Was there ever a doubt?

Not to the Forrest Rockets, who pulled off an epic 16-13 region title clinching win in comeback fashion over Lewis County Friday night at the Murrey E. Holton Memorial Field in Chapel Hill to secure Forrest’s first unbeaten regular season since 1980.

“It feels great, it feels awesome, these kids have worked so hard, winning the region was one of our goals and we are just lucky to be 10-0 this week,” Forrest coach Eli Stephenson said. “Lewis County is a heck of a team, they came in physical from the first whistle to the last, I’m just glad we could outlast them.”

The biggest prize of all for the fourth-ranked Rockets is garnering the number one-seed and home field advantage throughout every round of the Class 2A playoffs, excluding the title game of the Blue Cross Bowl State Championships at Tennessee Tech University's Tucker Stadium on Saturday, December 7 at 11 a.m.

The Rockets have been overcoming adversity all season as a myriad of injuries have plagued them throughout the year, but they had all the big guns back Friday night and it paid off as they needed every one of them and every ounce of effort to take down the tough Panthers’ squad.

“We must be doing something right to get all of our kids back at the right time,” Stephenson said. “Now we are ready to make a push.”

Senior Nick McClendon, who missed the last three weeks due to appendicitis and a subsequent surgery, showed no signs of any slowdown as he rushed the rock 20 times for 177 yards and a touchdown.

Junior quarterback Max Kirby had a career night, going 6-for-10 for 85 yards and a touchdown, completing each of the six passes to a different receiver.

“We knew we had to open it up a little bit tonight,” Stephenson said. “Kirby has been doing a great job for us all year, we don’t ask him to do too much, but when we call his number, he makes the plays for us.”

The last pass he completed was the big one with senior Charlie Edmonson hauling in the Kirby toss on a slant route over the middle and taking it 27 yards to the house for the eventual game winning touchdown with 6:50 remaining in the contest.

“That was a great play by Charlie, I couldn’t have done it without my O-Line and my running backs,” Kirby said. “Big time players make big time plays in big time moments and that just shows the chemistry between me and Charlie and my other receivers.”

The Rockets also had to overcome 10 penalties in the game, but did not turn the ball over and once again got some big special teams plays as Cody Sisk nailed a 25-yard field goal and junior Noah Hill, who has been on the shelf with a knee injury, blocked a PAT boot after Lewis County’s opening score.

The Panthers also played a solid game with just one turnover and that came on their last drive of the game when Forrest senior Spencer McCown picked off a long bomb to seal the win with 43 seconds remaining in the title tilt.

Lewis County won the midfield coin toss and deferred as Forrest received the opening kickoff, but their initial drive stalled out and they had to punt.

The Panthers sent an early message that they wanted the title too, needing just six plays to open the scoring when tight end Ethan Lindsley caught a 47-yard touchdown pass from Huntlee Pace.

Hill gave the Rockets a boost with the blocked PAT and they responded with a long, time consuming drive that was capped off by Sisk’s field goal with 11:09 to play in the second quarter.

A nearly six-minute Lewis County drive was halted when the Rockets came up with a huge fourth-down stop with 5:03 remaining in the first half, but they had to punt the ball back to the Panthers after Forrest’s ensuing drive stalled out.

The Panthers could not score on the last drive of the first half and went to the locker room with the 6-3 lead.

The opening drive of any second half is crucial and the Forrest defense stepped up as they forced a Lewis County punt that was a good one, downed at the Rockets’ 9-yard line.

“Our defense did an outstanding from the first whistle to the last,” Stephenson said. “Early on we gave up a big touchdown, but we told our kids if they beat us over top that is alright, we are here to stop the run and we were able to get the big stops when we needed it.”

“That speaks a lot to the pride of the defense and coach (Matthew) Delk and the game plan.”

A Cole Villazon run was followed a McClendon run for a first down before Kirby hooked up with Blaize Sweeney for a five-yard pass play.

Kirby followed with a quarterback run for a first down at the 29-yard line and then McClendon took the handoff and broke through the line, high-stepping through the Lewis County defense 71 yards to the end zone for a touchdown.

Zoe Long’s extra point boot was blocked and Forrest led 9-6 with 5:12 remaining in the third quarter.

The lead was short-lived as the Panthers responded with a seven-play scoring drive, capped off by Christian Nash 33-yard touchdown run.

Blake Carroll booted the PAT through the uprights and the Panthers were back in front 13-9 with 57 seconds left in the third quarter.

The period ended with the Rockets converting for a first-and-10 at their own 47-yard line.

After six runs and an incomplete pass, the Rockets faced a third-and-nine at the 27-yard line when Kirby dropped back and gunned the ball to Edmonson, who hauled in the missile and split two Lewis County defenders on his way to the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown.

“It took me a while to realize what I did,” Edmondson said. “After I caught it and celebrated with my teammates I went back to the sideline I saw it was 16-13 and realized I had made a difference and it felt great.”

“This feels great, unless you know what Forrest football is about you wouldn’t get it, we put our heart and soul in to this program every day.”

This time, Long’s PAT boot was true and the Rockets led 16-13 with six and a half minutes remaining in the contest.

The Forrest defense denied the Panthers again and forced another punt with 4:49 left in the game.

The Rockets went in to the major pound and ground mode to burn the clock and eventually punted the ball back to Lewis County after a three minute plus drive.

The Panthers were in desperation mode as they needed a field goal to tie the game and on the fourth play of the series, Pace went deep, but McCown had position and sealed the win with a leaping interception.

“It was such a great feeling, I’m just glad I could make a play for my team, there were a couple plays I messed up earlier in the game and I knew I had to make up for it,” McCown said. “This feels great in my senior year, we have worked so hard since last year and it feels great to see it all pay off.”

Forrest went in to victory formation before the fans rushed the field in glee to celebrate with their Rockets.

“It’s such a great feeling to know our fans are out there cheering us on to pump us up,” McCown said. “The best feeling is we get to come and play in front of our town, it is such a great feeling to have all that support there.”

The Rockets (10-0) open up the postseason Friday night versus the Region 6-AA fourth-seeded Hickman County Bulldogs (5-5) with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m.

“Hickman County is a good football team,” Stephenson said. “We have to come in this weekend and break them down and have our kids ready to play next Friday.”

Forrest needs 12 wins to break the all-time school record set by the 2016 squad that went 11-2.

The other second-round games between Region 5-AA and 6-AA Friday night are Riverside (5-5) at Lewis County (7-2), Eagleville (7-3) at Houston County (9-1), and Summertown (6-4) at Waverly (6-4).

With a win Friday night, Forrest hosts the winner of the Eagleville/Houston County game next week.

Lewis County 6 0 7 0-13

Forrest 0 3 6 7-16

Scoring Plays

First Quarter

Lewis County-Ethan Lindsley 47-yard pass from Huntlee Pace, PAT blocked, 5:39

Second Quarter

Forrest-Cody Sisk 25-yard field goal, 11:09.

Third Quarter

Forrest-Nick McClendon 71-yard run, PAT blocked, 5:12.

Lewis County-Christian Nash 33-yard run, Blake Carroll PAT, 0:57.

Fourth Quarter

Forrest-Charlie Edmondson 27-yard pass from Max Kirby, Zoe Long PAT, 6:50.

Total Offense: Lewis County 264, Forrest 324.

Rushing: Lewis County 223, Forrest 239.

Passing: Lewis County 41, Forrest 85.

First Downs: Lewis County 15, Forrest 15.

Penalties: Lewis County 4-25, 10-65.

Turnovers: Lewis County 1, Forrest 0.

Forrest Offense

Rushing: Nick McClendon 20-177-TD, Cole Villazon 11-32, Blaize Sweeney 3-17, Max Kirby 4-7, Joseph Whitaker 2-6.

Passing: Max Kirby 6-10-85-TD.

Receiving: Charlie Edmonson 1-27-TD, Cole Villazon 1-18, Spencer McCown 1-13, Joel Burton 1-11, Nick McClendon 1-11, Blaize Sweeney 1-5.

Kicking

PAT: Zoe Long 1-2.

Field Goals: Cody Sisk 1-1-25.

Defense

Tackles: Spencer McCown 10 (INT), Cole Villazon 10, Tate Garvin 7, Nick McClendon 7, Blaize Sweeney 7, Noah Hill 6, Max Kirby 5, Layne Strasser 5, Layne Bowman 4, Sammy Williams 4, Joel Burton 3.

Final Region 5-AA Standings

Forrest 10-0, 5-0

Lewis County 7-2, 3-2

Eagleville 7-3, 3-2

Summertown 6-4, 3-2

Loretto 3-7, 1-4

Community 1-9, 0-5