The Alcoa Tornadoes took on the Milan Bulldogs in the TSSAA Division I Class 3A state championship on Overall Field at Tucker Stadium in Cookeville, Tennessee, on Friday, Dec. 4, 2020. (Photo by Danny Parker)
COOKEVILLE — Alcoa’s Gary Rankin could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
After a season fraught with myriad challenges — even for a hall of fame coach — Alcoa wound up back where it was expected to be Friday: clutching a gold football in the center of the field at Tennessee Tech’s Tucker Stadium.
The Tornadoes (14-1) won their sixth consecutive state title with a decisive 35-0 drubbing of Milan (11-2) in the Class 3A BlueCross Bowl Championship at Tennessee Tech.
Save for an early season 14-9 loss to Maryville, the Tornadoes made their annual run to the state title look easy, but it wasn’t.
Still, Alcoa met great expectations once again.
“We’ve been through a lot, more so than ever,” said Rankin, who is the state’s all-time winningest coach with 453 victories.
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The title was his 12th at Alcoa since taking over the program in 2006. He also won four state titles at Riverdale.
Alcoa has now won a TSSAA-record 19 state championships in football — two more than rival Maryville.
But Rankin said the road to another state title wasn’t as hiccup free as in years past.
There were COVID-related issues with players and coaches.
Rankin had some uncharacteristic discipline problems to deal with during the course of the season.
Star do-it-all senior Isiah Cox suffered a season-ending injury in the regular season finale against Dobyns-Bennett.
Cox dressed out against Milan, but didn’t play.
“We’ve had our share of adversity through the year,” said Rankin.
“We’ve had some serious injuries. I was really worried when we lost him (Cox).”
Then, there was the quarterback situation. By season’s end, Alcoa had used four different players as the starting quarterback.
Standout senior defensive lineman Grey Carroll said the Tornadoes hurdled all obstacles placed in front of them because of the Alcoa Way.
“I’d say it is a big relief, but I have this to say about pressure,” said Carroll.
“We are so prepared by our coaches and we work so hard, there was no pressure.”
5STAR PHOTOS: Alcoa 35, Milan 0 (Class 3A BlueCross Bowl Championship)
Buckles earns MVP
The wait was worth it for Alcoa junior quarterback Caden Buckles.
Buckles, who had to sit out the Tornadoes’ first 12 games after transferring from Catholic, was named game MVP.
He completed 19 of 24 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns. His scoring strikes went for 41 yards to Taharin Sudderth in the second quarter and 19 yards to Brayden Anderson in the third quarter.
Buckles, who got his first start of the season against Gatlinburg-Pittman in the quarterfinals, added 62 yards rushing on 13 carries.
“The wait and everything was worth it,” said Buckles. “It was just awesome to be out here with the guys.”
Coming into the game, Buckles said he thought it was key for the Tornadoes to take charge early.
“When we went out in the tunnel we saw we were going to be on offense first,” said Buckles. “I looked at our offensive line and said ‘we’ve got to dominate from the first play,’ and that’s what they did.”
Alcoa’s offensive line embraced Buckles’ challenge.
The Tornadoes opened the game with a 10-play, 78-yard scoring drive.
Ahmauud Sankey (22 carries, 78 yards) scored on a 2-yard run to make it 6-0 Tornadoes with 6:41 to play in the first quarter.
After a three-and-out by Milan, Alcoa answered with a six-play, 55-yard scoring march.
The big play was a 38-yard pass from Buckles to Anderson (seven catches, 138 yards) to the Bulldogs’ 1.
“He (Anderson) is Mr. Reliable,” said Buckles “When I throw it up there, 90 percent of the time he’s going to go up and get it.”
Sankey barrelled into the end zone on the next play to make it 13-0 with 2:27 remaining in the first quarter.
Alcoa made it three touchdowns in three possessions when Buckles hooked up with Sudderth on a post pattern score to open the second quarter.
Buckles and Anderson combined on a third-quarter touchdown pass and Camden Burden closed out the scoring with a 31-yard run in the fourth quarter.
“Buckles, to do what he did in just his third game, was outstanding,” offered Rankin. “For 12 weeks he was ineligible. What he did for us even when he wasn’t on the field told me what kind of kid he was.”
With Buckles at the helm, Alcoa generated 466 yards in total offense against the Bulldogs.
No. 8
Alcoa’s highly touted defense did what it does best — smother the opposition.
The Tornadoes recorded their eighth shutout of the season, ending the season with opponents scoring 4.1 points per game.
Burden had seven tackles, three TFLs and two sacks to lead Alcoa defensively.
Milan managed just four first downs and 85 total yards.
The Bulldogs picked up their initial first down with 2 minutes and 40 seconds to play in the first half.
Alcoa forced three turnovers.
“Our defense did a great job keeping them out of the end zone,” said Buckles.