The Tullahoma Wildcats turned three of McGavock’s five turnovers into 20 points on their way to a season-opening 36-12 victory over the Raiders Friday night in Nashville. The Wildcats led 36-0 with 90 seconds remaining in the first half, and the mercy rule clock ran until McGavock scored with 8:08 remaining in the contest against Tullahoma reserves.

Tullahoma (1-0, 0-0) will travel to Cookeville this Friday to face a Cavaliers team that dropped its season opener 21-7 to Brentwood Thursday night. The game will be broadcast live on Fantasy 101.5FM, FantasyRadio.com, and Charter channel six, with pregame beginning at 6pm and kickoff at 7. McGavock (0-1, 0-0) hosts Mt.  Juliet this weekend.

“I’m really pleased with the effort that our young men and our coaching staff gave this week,” said victorious head coach John Olive on the field following the game. “I thought our defense played a great game, forcing five turnovers; the offensive line had a good night, and our running backs and receivers ran hard and fast.”

The outcome was basically decided after junior linebacker Justin Brown intercepted a Pressley Gamble pass with 43 seconds remaining in the first quarter and Tullahoma leading 10-0. Ninety seconds later Trey Burks left a Raider defender tackling air and scored from eight yards out, and after Joseph Burke’s PAT the Tullahoma lead was 17-0 and the rout was on.

With a 36-0 halftime lead and the mercy clock set to begin running in the third quarter, Olive began substituting freely and most every available Wildcat eventually played.

“It is great to get a win to start the season,” added Olive. “We did some things on offense tonight that we hadn’t really shown in the preseason. I’m sure the McGavock coaching staff and players were a little confused. Cookeville will look at the film from tonight and they won’t be near as confused. It’s always good though to build depth, and we got most everybody some plays tonight.”

McGavock won the toss and deferred, so the ‘Cats took the opening kickoff and were jump-started by Montrell Berry’s 28-yard return, setting the offense up at the Tullahoma 40. Shaquille Harris took a handoff and raced 30 yards on the big play in the drive, which ended when Burks, who rushed for 66 yards in eight carries and scored three times, powered in from the one.

The drive took over six minutes, with a steady dose of Burks, Berry, and Harris.  Berry had eight carries for 71 yards and a touchdown, all in the first half, while Harris rushed twice for 37 yards and caught four passes for 29 yards and a touchdown.

“We have some very athletic players on this team and when they get the ball in open space they are hard to tackle, continued the coach. “We followed our blocks and held onto the ball.” For the game Tullahoma rushed 30 times for 214 yards and four touchdowns.

On the kickoff following the opening touchdown drive, Burke sailed the kickoff into the end zone, one of three touchbacks on the night for the senior kicker. The defense immediately took control, holding the Raiders to minus-three yards and forcing a punt. Burks returned the punt 30 yards, giving the Wildcat offense a short field at the Raider 18. McGavock sniffed out a pair of short Jared Davis passes, and Burke finished off the drive with a 31-yard field goal, giving the Wildcats a 10-0 lead with 2:27 left in the first quarter.

After Brown’s pick and Burk’s TD, McGavock fumbled on its first offensive play and junior linebacker Joseph London recovered at the Raider 12. On third-and-13, Davis found Harris for a 15-yard score and Tullahoma was on top 23-0 with 8:12 remaining in the first half. Davis was a very efficient 11-16 through the air for 81 yards and a touchdown. He also ran three times for eight net yards and led the offense with confidence and without turnovers.

“Jared really played well tonight,” added Olive. “He has struggled and pressed a little bit during our scrimmages, but he’s a talented player and a good leader and he did exactly what we asked him to do.”

The Wildcat defense, on its way to holding McGavock to only 33 yards of total offense in the first half, stopped the Raiders on fourth-and-two, and again the offense got great field position at its 45. Davis raced 24 yards down the left sideline on first down, and a play later Berry exploded through would be tacklers and scored from 23 yards away.

When it seemed like it couldn’t get any better for Tullahoma and any worse for McGavock, it did. Senior safety Ryan Lawson, who missed all but a few plays of the 2010 season with a knee injury, intercepted a Gamble pass at midfield.

Davis connected with senior receiver Austin Creasman, who had three catches for 23 yards,  twice for 22 yards  during the next drive, and Burks took  the rushing load, scoring from eight yards away to give Tullahoma a 36-0 lead with ninety seconds remaining in the opening half. McGavock fumbled it away yet again before intermission, but the Wildcat offense couldn’t take advantage.

With the outcome decided and the mercy clock set to start, the Wildcats went into the third quarter aiming to let that clock run and control the football. McGavock helped the cause by fumbling again on its first drive, and senior linebacker Sam Epley pounced on it, although the offense couldn’t take advantage.

After an exchange of punts and a 13-minute real time third quarter, the Raiders added their two scores against a consistent stream of Tullahoma reserves. McGavock ended up with 214 yards total offense, with approximately 150 of it coming against reserves. The Raiders kept their first team offense on the field until the end.

Although the win was convincing and fun for the Wildcat family, Olive cautioned about getting too excited. “It just counts as one win, and the next game is going to be against a much more mature team who has now seen us on film,” concluded Olive. We’ll enjoy this tonight then get back to work tomorrow.”