TSSAA football championship: USJ gives up 18 unanswered points, falls to Davidson Academy

COOKEVILLE — Fighting back the tears, University School of Jackson senior Wesley Carlock summed up the Bruins' loss to Davidson Academy quickly, "penalties and missed assignments."

The Bruins lost to Davidson Academy 31-21 in the Division II-A state championship at Tucker Stadium on Thursday. This is the Bears' second straight state championship.

"Penalties, penalties, penalties," Carlock said. "We had people missing assignments, too many missed assignments."

USJ (10-4) is 0-6 in the state championship with runner-up finishes in 1993, '98, 2000, '09, '11 and '19.

USJ was penalized nine times for 90 yards, and eight of those penalties came in the second half.

The penalties created long-distance downs for a Bruin offense that was already struggling to move the ball in the second half.

The Bruins were held to 97 yards of offense in the second half.

"The did pass extremely effectively in the first half, and we knew that they were going to try and attack us that way," Davidson Academy coach Jonathan Quinn said. "They were able to get some of our guys out of position. We challenged our guys at half to not let (Cody Smith) sit back there throw and get back to playing our style of football, which is physical ball and good execution."

USJ had 270 yards of total offense with the connection of Smith and Carlock connecting for 156 yards passing.

"They were running two high safeties, so we had the wheel-post look," Carlock said. "They started doubling me in the second half."

Davidson Academy (11-2) didn't have trouble moving the ball, and that is where the missed assignments came into play.

Davidson Academy's Griffin Swinea was the game's MVP after rushing for 285 yards and four touchdowns. He had two rushes for over 60 yards.

"They kept running this one play where they would stack everyone on the back field on the same side, and we didn't have enough people," USJ linebacker Carter Craig said. "We didn't make adjustments, and they kept running it until we stopped them."

The Bears scored 18 unanswered points in the second half, and the touchdown drives included three third-down conversions and a fourth-down conversion.

"Personal opinion, we were the better team," Carlock said. "We had such good athletes, great heart, just too many mistakes."

Download the app: Get high school sports news from The Jackson Sun on your mobile device

Want to stay informed on the latest high school sports news? A Jackson Sun subscription gets you unlimited access to the best inside information and updates on local preps sports, and the ability to tap into sports news from throughout the USA TODAY Network's 109 local sites.

Reach Michael Odom at michodom@jacksonsun.com or 731-425-9754. Follow him on Twitter @JSWriterMichael.