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Whitehaven blitzed Ravenwood with 33 second-half points, turning a 17-point, first-half deficit into a blowout, as the Tigers advanced to the TSSAA 6A finals with a 43-24 thumping of the Raptors in Memphis on Friday.
Ravenwood ended its season at 12-3. Whitehaven (11-3), led by Cameron Sneed’s three touchdowns, will take on Oakland for the state title on Thursday, Nov. 29, at Tennessee Tech.
Ravenwood’s Anthony Holmes broke Van Jefferson’s single-season school record for touchdown catches, getting his 13th of the season in the first half.
Whitehaven pulled within 24-22 midway through the third quarter, thanks to a Keveon Mullins touchdown on a pass from Keyshawn Harris. The Raptors blocked the point-after, and that remained the score at the end of the third quarter.
The Tigers then took their first lead of the night on a Mullins touchdown, followed by a Sneed 2-point conversion.
A bad Ravenwood punt snap gave Whitehaven the ball at the Raptor 19. Sneed ran over minutes later, and what had once been a 17-point Ravenwood lead was now a 37-24 deficit.
Another Sneed touchdown, followed by another blocked point-after, accounted for the game’s last points.
Ravenwood led 10-0 at the end of a quarter, thanks to a Luke Akers field goal and a 3-yard scoring run by William Baine. Then, Holmes caught the record-breaking touchdown catch on a 57-yard throw from Brian Garcia with 8:36 to play in the first half.
Then began a scoring flurry late before half. Whitehaven got on the board with a Mamadou Anne field goal late in the half after the Raptors lost a fumble deep in their territory, then, scoring on a long touchdown run.
But the Raptors answered with a Garcia-to-Andrew Mason touchdown before the break to lead 24-10.
