The rain died down and the fans awoke for the battle between the Blackman Blaze and the Brentwood Bruins on Friday. Both teams came in with a 7-1 record – the loss for both teams coming at the hands of Oakland.

Brentwood’s future appeared grim as Blackman’s running back DeShawn Smith ran for 73 yards on the game’s first play. He then scored a five-yard touchdown for Blackman’s third play of the game.

“You just can’t simulate their speed in practice,” said BHS senior player Bo Johnson. “We were just missing tackles.”

Neither team had big plays for the rest of the first quarter. Smith, Blackman’s running back, was reminiscent of Titan’s running back Chris Johnson. He either would be tackled behind the line of scrimmage for a loss or dash through the line for a 50-yard gain.

At the beginning the second quarter, the Bruins’ defensive back/receiver Jordan Evans intercepted the ball and gave Brentwood a chance to put points on the board. And they did.

Brentwood quarterback Clay Webber threw a 46-yard touchdown pass to Evans causing him to fully extend his arms and make the catch with his fingertips.

On the ensuing kickoff, Blackman turned the ball over to Brentwood on a fumble at mid-field. Unfortunately, with 10 minutes left in the half, Webber threw the ball directly into Blackman safety Jake Armstrong’s hands for an interception ending the drive.

Brentwood continued to over-pursue Blackman’s agile running game, giving them a chance at a long field goal. The kick was missed and the Bruins had exceptional field position.

A fairly quiet Jeremy Coffey finally broke out by scoring a 57-yard touchdown through the middle for a Brentwood score. The half ended 14-7, with Brentwood holding on to a close lead.

Both teams remained relatively stagnant for the beginning of the second half. Within the last five minutes of the third quarter, Brentwood’s Evans continued to make a few acrobatic catches to advance the Bruins up field. Bruins’ running back Coffey saw the end zone a second time on a one-yard touchdown run. However, the extra-point was missed, making the score 20-7.

The Blackman offense was slowed by constant pressure from Brentwood, led by defensive lineman Graham Slaughter. The Bruins showed speed of their own on a punt return. Evans ran back over a 50-yard punt for a touchdown by sprinting to the outside. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Brentwood led 27-7.

A few minutes into the fourth quarter, one of Blackman’s drives seemed to find a dead end as they faced a fourth and one. But Brentwood’s offside penalty gave Blackman a second chance. After a couple hard-earned runs, Blackman’s Martin Dietrich caught a pass for 76 yards giving the Blaze another touchdown and hope for a comeback with the score 27-21.

Brentwood again received the ball and punted. Blackman started their drive on their own 27 with only a couple minutes left to play in the game. The Blaze continued to execute the two-minute drill perfectly and Brentwood continued to lose its composure. Blackman’s DeShawn Smith caught a pass to put the Blaze past midfield. With less than two minutes left in the game, Smith received the ball on a draw play from the 30 and scored with ease giving the Blaze a 28-27 lead.

With 21 unanswered points, the Bruins attempted to compose one last drive.

Brentwood slowly advanced up-field in hopes of regaining their lead. However, Webber proceeded to throw another interception right into the hands of Blackman’s Tyrek Collier who returned the ball for a touchdown giving the Blaze a 35-27 lead.

With Brentwood’s spirits down and more points to make up, the team scurried to get in a score. The Bruins were able to march up to Blackman’s 13-yard line with nine seconds left on the clock. But with the last play of the game, Webber threw his third interception in the end zone solidifying the win for the Blaze.

 “[The interceptions] will haunt him for a while,” former Brentwood High quarterback Matt Hayes said. “But overall, he was impressive during the game. It’ll take a team effort to rebound from the loss.”

Brentwood Head Coach Ron Crawford told his team at the game’s conclusion, “Failure is not final.”

The Brentwood Bruins will have to come prepared to play four quarters against Franklin High next week if they hope to avenge this bitter loss. The game will be for the district championship.