Covington falls to Alcoa on late TD in 3A BlueCross Bowl
COOKEVILLE — For the second year in a row, Alcoa beat Covington in the Class 3A BlueCross Bowl. The Tornadoes pulled off a 21-14 last-minute victory, claiming their fourth title in a row.
The game was tied with less than 30 seconds remaining, when Alcoa's Walker Russell scored the go-ahead touchdown on a quarterback keeper. Russell finished with 73 yards rushing.
"Out of all the touchdowns, that oneyard touchdown right there was probably my favorite in my whole career," said Russell.
Brock Lomax had a productive game for the Chargers, throwing a secondquarter touchdown pass to Cordarius Page and tying the game on a 4-yard rushing touchdown with 11:21 to go in the game.
He led the Chargers in rushing with 77 yards on 20 attempts.
Alcoa's Ahmauud Sankey had two touchdowns — a catch and a run, in the first half. He finished with 60 yards rushing and 40 receiving yards. He won the MVP award.
The teams threw just 13 passes in the game. Russell completed 5 of 10 and Lomax completed 2 of 3.
"We just didn't get it done," said Lomax. We had our opportunities, but we just couldn't pull through."
Covington (14-1) has now made five state championship appearances without capturing a title.
"When you come up here and your kids don't play well, and you're big-eyed and you don't do anything your coaches tell you to do or execute the game plan, that's one thing," said coach Marty Wheeler. "But when you do execute the game plan really well and lose in the last thirty seconds, that's something I've never experienced before."
The win is Alcoa's 17th state title, which broke their tie with Maryville for most in TSSAA history. The win was also number 14 overall for Alcoa coach Gary Rankin, who holds the state record.