TSSAA football championship: MBA finishes DII-AAA runner-up, losing 28-7 to McCallie

COOKEVILLE — MBA wasn't supposed to be here, playing on the turf at Tennessee Tech's Tucker Stadium.

Not this year — graduation losses were too high.

That might make a 28-7 loss to McCallie on Thursday night in the Division II-AAA  BlueCross Bowl feel a little better in the near future.

"It's not the outcome we wanted in this game," MBA coach Marty Euverard said. "The way we started 1-3, we could have mailed it in. Our guys came together. A lot of things changed in the locker room.

"We had a great season."

The Division II-AAA runner-up is the program's sixth in school history and fourth since 2015. The Big Red (8-5) also have 10 state titles.

McCallie's state title was the second in school history and first since 2001.

The Blue Tornado forced one turnover, a Thomas Byrd interception he returned 32 yards for a touchdown and held MBA to 240 total yards.

"It just didn't work out today," said MBA's Marcel Reed, the first freshman starting quarterback in school history. "I had no place to go and try to make a play."

Reed was inserted as the starter during the season and helped turn the Big Red season around, winning seven of eight games before the championship game loss.

He finished an efficient 11-of-17 passing for 179 yards with an 81-yard touchdown pass to Jack McKennon to tie the game at 7-7 with 3:23 left in the first half.

Then McCallie (11-2) buckled down defensively. The Blue Tornado finished the game with nine sacks. Aaron Crowder led McCallie with 2.5 sacks. Auburn commitment Jay Hardy had two sacks along with James Howard and Adam Smith.

DOWNLOAD THE APP:Get high school sports news from the Tennessean on your mobile device

BlueCross Bowl:How to watch, stream all nine Tennessee high school football state championship games

"At the end of the day it was a good team we played," said MBA tight end Zak Herbstreit, who had four catches for 60 yards. "We had to do the fundamentals, and we didn't do it."

Hardy finished with three total tackles. His cousin DeAngelo Hardy, who was the Division II-AAA championship game MVP, had 103 rushing yards with two touchdowns. He also was 5-of-7 passing for 59 yards.

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

Reach Tom Kreager at 615-259-8089 or tkreager@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Kreager

MOBILE USERS:  Click here if you cannot see the live blog below