By Michael Lindsay
Eight teams remain in Class 4A football and amongst them are the Upperman Bees following their 28-14 victory over Stone Memorial in Friday’s second-round matchup in Baxter.
“It’s exciting,” said Upperman head coach Adam Caine. “I’m proud of our guys; I thought it was a really hard-fought game. Towards the end, our offensive line exerted their will and that was good to see.”
Friday’s second-round matchup was a stark contrast from their regular-season meeting that Upperman won 48-6.
“Nowadays it seems like it’s all about motivation and bulletin-board material,” Caine said. “Sooner or later, you have to get on the field and play. You have to have a style that’s tough to deal with and have tough kids. I knew they (Stone Memorial) would come in motivated; they have a really talented, good team. They played hard and hats off to them, but tonight we were a little better.”
The 12-0 Bees were led by a potent rushing attack as running back Ethan Palk racked up 115 rushing yards and a touchdown. Sophomore quarterback Bronzden Chaffin rushed for 99 yards and a touchdown along with a 50-yard touchdown pass.
“I thought Bronzden did a good job throwing and running the football,” Caine said. “Ethan Palk ran the ball well, and Jaxson Rollins gave us some good carries. I’ve got to give it to the O-Line; they really took over the game when we answered the score in the third quarter.”
Upperman opened the contest with Chaffin’s 50-yard touchdown pass to Branson Turnbow on the second play of the game to give the Bees a 7-0 lead less than a minute into the first quarter.
The Bees’ quick start wasn’t over as defensive back Kam Bush intercepted a pass on Stone’s opening drive to set his team up deep in Panther territory. Chaffin capped off the drive with a 1-yard touchdown rush to give Upperman a 14-0 lead with 6:37 left in the opening quarter.
Stone Memorial responded on the following drive as a 34-yard pass from Nick Osmun to tight end Brady Lane set the Panthers up with first and goal at the 8-yard line. Osmun found Lane again two plays later, this time in the end zone, for a touchdown to make the score 14-7 late in the first period.
The Bees went back up by two scores midway through the second quarter as Phillips took a jet sweep 3 yard for a touchdown to give his team a 21-7 lead with 5:53 left until halftime.
Neither team found the end zone for the rest of the half as Upperman held a 14-point lead at the break, 21-7.
Stone Memorial struck first in the second half as Osmun hit Houston Woody for an 8-yard touchdown pass to make the score 21-14 with 9:02 left in the third quarter.
With a 7-point lead in hand, Upperman put together a 17-play, 75-yard drive capped off by an 8-yard Ethan Palk touchdown run to give the Bees a 28-14 advantage late in the third period.
The 28-14 margin would stand for the rest of the night as neither team found the end zone in the fourth quarter, securing Upperman’s second-round victory quarterfinal berth.
“Defensively, we made some good adjustments,” Caine said. “We started tackling a little better and were able to get some heat on the quarterback.”
Awaiting Upperman in the Class 4A quarterfinals is a familiar foe as the Macon County Tigers (11-1) won their second-round game at Red Bank, 28-7.
“It’s crazy that we’re in the quarterfinals with 8 teams left and we still can’t get out of region play,” Caine said. “It’ll be another opponent we know a lot about. I know they’re looking for revenge for September. It’ll be exciting and I’m glad we get to play here.”
Upperman won at Macon County in week 3 of the regular season, 14-7. Friday’s quarterfinal rematch in Baxter is scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m.
