No. 31 Alcoa captures 4th straight Tennessee high school football championship

alcoaTwitter Photo by @JPrince30
gamestrat high school football sideline instant replay

Alcoa’s trophy cases picked-up more hardware Saturday. The Tornadoes won their fourth straight high school football state championship with a 21-14 victory over Covington in the Class 3A title game, which gives the school a state-record 17 overall football championships..

This one came down to the end with the teams tied at 14-14 with five minutes to play. That’s when Alcoa quarterback Walker Russell, the Tennessee Titans Class 3A Mr. Football, scored on a 1-yard run with 16 seconds to play. The score capped a 17-play, 80-yard drive that lasted four minutes and 45 seconds.

The game marked the 500th overall in Gary Rankins coaching career. It was also his 14th overall state championship, which includes four at Riverdale High. Rankins’ all-time record now stands at 425-75, which makes him the state’s all-time winningest football coach.

Related: Stadium Project – Alcoa High School

Alcoa entered the game ranked No. 31 in the High School Football America 100 national rankings and No. 1 in our statewide rankings.

No More Fumbles

Play Football

nfl play football

About the Author

Jeff Fisher
Jeff is an award-winning journalist and expert in the field of high school sports, underscored with his appearance on CNBC in 2010 to talk about the big business of high school football in America.Jeff turned to his passion for high school football into an entrepreneurial venture called High School Football America, a digital media company focused on producing original high school sports content for radio, television and the internet.Jeff is co-founder and editor-in-chief of High School Football America, a partner with NFL Play Football.