PLEASANT VIEW—Sycamore played host to its first playoff game since 2001 but wasn’t able to get anything going offensively as East Nashville defeated the War Eagles 44-7 on Friday night in the first round of the state playoffs.
The Eagles controlled the game from the opening whistle and limited the War Eagles’ offense to 109 yards of total offense in the win.
“Strohn Johnson played an outstanding game tonight,” said East Nashville head coach Brian Waite. “He’s one of our leaders up front and does a real good job. Bronson Hardin is the heart and soul of our defense. All three of my linebackers played well. Jacoby Leatherwood and Tyler Fletcher all had solid nights tonight. In the secondary, we had Trey Shaw that had an interception return for a touchdown.”
Offensively, it was running back by committee as eight different Eagles carried the football, totaling 259 yards rushing. Quarterback Kwanzee Jemison led the ground attack with 68 yards rushing and one touchdown on 22 carries. Rontavious Gregory had 53 yards and two touchdowns, and Willie Wilson finished with 55 yards. Bronson Hardin added a rushing touchdown, as well. Backup quarterback Zacchaeus Beard connected on a 31-yard touchdown strike to Trey Shaw.
“Our starting running back was out,” Waite said. “The reserves did a really good job. My hat is off to the offensive line. We put the game on their shoulders, and they really showed up, especially in the second half.”
The lone standout for Sycamore was Tyler Niebel, who capped off a stellar career for the War Eagles with 81 yards rushing on 14 carries, including a 69-yard touchdown run to put the War Eagles on the scoreboard midway through the fourth quarter.
”No one is any more deserving. He’s worked incredibly hard his four years here and I’m glad he was able to cap off his night that way. He’s definitely going to be missed and he’s going to make a college coach somewhere very happy,” said Sycamore head coach Justin Robison.
East Nashville (9-2) will travel to Pearl-Cohn (11-0) to take on the Firebirds in the second round of the Class 3A playoffs. The Eagles were defeated 14-0 in the regular season matchup between the two teams.
“One thing we have to do is take them seriously and have a good practice. We’ve got to focus on us and can’t worry about them,” Waite said.
Sycamore finished the season with a 5-6 record and its third consecutive playoff berth.
“When we took over four years ago, this wasn’t the program we were proud of, and we knew it was going to take some time,” said Robison. “We asked these kids to learn and grow with us, and they did that. They accomplished a lot of individual records here at Sycamore and a lot of school records. They’ve done a fantastic job all the way to the home playoff berth. Obviously, it didn’t end the way we wanted it to. They’ve been a great group, and we’re going to miss them sorely. We hate to see them go, but they have a lot to be proud of.”
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