LEWISBURG — Jamahl Gentry’s cleats squished further into the mud as he sprinted into the open and screamed into the wet sky.
The Marshall County senior receiver had to keep the raucous celebration going.
No one minded the rain, and the Tigers’ traditional singing of the school alma mater rang out a little louder Thursday following their emotional 24-21 overtime win against TSSAA football rival Pearl-Cohn in the Region 5-4A championship.
“I had to let it all out after that one,” Gentry said. “You just want to scream, man.”
Marshall County ended years of disappointment against Pearl-Cohn when Luis Gonzalez kicked a 19-yard field goal in overtime that secured the Tigers’ first TSSAA football region title since 2019.
Marshall County (10-0, 7-0) hadn’t defeated the defending state champion Firebirds (7-3, 6-1) in its last eight tries. The Tigers secured a No. 1 seed in the TSSAA football playoffs, demoting Pearl-Cohn to No. 2. The teams could meet again in the Class 4A quarterfinals.
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“From my freshman year when they first came here, I was like, ‘I want to beat this team.’ These are the teams you want to beat,” said Gentry, who rushed for 110 yards and contributed an acrobatic 18-yard touchdown run in the first half. “They don’t go down easy.”
Marshall County coach Thomas Osteen said even with three state semifinal appearances and five region titles in his 11 years with the program, this win stands out as one of the best. That’s because Pearl-Cohn has been such a difficult hurdle.
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“We’ve been up at halftime three times in the last five years and just haven’t been able to close it. That’s because they’ve been so good,” said Osteen, who has the Tigers at 10-0 for the first time in 25 years. “This is huge for our community. We’re a small town, it’s still old school, just a great high school atmosphere around here. Sports mean a lot to these people.”
History almost looked like it would repeat itself. Pearl-Cohn’s LJ Funk hit Javion Kinnard for a 71-yard touchdown with 4:37 left in the fourth to tie the game. Marshall County had a chance to win in the final minute before quarterback Tyler Thompson fumbled with six seconds left, opening the door for potentially another Pearl-Cohn escape.
“This is definitely our most special win. We’ve wanted this one a lot. We never had a good enough second half to do it,” Thompson said. “When I fumbled, I was at an all-time low. I thought I gave the game away.”
Thompson finished 13-of-26 for 128 yards passing, plus 59 yards rushing and two touchdowns as he made his final case to voters for the 2024 Tennessee Titans Mr. Football award.
Marshall County got a fourth-down stop from its own 2-yard line early in the fourth quarter and held the Firebirds out of the end zone again on fourth down in overtime.
The Tigers have a legitimate opportunity to win their first TSSAA football title since 1984. Osteen reminded his players of that.
“I told the guys, celebrate like crazy. We’re going to be celebrating all day tomorrow,” Osteen said. “This team can compete with any team in Class 4A if they decide to.”
Reach sports writer Tyler Palmateer at tpalmateer@tennessean.com and on the X platform, formerly Twitter, @tpalmateer83.
