Destin Wade accounted for 236 yards and Brady Pierce was everywhere, including snagging a pick-6 interception as the Summit High School football team defeated Oak Ridge 28-7 Friday night to capture the TSSAA Class 5A State Championship in the BlueCross Bowl at Tucker Stadium on the campus of Tennessee Tech University. “I’m just excited," said Summit coach Brian Coleman. "This is awesome for these kids and this community. It’s just a great feeling for sure.” The Spartans (14-1) were in control from the start, as Tennessee Titans Mr. Football finalist Wade, Brandon King and Pierce rammed the opening kickoff down the Wildcats’ throats, going 72 yards in only nine plays and just four minutes and 12 seconds to take a 7-0 lead on a 1-yard run by Wade. After a three-and-out first effort by Oak Ridge (11-4), Wade and Pierce combined on a 13-yard pass to cap a 64-yard drive in under two minutes to put Summit up 14-0 in the first quarter. “It is just an unreal feeling,” Wade said after the game. “I give all the glory to God for helping me and keeping me injury free. I’m proud of our team and I’m proud of our coaches. “Our coaches really prepared us for tonight, especially on defense. We got lots of different looks in practice all week, so we were ready for anything.” Wade was named the game’s Most Valuable Player, picking up 101 yards on 14 carries and two scores while throwing for another 136 and a touchdown, hitting 7-of-10 passes. He connected on his first six throws. “Destin deserves Mr. Football, I think,” said Coleman. “Brady is kind of an old-school guy. Not flashy, but he is a football player. He is our quarterback on defense and he’s always in the right place. And Brandon was a big difference maker our whole season. Hard-nosed. He was about the third running back and we moved him to wide receiver, and he made some huge catches against Beech and had another one tonight. He’s been very versatile for us.” Summit took a 21-0 lead with a 61-yard drive in the second quarter when Wade pounded over from the one. King accounted for 52 yards on the drive, rushing three times for 33 yards and snagging a key 19-yard pass from Wade on 3rd-and-6 from the Oak Ridge 40. “We’ve gone through so much adversity,” King said after the contest, “whether it ‘s been COVID or injuries. But we have leaders like Destin, who really helps us all come together and step up.” The Wildcats scored on a 2-yard pass from Mitchell Gibbons to Brandon Heyward with 1:26 left in the first half, sending the Spartans into the locker room with a 21-7 lead. Defense dominated the second half, with both teams putting together strong third quarter drives, but coming up empty. Oak Ridge held momentum to open the fourth quarter, but Pierce crushed the Wildcats’ hopes, picking off a Gibbons pass at the Oak Ridge 29-yard line and motoring in for a touchdown. “I saw it coming early,” Pierce said. “I saw the receiver start across the middle and I saw the quarterback reading and I just jumped on it.” Coleman was one of the most excited to see Pierce with the steal. “That interception by Brady really kind of sealed it and we could exhale a little bit,” he said. Pierce did a little bit of everything for the Spartans, rushing for 30 yards on three carries, catching three passes for 88 yards and a touchdown, making six tackles, and punting four times for a 31.2-yard average. He had one punt roll out of bounds at the 3-yard line. Summit’s defense came up big on the night, and not just with Pierce’s pick-6. The Spartans held a rush-heavy Oak Ridge offense to just 24 total yards on the ground. Keaten Wade, Destin's twin brother, played in just his second game and caused headaches with a team-high seven tackles and a sack, while Tre Hunter added five stops, including two for loss. Maddux Reed was also in on a sack and Gavin Wells had two pass breakups for the Spartans defense. “Stopping the run is huge in the playoffs. You can give up some little passes here and there, but you’ve got to stop the run and I think we did tonight,” Coleman said. The most interesting stat of the contest was not just Oak Ridge being held to 145 yards of total offense, but the fact the Spartans were flagged 16 times for 119 yards. The officiating crew tossed a total of 28 flags, with 25 accepted for a combined 183 yards in contest with no altercations between the two teams. One flag in the second half called back a Caleb Jolley touchdown reception from Wade. Summit picked up the Class 5A championship in the schools’ final year in the classification, after falling in last year’s title game 30-7 to Knoxville Central. The Spartans move to Class 6A next year. The title is a program-first for the 10-year-old Williamson County school. After a lifting the golden ball, what are Coleman’s plans? “Celebrate. Exhale. Sleep. All of the above.”
Source: Williamson Herald
