By Michael Lindsay
The Class 4A #1-ranked Upperman Bees clinched the Region 4-4A football regular-season championship Friday evening as they came from behind to win at Stone Memorial, 29-26.
The Panthers held a 12-8 halftime lead and possessed the football in Upperman territory down 3 points late in the fourth quarter.
“Coach Derik Samber knows how to attack us,” said Upperman head coach Adam Caine. “He’s always got a really good plan. Maddox Oquendo is a big-time handful and he’s able to find creases. They paced us a little bit and were snapping the ball quick. Their quarterback (Noah Potter) made a ton of plays; their guys showed up to play.”
Upperman running back Ethan Palk rushed for 101 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries while quarterback Bronzden Chaffin tacked on 91 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns on the ground. Chaffin went 13-21 for 170 yards through the air in the victory.
Potter led Stone Memorial as he went 13-19 for 186 yards and 2 touchdowns through the air while Oquendo rushed for 112 yards and a touchdown. Kadyn Page had 7 receptions for 97 yards and a touchdown.
Upperman struck first as a 48-yard completion from Chaffin to Branson Turnbow set up the Bees in the red zone, where Chaffin punched in a 1-yard touchdown rush and 2-point conversion to take an 8-0 lead with 6:28 left in the first quarter.
Stone Memorial answered on their ensuing drive as Potter hit Oquendo for a 56-yard touchdown pass to cut their deficit to 8-6.
The Panthers took the lead with 10:35 left until halftime as Potter hit Page on a 25-yard touchdown strike to give Stone Memorial a 12-8 lead at the break.
“At the end of the day, it was 12-8,” said Caine. “It felt like it was 28-0. We hadn’t played well on either side and they (Stone) had a lot to do with it.”
Upperman recovered an onside kick to open the second half and marched down the field to score via a 9-yard touchdown run by Palk to take a 15-12 lead.
The Bees extended their advantage to double digits with 6:40 left in the third as Chaffin broke loose for a 56-yard touchdown rush down the right sideline on fourth down to give Upperman a 22-12 lead.
Stone Memorial didn’t go away as Potter rushed in a 10-yard touchdown to cut Upperman’s lead to 22-19 entering the fourth quarter.
The Bees found the end zone on the first play of the fourth quarter as Chaffin punched in a 1-yard touchdown to give Upperman another 10-point lead at 29-19.
Stone Memorial went into their bag of tricks on their ensuing drive as they hit on a flea flicker down the middle of the field to Page to set up a 35-yard Oquendo touchdown run with 11:02 left in the fourth quarter. Following the Kane Bosanko extra point, Stone Memorial trailed 29-26.
The Panthers got the ball back near midfield with 5:26 remaining in the fourth quarter and marched to the Upperman 20-yard line with less than 2 minutes remaining, but the Bees’ defense held strong and turned Stone Memorial over on downs to seal their 29-26 victory in Crossville.
“The kids were laying it on the line on both sides of the ball,” said Caine. “We were reaching deep into our bag of tricks over there.”
Upperman improves to 9-0 overall and 5-0 in Region 4-4A play and secures the #1 overall seed in the region while Stone Memorial falls to 5-4 and 3-2 in region play.
The Bees travel to DeKalb County next week for their regular season finale while Stone Memorial hosts Macon County (7-2, 3-2) with the #3 seed on the line, while the loser will finish fourth.