Page seniors deliver first TSSAA football state championship after 4 years of heartbreak
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CHATTANOOGA — Page senior offensive lineman Jacob Rathbone cradled the TSSAA football state championship as if he’d never let the trophy go.
It took this long to capture it — why give it away?
In each of the previous four years, Rathbone, son of Page coach Charles Rathbone, has sat with his dad at breakfast the day after a loss in the Class 5A BlueCross Bowl.
“Terrible,” Jacob Rathbone said. “Some of the lowest moments of my life, coming back home from the losses.”
On Dec. 5, they bawled their eyes out together after Page defeated Sevier County 21-14 to claim the program’s first state championship.
“Me and him, we’re very close,” said Jacob, a Central Arkansas signee. “I’ve never seen either one of us cry happy tears here. It meant everything to do it together on the biggest stage of them all.”
Page (14-0) had to claw past defending champion Sevier County (13-2) in order to erase the pain of four consecutive state final losses — a TSSAA football streak second only to Brentwood Academy’s five consecutive runner-up finishes in DII-AAA from 2000-04.
Page’s seniors had only known heartbreak in Chattanooga in what was starting to become known as The Streak.
Cohen Grissom, a senior transfer from Forrest, was named the championship game MVP after tallying 14 tackles, two sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss. He wasn’t there for the hard times at Finley Stadium, but he could sense them when he joined the program, he said.
Patriots senior linebacker Sean Cunningham took the gold ball for a victory lap along the brick wall where Page fans gathered to celebrate. Two of his family members were part of The Streak. He played with his brother, Ethan, when the Patriots lost the 2022 final to Knoxville West. Their cousin, Seth Cabale, helped Page reach its first title game against Powell in 2021.
“I mean, we’ve all just been waiting,” Cunningham said. “This was the last chance for our family. There’s no one else behind me.”
Page junior quarterback Cam Kruse hit senior Cayden Aukerman in stride for a 45-yard TD with 58 seconds left. Nothing was guaranteed, though, until Page knocked down Cooper Newman’s Hail Mary attempt as the clock struck 0:00.
Page senior defensive back Knight Wilson said the ball seemed to hang in the air forever.
“I’ve been through too many of these where you don’t know. I wasn’t going to do anything until I had this gold ball in my hand,” said Wilson, an Air Force commitment who gave Page its first lead, 14-7, after stretching his arm over the pylon for a 15-yard touchdown with 6:12 left in the fourth quarter.
Clemson offensive lineman Ronan O’Connell was part of three Page losses in the finals during his high school career. He’d never returned for a game until this one. Former Patriot stars Eric Hazzard (Louisville) and Brendan Anes (Tennessee) also visited from college to see if their alma mater would finish the task.
Once they did, the Rathbones could start preparing for a more joyful breakfast.
Tyler Palmateer covers high school sports for The Tennessean. Have a story idea for Tyler? Reach him at tpalmateer@tennessean.com and on the X platform, @tpalmateer83.
He also contributes to The Tennessean's high school sports newsletter, The Bootleg. Subscribe to The Bootleg here.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Page defeats Sevier County for first TSSAA football state championship
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