Tucker tops Marist for 1st-ever state title

There weren’t any coolers on the Tucker sideline, so the Tigers, celebrating their 15-3 win over Marist in the Class AAAA state championship, improvised.

Water bottles, for the record, can create quite a spray when squeezed en masse. And trophy kisses are sweet. Tucker’s Jonathan Davis, who scored the game’s only touchdown, stood on the podium at the Georgia Dome’s 20-yard line and smooched the silver cup in unabashed joy.

“It feels tremendous,” said Tucker coach Franklin Stephens, who led the Tigers to their first-ever state title in his second season at the DeKalb County school. “It’s been 40 years or whatever it was, and it’s like the entire Tucker community has been vindicated.”

The win avenged a 38-0 whipping by the War Eagles on Sept. 26, and in almost every way possible, that game was reversed. The Tigers (14-1) outgained Marist (13-2) 322-71, more than completely opposite from the yardage totals in the first game. And the option pitches that the War Eagles burned them with the first time netted virtually nothing Friday night.

“We didn’t know we were going to stone them like that,” said Tucker linebacker Darrell Harris, “but we knew we were going to give them a physical game.”

The biggest way was Tucker’s version of keep-away.

Tucker ran 74 offensive plays to Marist’s 27 for the game, putting up drives of 20, 13, 9, 9 and 15 plays. Four different Tucker runners had 50 yards, led by Devin Scott’s 63, and quarterback Chris Beck passed for 97 yards.

“Tucker came out and wanted it more than we did,” said Marist quarterback Kyle Farmer, who ran for more than 80 yards in the first game but was held to 26 Friday. “It was pretty frustrating, knowing what we did to them last time.”

The Tigers got a stop on the game’s opening possession, then took 8:58 to run 20 plays and drive 81 yards to their first score, a 24-yard field goal by Ricky Peacock.

Chris Beck came up big on two fourth-down plays, sneaking for one first down and scrambling 16 yards for another.

Still, Marist was down 8-0 entering the fourth quarter. Tucker drove to the War Eagles’ 15-yard line on the opening series of the second half, but on first down, Jonathan Davis was stopped on a run to the right, reversed field and lost 14 yards. Worse for Tucker, the Tigers were flagged for a block in the back, pushing them all the way out to the 44.

The teams exchanged punts and Marist drove to its only score, Justin Moore’s 50-yard field goal with 11:19 to play.

Then Tucker answered with a 15-play drive that ended in the game’s only touchdown, Davis’ 11-yard run with 2:47 to play, and the celebration was on.