GERMANTOWN - When Ron Crawford vacated his
defensive coordinator position at Riverdale to take
the head job at Brentwood High, he joked that it would
be funny if the two football teams met for the state
championship.
"Will it even matter who wins?" Crawford asked.
Well, after his Bruins stunned the top-ranked
Germantown Red Devils 24-14 in the Class 5A semifinals
last night, he had an answer.
"It's going to matter," he said.
Brentwood (13-1) broke open a tooth-and-nail affair
with 21 points in the final 6:13 of the first half,
then staved off Germantown's (13-1) comeback bid to
secure the school's first-ever championship game
appearance.
The Bruins will meet Riverdale in the BlueCross
Bowl at 7 p.m. next Saturday in Murfreesboro.
"It's going to be fun going against them," Crawford
said. "I'm just so excited for the kids to play in
this game. This week there will be a lot of press, and
it will be good for the school."
Germantown's running game dictated play in the
first quarter by sustaining a long drive on its first
possession. Although the Red Devils didn't come away
with any points, Brentwood could do nothing with its
poor field position.
The Bruins finally got their offense going when
offensive coordinator Les Steckel made the call to go
to the ground game. Jared Fugate carried the ball six
times on a 10-play, 76-yard drive and capped the march
with a 6-yard run over left tackle.
But things didn't get out of hand until the final
two minutes of the second quarter.
The breaks began to go Brentwood's way when
defensive back Kellen Moore picked off Barry
Mayfield's pass and returned it 20 yards to the Red
Devil 35. Austen Everson's 21-yard completion to David
Reed then set up another Fugate touchdown run to put
the Bruins up 14-0 with 38 seconds left.
"All we did this week was get their offense down,
and we were in the right place at the right time every
time," Moore said. "On the interception, I remember
reading the quarterback and seeing their wide receiver
go across the middle. Then I saw the quarterback's
eyes, caught it and tried to return it as far as I
could."
Instead of taking a knee when Germantown got the
ball back, Mayfield put it up once more. This time
Brentwood's Greg Briscoe reeled in a deflected pass
and rumbled to the 1-yard line with 24 seconds before
the break. Everson did the honors with a sneak over
center, making it 21-0.
"We had to try to do something," Mayfield said.
"It's a big game, and we had to take big chances."
"I kind of thought they might take a knee, go into
the locker room and regroup," Crawford said. "We
really benefited from those two interceptions. Getting
out on top really, really helped us."
The Red Devils went back to their running game
during a 61-yard drive in the third quarter that made
it 21-7.
Things got even more interesting when Everson
forced a pass to Michael Clarke early in the fourth
quarter, only to have it intercepted and returned 37
yards for a score by Germantown defensive back Brandon
Patterson.
But again Brentwood turned to its offensive line
and Fugate. They led the charge during the
game-clinching drive, which Kyle Willis finished with
a 30-yard field goal.
"I'm pretty sure I'm going to feel this in the
morning," said Fugate, who finished with 140 yards on
25 carries. "I was demanding the ball, and they gave
it to me."
Moore and Clarke each intercepted Mayfield in the
final 1:51. Germantown committed five turnovers to
Brentwood's one.
Jeff Lockridge covers high school sports for The
Tennessean. He can be reached at 259-8023 or at
jlockridge@tennessean.com