By CAROL STUART
Brentwood Home Page
Brentwood High School’s football team has been the underdog the past two weeks in big playoff games and pulled off upsets, and this week’s quarterfinal opponent looms even larger when the Bruins travel to undefeated Mt. Juliet.

Unlike the two previous rounds, when BHS knocked off district foes it lost to in the regular season, the Bruins (8-4) haven’t faced the Golden Bears (12-0) this year. But the two teams did play a couple of common opponents, Cookeville and Gallatin – with Mt. Juliet putting up 52 points in each game.

Brentwood's defense forces a Franklin fumble in last Friday's playoff game. (Photo by Peg Fredi for BHP)

“Both teams play fast on offense. Both teams run similar defenses,” Lassiter said. “Both teams are very well coached. Both teams are run-oriented offenses. Both teams have a great kicking game.Gallatin Coach Robert Lassiter, who defeated Brentwood but lost to MJHS, said both teams are “very similar.”

“The two differences I see between the two teams are: Mt. Juliet can throw the football better than Brentwood. Brentwood has been in the playoffs more. It should be a great game.”

Lassiter said he picks Brentwood to win the matchup because of BHS Coach Ron Crawford.

Cookeville’s veteran coach Jerry Joslin lost at home 21-7 to BHS in the season’s opening game on TV’s Thursday Night Lights and later was pounded by Mt. Juliet 52-0. He said the quarterfinal pits “two great programs that are coached by fine young men.”

“The skill players on both teams will make plays for their team,” Joslin said. “The team, as always, that makes the fewest mistakes will win.

“When you get to the final eight teams, the skill level is usually the same. The team that will win is the team that has the most luck on that night. There are five or six plays in every game that change the flow – it could be a turnover, penalty, bad call or a super play, and no one knows when this could occur. I wish the best for both teams.”

Independence Coach Kevin Dyson and Franklin Coach Craig Clayton, meanwhile, have seen Brentwood hit its stride at the right time – the postseason. District 11-AAA winner Independence beat BHS early in the season but lost in the first round to the seventh seed, while runner-up Franklin fell to the rival Bruins last week after beating them only two weeks before.

“I think Coach Crawford and his staff have done an excellent job of making his team believe in what they are doing,” Clayton said. “They played with much more energy last week than the game two weeks ago.

“They knew they had to take some chances on both sides of the ball, and the players were successful in executing an excellent game plan. I wish them good luck against Mt Juliet.”

Dyson, the former Tennessee Titan wide receiver, said there isn’t a secret to Brentwood’s success during its playoff run – at least against his Eagles.

“For us it was pretty simple. We had way too many penalties and Brentwood blocked a punt for a score in the first quarter that was the difference in our game,” Dyson said.

“Coach Crawford has his boys playing their best ball at the right time, and you have to be mistake-free to beat a team that is playing well. We were definitely not mistake-free a couple weeks ago. It is hard to beat a team twice in one season especially if you do not do the little things correct, and penalties and protection are little things that can and will get you beat.”

Here is a closer look at Friday night’s 7 p.m. game at Mt. Juliet:

Road to quarterfinals

MT. JULIET (12-0) Regular season 8/19 @Lebanon W38-13 8/26 @McGavock W48–7 9/2 Portland W48-20 9/9 Lavergne W35-19 9/15 @ Beech W49-25 9/30 Gallatin W52-20 10/7 @Sta. Camp W45–7 10/14 @Cookeville W52–0 10/21 Hendersnvle W41-10 10/28 Wilson Cent. W42–6 Playoffs 11/4 Oakland W35-27 11/11 Siegel W31-27 BRENTWOOD (8-4) Regular season 8/18 @Cookeville W21-7 8/26 Smyrna L28-7 9/2 Indy L13-7 9/9 Hunters Lane W48-0 9/16 Ravenwood W41-0 9/23 @Gallatin L31-24 9/30 @Centennial W 27-7 10/14 Hillsboro W 28-6 10/21 Blackman W17-14 10/28 @ Franklin L24-10 Playoffs 11/4 @Indy W10-7 11/11 @Franklin W23-14

When Mt. Juliet has the ball

Crawford, the Bruins’ 10th-year head coach, changed up his base defense starting in spring practice and completed the switch from a 3-4 to a 4-3 in the preseason.

“It's very similar to what we played before; the coverages stayed the same,” Crawford said. “It’s simply that we’ve been undersized, pretty short on defensive linemen. As opposed to playing a 190-pound guy with his hand on the ground, we’ve swapped him for an outside linebacker, to try to get more speed on the field and get the best players in the game.”

Brentwood’s tough defensive unit will need to be especially tough against Mt. Juliet’s potent offense, which includes two strong running backs, Contrez McCathern and Caleb Hopkins. The Bruins coach even jokingly questioned what Gallatin’s Lassiter had been drinking with his prediction.

“I appreciate Coach Lassiter's thoughts,” Crawford said. “This Mt. Juliet team has scored a bunch of points; I think 31 points is the fewest they’ve scored. We've definitely got quite a challenge on our hands. It's going to be a tough battle, and we’re aware of that.”

The BHS coach said the Golden Bears don’t really have a weakness on offense.

“I’d like to see how many big plays they’ve had, just unbelievable deep balls for touchdowns and a great amount of breaking long runs for touchdowns,” Crawford said. “They're good up front, their offensive line will block you, and their runners are physical runners but have the ability to break long runs. Their wide receiver is a big physical kid, 5-10, 195 pounds, and can run.

“They’re not only fast, but big strong kids, too.”

Last week District 9-AAA champion Mt. Juliet rushed for 345 yards in a 31-27 nail-biter against District 7-AAA’s Siegel, with the Stars not able to get the final 1 yard to win as time expired. The Bears trailed 14-10 at halftime, but McCathern (153 yards, 20 carries) broke a 60-yard run in the third quarter and Hopkins (120 yards, 10 carries) added his 2^nd and 3^rd TDs – the last one a 32-yard for the winning score.

QB Caleb Chowbay doesn’t chunk it often, usually around a dozen or so times a game, but also helps in the run game similar to Winfree.

Against Gallatin on Sept. 30, Mount Juliet ground out 377 rushing yards (188 by McCathern, 122 by Hopkins) including a 95-yard run in the fourth quarter by McCathern. Chowbay had touchdown passes of 20, 6 and 36 yards.

Mt. Juliet rolled up 301 rushing yards against Cookeville in its Oct. 14 shutout, with McCathern rushing for 3 TDs including a 70-yard run. Chowbay also connected on a 45-yard scoring strike, and Taylor Dalton had a 37-yard interception return.

The Bruins’ defensive front led by Nicholas Coffey and Demetrics Brown has been strong all season, and the most anyone has scored on BHS has been 31 – by Gallatin. Brentwood had two shutouts, limited four other foes to one TD or less, and held three more teams to 13 or 14 points.

Sophomore Aaron Maher came up with a big interception last week, and Adam Thetford and Sam Mulaney have been strong at linebacker this year. Coffey also recorded a safety against FHS.

When Brentwood has the ball

The Bruins’ offense hasn’t been a high-octane one, but has been solid enough in most games with its triple-option attack run by first-year starter Austin Winfree at QB. Chudi Echetebu has been the workhorse in the running game and occasionally has cut loose for big yardage.

Brentwood’s offensive line has come into its own after basically retooling with mostly new personnel this fall, including Nick Contini’s emergence on the line. The O-line that graduated a lot of players last season had many holdovers from the Bruins’ most recent trip to the Class 6A semifinals two years ago.

Winfree and the passing game got cranked up against Franklin, with TD passes covering 35 and 40 yards, and Winfree also ran it in from 7 yards out.

And Crawford said not to expect a game that comes down to Mt. Juliet’s offense against Brentwood’s defense.

“We have really done this thing through the team concept,” the BHS coach said. “There are a lot of reasons we’ve not allowed teams to score . . . We're getting first downs on offense, and we're limiting possessions.”

Crawford said even if the Bruins offense is effective, it still might come down to eliminating the big plays on defense. And it also means Brentwood needs to make big plays on offense.

“We’ve all done a good job believing in each other, kind of staying course,” he said of the players and coaching staff getting hot in the playoffs. “We talk about not letting the outside get you down, believe in yourself and think positively, don't get caught up in everything else.

“. . . We've got quite a challenge. It's going to be interesting to see how we respond. It's not only a great challenge, but a great opportunity too.”