TSSAA football championship: Alcoa's Gary Rankin adds to TSSAA record with 15th state title

COOKEVILLE — Alcoa coach Gary Rankin, Tennessee's all-time leader in wins, added to his state record for championships on Friday. Alcoa defeated Pearl-Cohn 27-0 in the Class 3A BlueCross Bowl, which gave Rankin his 15th career state title. 

Rankin now has 439 career wins. He won four state championship at Riverdale. He's won 11 at Alcoa, which has now won five straight titles and has been to the state championship game seven straight years. 

Alcoa (14-1) held opponents to five points a game and posted nine shutouts on the way to state championship. Alcoa now has two more state championships than rival Maryville, which has 16. The Rebels play Ravenwood on Saturday in the Class 6A BlueCross Bowl. 

After four state championships at Riverdale, Rankin was hired at Alcoa in 2006 and won titles in his first five seasons.

In 2011 and 2012, Alcoa lost to CAK in the quarterfinals of the Class 3A playoffs — 38-37 in 2011 and 38-36 in 2012. Those are the only two years Alcoa did not reach the state championship game under Rankin. Alcoa won the state championship again the following year, in 2013. But then lost to CPA in 2014 in the Class 3A state championship game. 

That's the last year Alcoa hasn't won a state championship. Rankin became the first coach in state history to reach 400 career wins with a 52-0 win over Pigeon Forge in 2017. 

If he wins 11 games next season, he would become the fifth current coach in the country to have 450 career wins.