The Tuscola Mountaineers slipped by the Cherokee Braves 36-35 on Friday.
Tuscola found their leader in sophomore Sam Trantham, who rushed for 176 yards and three TDs while picking up 8.8 yards per carry. Trantham's longest rush was for an incredible 71 yards. Isaiah Hyatt did his part to keep the secondary busy, picking up 115 receiving yards.
Wins are hard to come by when you can't run the rock, something Tuscola proved: they limited Cherokee to a paltry 3.5 yards per carry. The team can thank Ty Walker for the heroic effort on defense: he. Tuscola didn't have any issues in that department, having averaged 5.5.
Tuscola didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. In fact, those interceptions all came courtesy of defensive juggernaut Elijah Pruitt. Tuscola got some further help from Walker: he made 14 total tackles (2.0 for loss).
Cherokee lost despite a true team effort on offense. The best among them was Javin Garcia, who picked up 134 receiving yards and a pair of scores, and also punched in one touchdown on the ground. Another player making a difference was Kingston Welch, who rushed for 123 yards and one TD.
The win got Tuscola back to even at 1-1. As for Cherokee, their loss dropped their record down to an identical 1-1.
Coming up, Tuscola will face off against South Caldwell at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. As for Cherokee, they will challenge Choctaw Central at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
