The stage was set for a premier football game in Tylertown Friday night, but only one team delivered on that promise.
Luckily for fans of the home team, it was the Tylertown Chiefs who blew past the Seminary Bulldogs 33-0 to secure a Region 8-3A championship in the season finale for both teams.
The Chiefs and the Bulldogs both entered Friday’s action with perfect 4-0 records in district play, setting up the showdown many fans have waited for all season. The win was Tylertown’s fifth in a row, concluding an improbable run to another district title.
“I told them that the path we took to become district champions is almost more satisfying than the state championship we won in ’09 because of the adversity that we fought,” said head coach Jason Johnson of his team’s 5-0 run through the district. “We found our niche and what we can do offensively and defensively with our personnel. We settled into it and we’re comfortable.”
Tylertown rose to the occasion Friday night, playing a physical brand of football that Seminary was unable to match.
The Chiefs’ offense had one thing on its mind: running the ball down Seminary’s throat.
Tylertown attempted only two passes all game, and ran more than 90 percent of its plays with zero wide receivers on the field. In a little more than three quarters of action, star tailback Ja’Mori Mark had carried the ball 35 times (including 27 in the first half) for 260 yards and four touchdowns.
Mark routinely lined up behind two tight ends and two fullbacks as the Chiefs ran right at the Bulldogs, who could not make key stops to get their offense back on the field.
“When we broke down film, we saw a mismatch between their defensive front and our offensive line,” Johnson said. “Sometimes the game plan works, sometimes it doesn’t. It worked tonight.”
It turns out Tylertown’s strong rushing attack was also its best defense. The Chiefs’ controlled time of possession for most of the game, allowing Seminary’s explosive wing-t offense to run just 10 plays in the first half and gain just one first down.
But when it came time to make a stop, the Tylertown defense delivered. The Chiefs’ forced four Bulldogs’ turnovers and defensive end Joe Gesse sacked quarterback Austin Balthazor three times in a dominating performance.
A scary moment occurred midway through the second quarter with Tylertown leading just 7-0. Following a carry by Balthazor down the right sideline, Tylertown defensive end Jermaine “Omar” Carpenter endured an awkward collision on the sideline and was unable to get up.
Johnson said following the game that the training staff expects that Carpenter suffered a broken tibia, but the head coach could not confirm it.
Carpenter laid on the ground in obvious pain for more than 20 minutes before being taken from the field on a stretcher and transported to a local hospital.
Players, cheerleaders, band-members and fans alike all gathered in various circles of prayer in an otherwise silent stadium, but those in attendance were relieved to see the injury was not worse.
“We played harder after that, we played for (Omar),” Mark said.
The Chiefs’ intensity level rose dramatically following the pause in the game. Tylertown turned a 7-0 lead in a slow-paced game into a punishing 33-0 rout, and helped win Carpenter the district title he had helped them get so close to.
“Omar is a very resilient young man, he’s very physically strong and he’ll come back from this,” Johnson said while fighting back tears. “He’s a sophomore. He’ll come back from this and he’ll be good as new.”
Even without Carpenter for most of the game, the Chiefs’ defense was still able to post its second consecutive shutout. For a unit that lost nine starters from a year ago, things have finally begun to click.
“They’re comfortable and they know what they’re doing,” Johnson said. “When you don’t have to think, you know what you’re doing and you just react, you can play some pretty good football.”
The Chiefs now move on to the playoffs where they will host Jefferson County, the No. 4 seed from Region 7-3A.
Johnson said he has told his team that they must approach the postseason one week at a time, explaining that teams who look forward to next week never make it to next week. But Johnson’s Chiefs are hungry, and they have another 3A state title on their minds.
“We came into the season with a lot of doubts and picked it up in district play. Now here we are,” Mark said. “I just want to win. I want to win state.”
