South Pitt Falls in State Finals

Everybody this season..

But they had a dogfight this afternoon against fayetteville in the 1-a state title game.

Pirates fighting to claim their first state crown in ten years.

South pitt got the ball first.

Had a fourth and goal from the tigers two.

And d'andre kelly was sub-marined and stopped short of the goal line.

A hunter frame interception later in the first quarter got the pirates back at the goal line.

And this time, kelly cashes in with the touchdown.

7-0 south pitt.

Second quarter.

The tigers calvin hughes hauls in this six yard t-d pass from samuel holdmeyer.

Tigers convert the two point play to take an 8-7 lead.

Under a minute before the half, and kenardo jackson scores for fayetteville.

The tigers enjoyed a 14-7 lead at halftime.

Third quarter coming to a close, and brayden sanders ties the game on the quarterback sneak.

But the pirates defense struggled to stop kenardo jackson.

In the famous words of larry munson.

My god.

A freshman.

Fourth and two, the freshman goes 29-yards for the touchdown to make it 20-14 with three minutes to go.

Last hope for the pirates.

Final ticks from the tigers 19, and sanders pass to reginald hunter is incomplete as time expires.

Fayetteville wins 20-14.

Jackson was named m-v-p after rushing for 210 yards.

With more from cookeville.

Here's news 12's angela moryan.

Angie: a disappointing end continues the state championship drought for south pittsburg.

Poor time management in the last drive leaves the pirates going home with the silver instead of the gold ball.

However, south pitt's offense just couldn't get going the whole game.

Coach vic grider says that was the main issue in the loss today.

Vic grider: for whatever reason, they just manhandled at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

That goes back on me and us as a coaching staff.

We just didn't fully expect that.

But they controlled the game from start to finish at the line of scrimmage.

We couldn't get the ball away from them in the first half when we needed to.

And we just struggled offensively to put drives together.

That's highly unusual for us.

Hunter frame: sometimes it just don't go your way, you know.

You just got to get back up and keep on going.

These young guys, these guys that will be back next year, they can hang their hats on this, remember it, remember what it feels like, that way they never have to feel that way ever again.

Grider: you love getting to the final game, but at our place it's measured the standard is winning it all, and we didn't get it done.

And i hate it for our kids because they really wanted it.

We might not have played our best ball but they really wanted to win it.

I'm disappointed for them that we didn't find a way to do it.

Angie: this won't be the last time you see running back hunter frame and linebacker jared stone.

Both are mr. football finalists and will be at the awards ceremony in nashville on tuesday.

I'll be there to bring you full coverage of that event, but for now reporting in cookeville, angela moryan, news