on extra point attempts and 3-of-5 on field goals with a long of 35 yards. Alderson is a perfect 51-of-51 on PAT’s and has been good on 9-of-11 field goal attempts with a long of 42 yards. Alderson also has produced touchbacks on 46-of-67 kickoffs and the Indian coverage team has allowed less than 17 yards per attempts on 22 returns.
“We have a chance to make something happen on special teams,” acknowledged Christian. “If we can just make them punt, that will be a good thing. If we can get in a punting war with them, we are going to win.”
THE FINAL WORD
Dobyns-Bennett coach Joey Christian … “Football is the ultimate team sport. That’s what makes football the most watched sport out there because a team can beat a bunch of individuals. And we are a team. Have been all year and always will be. We have a bunch of great kids and they are going to play together.”
SERIES NOTES … It’s just the eighth meeting in the series that dates back to 1944 … Dobyns-Bennett won the first two, but Maryville has rolled off five consecutive wins since the first playoff meeting in 2009 … The Rebels are 3-0 in playoff games against the Tribe, all at home (41-0, 1st round, 2009; 41-20, quarterfinals, 2012; 42-14, 2nd round, 2016) … The teams were part of the Big East Conference as part of the TSSAA Class 6A ‘Super 32’ in 2015 and 2016 … The Rebels won both regular season contests, 49-10 in Maryville in 2015 and 56-34 in Kingsport in 2016 …
PLAYOFF NOTES
Maryville
Appearances: 40
Overall Record: 125-23
State Championships (16): Class AA – 1970, 1976, 1978; Class 4A – 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007; Class 6A – 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2017
State Runner-Ups (6): 1979, 1997, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2015
Dobyns-Bennett
Appearances: 36
Overall Record: 33-35
State Championships (TSSAA Recognized): 1945, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1960
COACHES NOTES … Derek Hunt took over for Quarles prior to the 2017 season and is 38-3 in his third year at the Rebel helm … Hunt quarterbacked the Rebels to two state titles in the midst of their historical 74-game winning streak between 2004 and 2008 … Joey Christian is 14-8 in his second year at Dobyns-Bennett
MARYVILLE HISTORY … This is the 1064th game in Maryville football history with the Rebels holding an 809-221-34 overall record.
DOBYNS-BENNETT HISTORY … This is the 1076th game in Dobyns-Bennett football history with the Tribe sporting a 796-251-28 overall record.