CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) — As most of our local athletes are preparing for high school basketball season, the Clarksville Wildcats and Montgomery Central Indians still have football on their minds.
The Wildcats came back from a 21-7 halftime deficit against the top seed from Class 6A, Region 6 Cane Ridge to win their first round game 33-27. The Indians did not even blink in their contest with Jackson South Side as Montgomery Central took a 14-0 lead at the half and turned it into a 33-14 victory.
In the second round, both teams will face familiar opponents: Montgomery Central will get a return trip to Tullahoma while Clarksville heads back to Beech. Both games are rematches from earlier in the season, feature region opponents, and mark the worst losses for the Indians and Wildcats during the regular season.
Class 6A: Clarksville (7-4) at Beech (8-3)
The Wildcats head back on the road to Beech this Friday in a rematch of their Sept. 17 meeting that also took place at Shackle Island. The Buccaneers dominated the Wildcats in that meeting 40-7. The Wildcats’ lone score came on a Jamar Carnell pass to Robert Riley late in the contest. Clarksville does enter this game with momentum after upsetting Cane Ridge, but will still have a tall order in front of them.
“There has been two weeks where we didn’t play well, one was Beech and one was Hendersonville,” said Clarksville head coach Isaac Shelby. “Even when we were at Beech the first time, at the end, we sat the kids down and said, ‘Hey, you guys didn’t play very well, you guys already know that, so we don’t have to go look at the tape to do it, but if you want a chance to come back here and prove that you are a better football team than what you showed tonight, then we are going to have to get on a roll and we are going to have to win in the first round,’ and that’s what we did.”
Kickoff for Friday’s game will be at 7 p.m. from Beech High School.
Class 4A: Montgomery Central (9-2) at Tullahoma (11-0)
If you were to talk to coach Jeff Tomlinson, he would be the first to tell you that the Indians’ loss to Tullahoma was the one that did not sit well with him or his team. Not only was it the first loss of the regular season for the Indians back on Oct. 8, but it was also the Indians’ worst loss, 37-7. It was a game that Tomlinson believed his team could have played better in, and despite not being a full strength this week, he is hoping his players come out ready for the rematch.
“For our case, I’m going to show them the self-inflicting wounds that we did to ourselves for that Tullahoma game,” said Tomlinson. “If we can correct our own simple self-inflicting mistakes, that is something that Tullahoma didn’t cause, then that will help us. I’m wanting them to understand that they may have beat us but it wasn’t because they were out doing this to us, we had some mistakes here.”
The Indians will kick off from Tullahoma on Friday at 7 p.m.
Listen to the full interviews with the coaches starting at 6 p.m. Thursday on Sports Night on ESPN Clarksville online, or on-air 104.1 FM/540 AM.