Tiger Football Names Eight to All-Region Team

By superadmin | January 18, 2011

The 2010 Edition of the Macon County High School Football team rapped up play in a very close 21-28 loss to David Lipscomb High School in the first round of the T.S.S.A.A. State Playoffs.

The 2010 Tiger football team accomplished a lot during the season that saw them win their first game since a 6-0 win over Pearl Cohn on September 5, 2008 when they beat Sycamore High School 21-13 on September 17, 2010. They also handed the Smith County High School football team their only regular season loss the following week with a 20-6 win in which the Tigers gave their fans an indication of just how good they could be. They added wins over DeKalb County (55-14), Livingston Academy (34-24) and Westmoreland (14-6) while compiling a 5 win/5 loss season and earning the first playoff berth for Macon County High School football since the 2005 season.

The 2010 Tigers averaged 24 points per game while rushing for 2,154 yards and passing for 1,104 yards. The Tiger offense ran 584 plays for 3,258 total yards averaging 5.6 yards per play and 296 yards per game. Zack Shockley led the rushing attack with 1,061 yards on 171 carries with 11 touchdowns. Tyler Drown was second on the team with 363 yards on 64 carries with 4 touchdowns and Jessee Newberry was third on the team with 290 yards on 59 carries with 2 touchdowns. Dallas Grace had 1,104 passing yards completing 94 passes on 166 attempts while completing 57% of his passes. He passed for 13 touchdowns and 11 interceptions and finished the season with a 125.08 quarterback rating. He added 199 yards rushing on 63 carries with 4 touchdowns. Dallas became the Tiger’s all-time leading passer with 3,401 yards with 28 touchdowns completing 57% of his passes during his career. Tyler Manning had 472 receiving yards on 39 catches and scored 4 touchdowns. Zack Shockley added 247 receiving yards on 15 catches with 4 touchdowns and Jacob Salyer had 239 yards on 18 catches with 5 touchdowns. The offense was led upfront by Chase Greenhalgh at center, Brock Driver and Chris Escamilla at guard and Matt Key and Nick Willson at tackle.

Defensively, the 2010 Tigers were much improved holding their opponents to an average of 27 points per game will giving up an average of 230 yards rushing per game and 81 yards passing per game. Their opponents ran a total of 495 plays for 3,414 yards averaging 6.9 yards per play and 310 yards per game. Maverick Hesson led the team with 53 tackles while Will Bandy had 52 tackles and Dylan Warner added 47 tackles. Dallas Grace led the team with 6 interceptions returning 2 for touchdowns and Dylan Gross had 3 fumble recoveries.

Eight Tiger football players were named to the All-Region team at the end of the season. Zack Shockley was named Co-Offensive MVP, Tyler Manning was named First Team Wide Receiver, Chase Greenhalgh was named First Team Offensive Line, Dallas Grace was named First Team Defensive Back and Alex Bilbrey was named First Team Defensive Line. Maverick Hesson, Nick Willson and Garrett Emberton were also named All-Region.

Alex Bilbrey