The Alcoa Tornadoes faced the East Nashville Eagles in the TSSAA Class 3A state championship game on Davenport Field at Finley Stadium on Friday, Dec. 2, 2022, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Alcoa won 45-26. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
CHATTANOOGA — The smile Zach Lunsford wore Friday afternoon following Alcoa’s 45-26 championship win spoke volumes.
Sure, joy and and relief of winning state again — for the program’s eighth consecutive time and 21st overall.
But more than anything, Lunsford won his first as the starting quarterback in, this, his senior season.
He patiently waited his turn to take the full-time reins of the offense, powered past some rocky experiences from earlier in his career, and did what so many other Alcoa quarterbacks before him had done to cement their legacies.
And what’s more, he took home a BlueCross MVP trophy for his efforts.
“You can’t write that story any better, right? If you sat here and asked me who I’d want to win MVP? Zach Lunsford,” said Alcoa coach Brian Nix. “That kid sat the bench all his junior year, as good of a quarterback as he is. Never complained. Never talked about transferring.
“If you delay gratification, in the end, it ends up sweeter. He could have gone somewhere last year, thrown for 3,000 yards and probably been an all-state quarterback. But he wouldn’t have been in the championship game. He wouldn’t have been MVP. … His unselfishness. His self-sacrifice. It couldn’t have played out any better.”
The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Lunsford threw for 163 yards and three touchdowns against East Nashville, as Alcoa improved to 14-1 and became the first TSSAA program to ever win eight consecutive football titles. The feat topped Alcoa’s own record of seven in a row from 2004-10.
Their 21 all-time titles top TSSAA’s list, as well. Maryville is second with 17.
For Alcoa coach Brian Nix, the win gave him his first as head coach — though he won 15 as defensive coordinator at Alcoa from 2004-21. Nix took over Gary Rankin, the state’s winningest coach, back in the late winter of 2022. Rankin is now coaching at Boyd-Buchanan in Chattanooga.
East Nashville (12-3) finished runner-up for the second season in a row but shocked many by returning to state in 2022 after graduating 13 starters off last year’s squad.
The same miscues, though, that cost East Nashville last year popped into play again this time. The special teams just weren’t, well, special.
But after watching East Nashville implode late in the first half Friday on special teams mistakes, Alcoa opened the second half at Finley Stadium with one of its own. And it hurt its 31-20 lead.
After nearly a 5-minute drive to begin the third quarter, Alcoa had a punt go awry. The punter held on to the ball a touch too long, didn’t recognize the pressure off the edge and had his kick partially blocked. The punt traveled just 10 yards.
That gave East Nashville the ball at the Alcoa 42, and they capitalized on Alcoa’s blunder with a 5-yard touchdown pass, though the two-point try failed.
Still, Alcoa led 31-26 with a quarter to play.
East Nashville opened the fourth facing a third-and-11 and heaved it deep. The pass was deflected, forcing East Nashville to punt.
Alcoa returned the favor and partially blocked the Eagles’ punt. It traveled but 1 yard.
That gave Alcoa the ball at the East Nashville 44.
Lunsford took a shot down the field on the second play of the possession and hit Luke Cannon for a 44-yard score. That was Cannon’s third TD of the day, and it gave Alcoa a 38-26 lead with 11 minutes, 32 seconds remaining. Cannon finished with three catches for 73 yards.
Alcoa tailback Jordan Harris, a Mr. Football finalist, pushed the lead to 45-26 with a 12-yard touchdown run with 7:36 to play.
“It just means the world for me, out here, to win this game for my team,” said Lunsford. “The team is the one who made it happen. I don’t even know what to say or how to feel.
“When you have athletes like I do around the ball, you can’t just not have confidence.”
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Last year, Alcoa stormed to a 28-0 lead against East Nashville.
The first half wasn’t so easy this time — until the last minute of the second quarter, anyway.
East Nashville proved the aggressor early and rang up 218 yards of offense before the break. It led 14-7 with 7:38 left in the second quarter. Zacc Beard, the East Nashville QB, scored on a 3-yard run for the lead.
But Alcoa, which played about a quarter and a half on offense without Harris, finally inserted him on the ensuing drive. Lunsford first hit Elijah Cannon on a deep pass to the East Nashville 13. Harris came in and ran consecutive times for 10 and 3 yards, the latter of which was a scoring run and capped the five-play, 49-yard drive with 5:43 left in the half.
“Coach Nix, he wanted me to just play defense, really. Just in the first half, to see how I do. And then they’d put me on offense,” said Harris.
“I’d hurt myself in the game last week (at Giles County). I got an ankle sprain, so I had to wear a boot all week. I’ve been in therapy all week to get right for this game.”
Alcoa then scored three more times in that final 5:43 span.
Brayden Cornett, a junior linebacker at Alcoa, gave the Tornadoes the 21-14 lead just 53 seconds after Harris’ score, returning an interception 27 yards for a score.
After Beard polished off an 11-play scoring drive for East Nashville with a 1-yard run, East Nashville — down just 21-20 after having a second PAT blocked — inexplicably went for an onside kick with 31 seconds to play before halftime.
Alcoa recovered.
Lunsford hit Harris on a huge screen-pass gain to the East Nashville 11. Lunsford connected with Luke Cannon for the second time in the half, this time hitting him on an 11-yard touchdown pass with 16 seconds left in the second quarter. Luke Cannon caught an 18-yard touchdown late in the first quarter to give Alcoa an early 7-6 lead. Lunsford was 5-for-6 passing in the first half for 107 yards.
So, the final seconds of the half should be uneventful from there, right?
Nope.
Alcoa kicked off deep, the ball bounded off the turf and over the head of an East Nashville returner. Alcoa recovered with 3 seconds left, and Bacon Lauderback kicked a 23-yard field goal as time expired for a 31-20 advantage.
Special team gaffes by East Nashville plagued them last year against Alcoa.
And they surfaced once again.
“It feels so good,” said Alcoa senior offensive lineman Lance Williams. “This is what we’ve been working for all four years.”
BOXSCORE: Alcoa 45, East Nashville 26
Alcoa 7-24-0-14
ENash 6-14-6-0
SCORING – EN: Waters 24 run (kick blocked), ALC: Luke Cannon 18 pass from Zach Lunsford (Bacon Lauderback kick), EN: Beard 3 run (Beard rush), ALC: Harris 3 run (Lauderback), Cornett INT return TD (Lauderback kick); EN: Beard 1 run (kick blocked), ALC: Luke Cannon 11 pass from Lunsford (Lauderback kick), Lauderback 23 FG; EN: Joyner 5 pass from Beard (rush fail); ALC: Luke Cannon 44 pass from Lunsford (Lauderback), Harris 12 run (Lauderback).
First Downs: Alcoa 15, EN 19
Rushing: Alcoa 27-137, EN 46-158
C-A-I: Alcoa 8-13-0, EN 11-18-1
Passing: Alcoa 163, EN 154
Fumbles: Alcoa 1-0, EN 1-1
Punts: Alcoa 4-26.5, EN 3-19.0
Penalties: Alcoa 6-52, EN 5-46
Third Downs: Alcoa 2 of 6, EN 4 of 11
Fourth Downs: Alcoa 0 of 0, EN 2 of 3
5STAR PHOTOS: Alcoa Tornadoes vs. East Nashville – 2022 Class 3A BlueCross Bowl Championship
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