The Copper Basin Cougars traveled up highway 68 north Friday, September 24, to take on Tellico Plains, looking to spoil the Bears’ 2021 Homecoming. Both teams shared a wonderful tribute to the late John Mullinax before the game, with his family in attendance. Mullinax served as head coach for both schools in his legendary career.
Tellico won the toss and elected to start on offense to begin the football game. Basin’s defense forced a Bear punt, but on the Cougar’s first possession, they coughed up the football on their own 19 yard line.
A penalty against the Bears moved the ball all the way back to the Cougar 49 yard line. Tellico went on a nine-play drive that ended with an 18 yard touchdown pass to grab an early lead. The extra point was no good, making the score 6-0 with 3:53 left in the opening quarter.
After the kickoff, Copper Basin set up shop at their 45 yard line and on second down, senior quarterback Joe Boggs connected with Eli White for a 51 yard touchdown pass to tie the game with 2:53 left in the quarter. The Cougars converted the two-point try, and took the lead by a score of 8-6.
Tellico answered the score with a quick two-play drive of their own, with a 17 yard touchdown pass. This time, the Bears were successful on their two-point conversion, and regained the lead 12-8 with 2:31 to go in the first quarter.
Copper Basin’s next drive started what seemed to feel like an early Halloween house of horrors over the next 12 minutes. It started when Tellico picked off a Boggs pass and turned it into a 56 yard touchdown pass with just over 11 minutes to go before halftime to make the score 18-8 after a missed two-point try. On the ensuing kickoff, Tellico jarred the football loose and fell on it at the Copper Basin 41 yard line. Following a pass interference call against the Cougars, the Bears struck again, this one from 21 yards out, to extend their lead to 24-8 with 10:46 left before halftime.
Sebastian Baliles had a nifty return on the kickoff, putting the ball at the Cougar 39 yard line. Boggs had two consecutive carries to give Basin a first down at the Tellico 39 yard line. However, the drive stalled after five penalties and it was too much to overcome for the young Cougars, as they were forced to punt. A low snap forced a bobble on the punt and Tellico swallowed up the Cougar punter at the Basin 16 yard line. The Copper Basin defense stepped up in a huge way though, and forced Tellico to turn the ball over on downs after an incomplete pass on fourth and 15 at the Cougar 21 yard line with 3:07 to go in the second quarter. Boggs had another big run and then he found Baliles for 13 yards up to the Basin 45, but Tellico forced a punt with ten seconds left in the half.
To open the second half, the Cougars received the ball and ended up having to punt on fourth down, but their defense held
Tellico and made the Bears punt the ball right back to them with 8:25 left in the third quarter. Cooper Basin’s next drive started at the Bear 43, and Boggs got it off to a great start with a 15 yard run down to the 28 yard line. The drive stalled however, as Boggs was sacked on fourth and 12 at the Tellico 32 with 4:46 to go in the quarter. On the seventh play of the ensuing Bear drive, they found the end zone from 16 yards out to make the score 32-8, after the two-point try was good, with 37 seconds left in the third period.
Another Basin punt set up the Bears in Cougar territory at the 27 yard line. Another seven play drive was capped off by Tellico with a six yard touchdown run with 9:25 left in the fourth quarter. Again, the two-point conversion was good, putting Tellico up 40-8.
The next Cougar drive started out strong as Baliles had consecutive carries for a total of 27 yards, and Boggs connected with Carder Lance for eight yards, moving the ball to the Tellico 46 yard line, but another turnover stopped the drive inside the Bear 15 yard line with 7:16 to go in the ballgame.
Tellico Plains began the drive at their own 12 yard line, and quickly moved the football into Copper Basin territory. On the sixth play of the drive, the Bears found paydirt again from 46 yards out. The extra point attempt was no good, making the score 46-8 with 5:27 to go.
A nice return of 16 yards by Baliles set up Copper Basin at their 36 yard line. Boggs had four runs totalling 20 yards, but on fourth down, the clock ran out, and Tellico won the ballgame by a score of 46-8.
Head Coach Chad Grabowski wasn’t happy with the loss, but was happy that the young Cougars have made some progress and is looking forward to the rest of the season, as well as the future. “We played hard on Friday night against Tellico and got better at some positions that we really needed to step it up for the upcoming weeks so hopefully that will help us to be more successful the rest of the season.
We even got to play a lot of young guys that will be helping us in the future.”