HARRIMAN VS. LIPSCOMB

Friday night, December 9, 1994 marked the first ever appearance of the Mustang football team in the State Championship game.  The opponent was Harriman High School, winner of the east bracket, having defeated Cosby, Meigs County, Sweetwater, and Oneida to get to the finals.  Harriman was a very athletic team which was led by quarterback Jermaine Copeland, an early signer with the University of Tennessee.  He went on to a very successful career with UT as a wide receiver and later played in NFL Europe and for a while with the Dallas Cowboys.  Running back Mark Boyd was small but amazingly fast.  It was also the first Clinic Bowl appearance for Harriman’s Blue Devils.  Tensions were high and nerves were shot for the fans as well as the teams as they prepared for the opening kickoff.

 The Mustangs showed their nervousness early by having a short field goal blocked and later fumbling away the ball in the “red zone.”  The first quarter ended 0-0.  In the second quarter the Mustangs began to play to their ability and put 21 unanswered points on the Home Team side of the Vandy scoreboard.  Also in the second quarter, Jermaine Copeland hyper-extended his knee while being sacked for a loss by Rob Copeland.  With him out for the rest of the game, Harriman had little chance to come back.  The Mustangs put up 21 more unanswered points in the third quarter and turned the game over to the second and third teams.  The fourth quarter was scoreless for both teams even though Lipscomb emptied the bench so that virtually everyone got to take the field in the State Championship game.

 The extent of the Mustangs’ dominance in this 42-0 victory is most clearly seen in the game stats below:

             Total Offense – Lipscomb                                    364 yards (all rushing)

            Total Offense – Harriman                                    90 yards (102 rushing, -12 passing)

            First Downs – Lipscomb                                      19

First Downs – Harriman                                      5 

Time of Possession – Lipscomb                            27:26

Time of Possession – Harriman                            20:34

 Mustang Individual Stats of note:

             Rob Copeland                21 carries for 152 yards and two TD’s

            Doug McDuffee               7 carries for 79 yards and 1 TD

            Sloan Burton                  10 carries for 61 yards

            Melvin Evans                  11 carries for 48 yards and 2 TD’s; 7 tackles

            Shane Pharr                  1 carry for 1 yard and 1 TD; 6 of 6 on PAT’s; 1 interception  

Rob Copeland was named the Offensive Most Valuable Player of the game.

Melvin Evans was named the Defensive Most Valuable Player of the game.