CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The number four-seeded Independence Eagles traveled to a muddy and foggy Hilda J. Richardson field to face the number one-seeded Clarksville Wildcats on Friday. In one of the best high school football games in the state this season, Independence outlasted Clarksville for a 27-20 double overtime, ending the Wildcats’ season.
Safety Wyatt Wooten put a stop to Independence’s first drive of the game with an interception to kick the festivities off. After the teams traded three-and-outs, Wildcats Colie Reynolds decided he wanted to be on this week’s edition of You Got Mossed, catching a flea-flicker pass from Kayden Pledger and shaking off a defender en route to a 69-yard touchdown.
Clarksville’s defense dominated in the first half, with two more interceptions to show for it, one from Jamarcus Watkins and the second from Wooten, but that was all the scoring for the first half.
After a quarterback change for Independence, Eagle quarterback Ethan Langerbins found tight end Blaze Katina for a 40-yard gain, before Eli Garington powered in Independence’s first score of the night on the ground. The Wildcats responded right back on the next drive, needing only six plays to go 85 yards, capped off by a Watkins 29-yard touchdown run.
The Eagles responded again after the two teams traded punts, with Langerbins calling his own number and scoring from four yards out to tie the contest. Independence threatened to score again, but a fourth-down stop with 40 seconds left halted the momentum, and the two teams headed into overtime with their seasons on the line.
Going into overtime
Ahvare Galbreath got things started with a four-yard touchdown run, but a botched snap caused the PAT to be no good. Independence’s Langerbeins found George Mabury in the corner of the endzone for a score, and just when it looked like Clarksville’s season was coming to an end with a single kick, it was blocked, and we headed to double overtime.
To start double overtime, Langerbeins found Mabury again for an Eagles score. Clarksville had to match to keep the contest going, but on fourth and goal from the four, a pitch play came up short, and the Eagles celebrated a hard-fought win in one of the greatest games the state of Tennessee has seen in the postseason.
| SCOREBOARD: Check out scores from every Clarksville-area football team
“We try to raise resilient kids, and they fought through adversity and never quit,” said Wildcats head coach Isaac Shelby. “Couldn’t be more proud of the way they competed tonight.”
For Clarksville, this senior class will go down in history as not only the first class to win three straight region titles but also the winningest class in CHS history.
“These kids played like crazy,” said Shelby. “We just came up a little short at the end. These guys made the jersey they wear proud. These seniors walked in as freshmen with really high expectations because of the guys before them, and I think they met them.”
Elsewhere in Clarksville:
- Kirkwood High defeated Brighton, 31-7. The Cobras will travel to Page next week for the second round.
- Rossview fell to Brentwood, 33-14, ending the Hawks’ season.
- Kenwood fell to Munford 60-14, ending the Knights’ season.
- Fort Campbell fell to Owensboro Catholic 61-7, ending the Falcons’ season.
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