When Alcoa chose to move up to Class 4A this season many questioned whether the Tornadoes’ streak of 10 straight championships could continue against the tougher level of competition.
On Friday night at the Burley Stadium Alcoa put any of those doubts to rest as it took down Greeneville 35-7 in the state semifinals and will now play in the state championship game for the 12th straight season.
“It wasn’t our best effort tonight but that won’t define this football team,” Greeneville coach Eddie Spradlen said. “We couldn’t get it going on either side of the ball. We needed one side of the ball to get something going and it never happened. Things just snowballed and we couldn’t get it under control.”
For the Greene Devils the season comes to an end in the semifinals for the second time in three years. They end the year with a 12-2 record. The senior class will end its time at Greeneville with a 44-6 record.
“This group has meant the world to me and this program. The reason we were successful is because of those seniors,” Spradlen said. “I couldn’t be more proud of this group. They’ve won a lot of football games and we’ve made a lot memories. At the end of the day hopefully we’ve impacted their lives a little.”
The night started with Alcoa forcing a Greeneville punt and then running back Micah Jones went to work. On the 71-yard drive the big running back had two carries of 14 yards before he powered through the defense for a 21-yard gain. Jones capped things with a one-yard score.
The drive set the tone for what would come the rest of the night as Alcoa’s offensive line not only kept quarterback Thomas Manu untouched, they provided the push needed for the Tornadoes running backs to pick of yards in chunks.
“They haven’t used the big back much recently, but he ran it hard tonight. They have a really good offensive line that challenged us,” Spradlen said. “We thought we could make them throw the football. I thought we could be a lot better in the run game than we were tonight.”
Jones finished the day with 137 yards on 16 carries and as a team Alcoa ran for 299 yards on Friday.
On Alcoa’s next series Manu, a Mr. Football finalist, hit Jamir Dean on a slant on third down. Dean brushed off a couple of defenders and raced 72-yards to the six-yard line.
Two plays later Manu rushed in for a four-yard touchdown and 14-0 lead.
Two sacks on the next Greene Devils’ series led to a third punt in the first 13 minutes.
On the night Alcoa’s defensive front got after quarterback Caden Baugh in a manner the quarterback had not seen all season. He was sacked five times, and the Tornadoes’ secondary gave him few open windows when he did manage to find time to throw.
Alcoa went up 21-0 with 7:34 left in the first half when Jones delivered a halfback pass to Dean who went around the defender to make a catch for a 19-yard touchdown.
Greeneville showed life for the first time on offense when Tegan Begley took off to the left and spun out of a tackle for a 27-yard gain. Begley picked up another first down on the drive, but another sack forced Greeneville’s fourth punt of the first half.
With 4:11 to go in the first half Dean quickly got behind the defense and Manu hit him streaking down the right boundary for an 86-yard touchdown and 28-0 lead.
Kaine Ricker did intercept a pass at the pylon to get Greeneville’s first stop of the night with 52 seconds left in the first half.
The Tornadoes started the second half with Jones picking up gains of 18 and 12 yards before Manu ripped off an 18-yard run. DeMauri Dubose capped the drive by weaving through the defense for a 24-yard touchdown and 35-0 lead.
Greeneville answered with its first sustained drive of the night and made its way to the 11-yard line. But two more sacks and an incomplete pass ended the drive with no damage done.
With 2:29 left to play Maddox Bishop broke off an 80-yard run for the Greene Devils to get them on the board and avoided the program’s first shutout since 2012.
Alcoa moves on to play Pearl Cohn next week in the Class 4A State Championship game.
Greeneville finished the day with 257 yards of offense. Begley ran for 90 yards. Baugh threw for 63 yards and ran for 17. Bishop went for 80 yards on his lone rush attempt.
For Alcoa Manu threw for 208 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 32 yards and another score. Jones ran for 137 yards on 16 carries with a score. He also threw a touchdown pass. Dubose ran for 111 yards on 10 carries with a touchdown. Dean had three catches for 177 yards and two touchdowns.
As a team the Tornadoes ran for 299 yards and produced 526 yards of total offense.
After suffering a disappointing season-ending loss to Alcoa, 35-7, hear what Greeneville’s Head Coach Eddie Spradlen’s thoughts were as he reflected on the loss and the season. pic.twitter.com/1ZNQ7fUuaX
— GreeneSportsZone (@GSportsZone) November 29, 2025
Alcoa wins against Greeneville with a 35-7 score. Maddox Bishop scored Greeneville's only touchdown on an 80-yard run. #FirstHorizon pic.twitter.com/we7lZcDhfR
— GreeneSportsZone (@GSportsZone) November 29, 2025
