Yellow Jackets Buzz past The Crush from South Fentress 14 – 8 to take the middle school conference championship.
UMS Vs. Fentress County Write Up Provided by Dustin Williams
MTMSFC Championship 9/30/21
The Upperman Middle School football team (8-1) capped off a successful campaign by
defeating previously undefeated Fentress County (7-1) 14-8 on Thursday night in Baxter to
claim the Middle Tennessee Middle School football conference championship.
Upperman defeated the #2 Eastern seeded Raiders of Avery Trace 44-0 on Saturday
night to get to the championship game while Fentress County defeated the # 2 western seeded
Macon County Tigers 20-12 in OT Saturday to advance to the title game.
After winning the toss Fentress County ate up over 10 minutes of clock on a 20 play
drive to finally find the end zone with 5:59 remaining in the first half, after completing the two
point conversion they led 8-0. Upperman didn’t waste any time as they needed just one play for
Bronzden Chaffin to find the end zone on a 51 yard rush. After a failed two point attempt it was
8-6 with 4:32 remaining in the half. After getting a defensive stop Bronzden Chaffin again found
the end zone for 49 yards and after a completed 2 point try the Yellow Jackets led 14-8 as they
carried the momentum into half time.
The second half showed off both teams strong defenses as both struggled to score.
Upperman was stopped on a 4th and 1 from mid field, as Fentress County was stopped on 4th
down on a deep drive into Upperman territory. The yellow jackets had all the momentum as they
took a drive deep into Fentress county territory with 4 minutes in the game. After two costly
penalties Upperman was faced with a 4th and 21 from their own 41. Instead of electing to go for
it, Upperman decided to punt and this move proved costly as the snap was sent over punter
Bronzden Chaffins head. It was the Upperman defense that was ready to step up as Fentress
County drove inside the Upperman 15 yard line. On 3rd down and 5 from the 13 yard line
Andrew Crawford made a huge play tackling a Crush rusher for a 5 yard loss. The next play
Gunner Block & Bronzden Chaffin deflected a pass into the end zone to secure the win for the
yellow jackets.
Upperman was led on offense by Chaffin rushing 13 times for 138 yards and two
touchdowns. Defensively the Upperman defensive led showed out by limiting a potent Fentress
County offense (30+ points a game) to just 8 points. Upperman was paced by Briston Powers
with 4 tackles, two tackles for loss, and a sack. Andrew Craford, Carmine Phillips, and Walt
Caine all had big nights recording multiple tackles, a tackle for loss, and a sack each.
This is the Yellow Jackets 2nd conference championship in the last 3 seasons. All
conference selections included: Bronzden Chaffin, Carmine Phillips, Walt Caine, Jackson
Collins, Andrew Crawford, and Jordan lafever.
Highlights of game:
