Following a one year hiatus, the region championship returned back to Lewisburg after the Tigers dominated Nolensville (8-2, 4-1) in front of the statewide audience as the MyTV30 Friday Night Rivals game of the week.

With every major media entity from the Mid-State represented in Lewisburg, Marshall County (8-2, 5-0) held the Knights scoreless for three and a half quarters before two late Nolensville touchdowns fixed the region championship final at 30-14 in the Tigers’ favor.

"Obviously, we are we are really excited about winning a region championship," Marshall County coach Thomas Osteen said. "Just knowing all the work these coaches and players put in it is very gratifying anytime you can put a region championship stamp on your season."

"It was huge for our program," Osteen continued. "We pride ourselves in being in the championship conversation and want our brand of football to be evident everywhere we play. It was really sweet to win a region title with our program and school being on display for the whole mid-state on TV."

The Knights came into the contest with the reputation of a dominant defense as 2A Watertown's 14 points was the highest output by an opponent’s offense before the Marshall County game and the previous week’s 25-23 loss to 6A playoff qualifier Franklin.

Featuring two big defensive players committed to Division I schools, the Knights held every opponent besides Franklin, Watertown, and Maplewood (10 points) to single digits in the scoring column.

"Nolensville is an excellent team," Osteen pointed out. "We really took advantage of having two weeks to prepare for them. Nolensville had dominated the line of scrimmage in most of their games this year."

The Tigers took exception to the Knights defensive reputation, scoring two first quarter touchdowns, a touchdown and field goal in the second quarter, and a another score midway through the third quarter to hold a 30-0 advantage in a dominant show of how powerful the Marshall County attack can be when all three phases of the game are clicking together.

"We stressed all week the importance of playing physical and fast and the kids really took hold to that," Osteen said. "I think it was the hardest we have played all year and probably the most complete game we have played in a couple years."

Running back Kel Greer ended the regular season with perhaps the senior's best game of the season with 181 yards and three scores on 34 carries to finish the 2019 campaign with 964 yards and 17 touchdowns heading into the playoffs.

The first quarter belonged to Greer, who gave the Tigers a 6-0 lead with a six-yard plunge with just over seven minutes left in the opening frame.

Tez Allen, who finished with four tackles, blocked a Nolensville field goal attempt on the ensuing possession and Greer picked right up where he left off with a 53 yard scoring run to give the Tigers a 13-0 advantage heading into the second quarter.

Marshall County quarterback Bryson Hammons added to the Tigers score in the second quarter with a quarterback sneak from one yard out and pushed the score to 20-0 just inside the second quarter.

Possibly the most accurate field goal kicker in the entire state, Jon Estes, hammered home his twelfth field goal out of thirteen attempts from 35 yards out just before the half and the Tigers took a commanding 23-0 lead to the locker room.

Any thoughts the Knights had at a heroic comeback to win the region title was squashed on the opening drive of the third quarter when Greer waltzed into the end zone from one yard out to cap off a 5:13 drive for a 30-0 lead.

Nolensville finally entered the scoring column with 5:56 remaining in the game on a 22-yard run by Liberty commitment Tim Coutras to trim the lead to 30-7 and after a three-and-out by the Tigers, Coutras struck again with a 25-yard reception but the scoring was much too little much too late and the Tigers ran out the clock for its fourth region title in five years.

"I felt we controlled the first three quarters and never let them get any real momentum," Osteen recalled. "However the game is much different if they catch a couple open deep balls that they missed or execute better in the red zone. Play to play the game was much closer than the score indicated."

The seventh-ranked Tigers will now welcome a familiar foe to Preston Hopkins Field this Friday in Stone Memorial (3-7) the number-four seed from Region 3-4A.

The Panthers beat 0-10 Cumberland County for the final playoff spot just a year after finishing as the number-one seed with a 9-1 record heading into the playoffs.

"They have a lot of pride in their program," Osteen mentioned. "Their coach has done a great job putting excitement in their program. We had a nail bitter with them last year in overtime. So hopefully that will be all our kids need to motivate themselves to have a great week of preparation."

The roles were reversed in the first weekend of the playoffs last season with the number-four seeded Tigers beating the top seeded Panthers 30-29 in overtime in dramatic fashion with the Tigers scoring a two-point conversion to move onto the second round while the rest of 4-4A swept 3-4A for the fourth year in a row.

The number two seed and eighth-ranked Knights (8-2) will host Macon County (5-5), third-seeded Tullahoma (7-3) will travel to DeKalb County (6-4), and fourth-seeded Maplewood (3-7) will travel to unbeaten, sixth-ranked Livingston Academy (10-0).

Nolensville 0 0 0 14-14

Marshall County 13 10 7 0-30

Scoring Plays

First Quarter

Marshall County-Kel Greer 6-yard run, PAT NG.

Marshall County-Kel Greer 53-yard run, Jon Estes PAT.

Second Quarter

Marshall County-Bryson Hammons 1-yard run, Jon Estes PAT.

Marshall County-Jon Estes 35-yard field goal.

Third Quarter

Marshall County-Kel Greer 26-yard run, Jon Estes PAT.

Fourth Quarter

Nolensville-23-yard rushing touchdown, PAT.

Nolensville-Ryder Galardi 30-yard touchdown pass, PAT.

Region 4-4A Final Standings

Marshall County 8-2, 5-0

Nolensville-8-2, 4-1

Tullahoma 7-3, 3-2

Maplewood 3-7, 2-3

Spring Hill 1-9, 1-4

Lawrence County 4-6, 0-5

Marshall County Offense (302 yards): Rushing 208, Passing 94.

Rushing: Kel Greer 34-181-3TD, Connor Hilton 4-28, Bryson Hammons 5-(-1)-TD.

Passing: Bryson Hammons 11-15-94-0-0.

Receiving: Devon Wilson 4-15, Devonte Davis 3-25, Andrew Gold 2-29, A’Ky Howard 2-15.

Kicking

PAT: Jon Estes 3-4.

Field Goals: Jon Estes 1-1-35.

Kickoffs: Jon Estes 6-348-3TB.

Punts: Joseph Gold 1-21.

Returns

Kickoffs: Devon Wilson 1-34.

Defense

Tackles: Christian Stacey 8, Hunter Rolof 6, Riqkyous Summers 6, Lamarion Pierce 5, Connor Hilton 5, Chandler Davis 5, Tez Allen 4, Andrew Gold 4, Logan McKnight 4, Keylin Talley 4, Hayden Sheppard 3, Devonte Davis 2, Casey Southerland 1.