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Wormsley's three-touchdown game leads Webb to state semifinals
Kim Johnson - Sat, Nov, 14, 2009
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| Aaron Blance, Webb freshman running back, finds running room versus St. George's.- Kim Johnson/farragutpress |
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Friday, Nov. 13, was not an unlucky night for the Webb School of Knoxville Spartans.
The Spartans met St. George’s Independent School Gryphon in the TSSAA Division II-A quarterfinal playoffs at Webb’s Faust Field and came away with a 27-10 victory.
The Spartans (10-1) came out strong, putting the first six points on the board in the first two minutes of play with a 10-yard run up the right side by senior running back Jarvus Jones.
“I just hit that hole and got into the end zone,” Jones said.
“The offensive line did a great job the whole game. The holes were there I just found it and tried to run as fast as I could to get there,” he added.
With 9:05 left in the first quarter an interception by senior safety Michael Carillon set the Spartans up with great field advantage.
“First series they threw a deep ball and I picked it off to get us some momentum in the game,” Carillon said.
But before the men in green could do anything with it, Gryphon safety Forbes Harris picked off quarterback Parker Wormsley’s pass intended for senior Clark Johnson.
The interception was Wormsley’s second for the year.
The Gryphons played a running game, and in the first half alone ate up more than 12 minutes of play with two possessions lasting more than six minutes each.
The Spartans defense hung tight and held them to 10 points, all in the first half.
“They are a triple action team. They won a state championship a couple of years ago using the triple action and they are going to stick with it just like we are going to try and stick with the wing-T. Luckily with the wing-T we have a quarterback and a couple of receivers who can make plays,” Spartans head coach Dave Meske said of both teams’ game strategy.
Wormsley tried again for Johnson with 6:46 left in the second quarter and connected with a 52-yard touchdown pass to put the Spartans up 10-6, then again late in the third to add another six.
The game-changing play came with only one-tenth of a second left in the first half when Wormsley connected with Carillon for a 25-yard touchdown pass, making the score 13-3.
“Coach Meske put me in as wing and he told the tight end to run a post and me to run a banana, which is kind of a hard thing to cover when there is only one player and you gotta pick one. The safety bit on the post and Parker threw it a little bit to the outside and I just caught it,” Carillon said.
“They were using me for a decoy on one side and Michael just broke free and Parker threw it in the perfect spot,” Johnson said.
“It was a great play. Parker threw it out there but Michael adjusted to the ball and just made a fabulous catch. That was a huge play.
“Going in to [the second half] that puts you up by 10 and you are up by two scores. That makes a big difference,” Meske added.
Meske had high praises for his secondary — Carillon, Johnson and senior Justin Alexander, who all made several big plays.
“We have three seniors in the secondary and there is no better secondary in the state of Tennessee than the three we put back there. It is going to be hard to throw the ball against us because they are playmakers,” he said.
The Spartans will head to Memphis next Friday, Nov. 20, to take on Evangelical Christian School in the state semifinals.
“We will be taking on a team that is predicted to win state,” Johnson said.
“We are completely comfortable playing ECS. … We will play them and we will bring our best. Everyone here believes we can beat them and we know we can,” he added.
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