TSSAA football championship: Ravenwood can't keep up with 17-time champion Maryville in 6A

Tom Kreager
The Tennessean

COOKEVILLE — Ravenwood needed to play near perfection to top powerhouse Maryville.

The Raptors didn't on Saturday.

Maryville forced three turnovers and defeated Ravenwood 42-21 in the TSSAA Class 6A BlueCross Bowl at Tennessee Tech's Tucker Stadium. It marks the second state championship in three years for third-year Maryville coach Derek Hunt.

Maryville now has 17 total state titles, second most to state-leader Alcoa, which won its 18th championship on Friday.

It put an end to a disappointing weekend for Nashville area teams, which went 1-6 in the championships and were outscored 195-86. Davidson Academy was the lone state champion (DII-A).

Maryville's win snapped the Raptors' nine-game win streak.

"It was a great, long season," said Ravenwood quarterback Brian Garcia, who was 12-of-25 passing for 170 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. He also ran for a touchdown. "I thought we did well up until (Saturday). I just don't think we executed well offensively, special teams and defense.

"Credit to (Maryville), though. They are a very good football team. It was a great year for us, we just couldn't finish on top."

Maryville (15-0) jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first seven minutes after Tennessee commitment Tee Hodge and Cade Chambers scored on a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs. Hodge finished with 112 yards and two TDs on 17 carries. 

Chambers, the game's MVP, was 13-of-18 passing for 172 yards and two TDs. He also ran for 76 yards and two scores.

Ravenwood (13-2) trimmed it to 14-7 on Andrew Mason's 28-yard TD catch from  Garcia.

But Maryville was just getting warmed up. Ashton Maples reeled in an 11-yard TD catch in the corner of the end zone to start a run of 28 unanswered points to go up 42-7 with 2:50 left in the third quarter and start a running clock on the Raptors.

"We didn't want to be in a position where we had to match scores with them, that's what it was," Ravenwood coach Matt Daniels said. "We were just pretty uncharacteristic; it wasn't Raptor football (Saturday).

"We got rattled early and weren't able to come back from it."

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Ravenwood's championship game appearance came four years after the Raptors beat Maryville in the 2015 Class 6A title game. A year ago, the Raptors fell to Whitehaven in the state semifinals.

"It was an amazing experience, just making it to where we wanted to be," said Mason, a Rice commitment. "We made a goal at the beginning of the season to make it to state. We accomplished that.

"We couldn't get the win."

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