By Jonathan Sturdivant / Special to The Bartlett Express
On a chilly night Friday, Nov. 11, Bartlett faced a similar foe in the playoffs – a rematch from the 2020 season when Brentwood came into Bartlett and won 24-14.
Linebacker Nick Luster remembers the Panthers loss in 2020.
“We knew Brentwood was a good team. They beat us a couple of years ago when a lot of us were like backups,” Luster said. “We had a lot of revenge going in … so our prep for that week was you gotta be physical for 48 minutes and go as hard as you can, nose to the ball, and I think we executed that pretty well.”
Bartlett would get its revenge, holding the Bruins offense to just one touchdown Friday in a 28-7 win.
Bartlett (10-2) got the opening kickoff and on third down, quarterback Braylen Ragland found Jade Kneeland on a 71-yard pass play down to the Brentwood 11 yard line. Three plays later, senior Jared Hunt ran it in for a touchdown from 3 yards out, giving Bartlett an early 7-0 lead.
After a Brentwood (8-4) punt, Bartlett drove from its own 10 yard line to Brentwood’s 18 with a mixture of runs and passes, but turned it over on downs at the 18.
In the second quarter, Bartlett mounted a 10-play drive highlighted by a 34-yard Ragland run that took the ball to the Bruins 24 yard line. An incomplete pass on 3rd-and-5 set up a 41-yard field goal by Zach Clutch, but the kick was wide right.
Bartlett’s defense held Brentwood to a 3-and-out and another punt, giving the Panthers offense the ball again.
On fourth down and a yard to go from its own 45, Ragland kept the ball and got a first down. From there, the Panther offense was clicking all the way down to the 5 yard line with one pass and several runs by Terrell Neal then Jared Hunt. Hunt scored again from 5 yards out with 1:31 left in the first half. With the extra point by Pierce Rogers, Bartlett was up 14-0 and took that lead into the halftime break.
Bartlett’s defense held the Bruins to only two first downs in the first half, while Bartlett gathered in 13, going 6-for-9 on third downs. Total yards and time of possession were strongly in Bartlett’s favor – 269 yards vs. 33 yards and 15 minutes to 5 minutes.
Brentwood could nothing with its first possession of the second half. After the punt, Bartlett faced a 3rd-and-1 in its own territory and Terrell Neal was stopped for no gain. On fourth down and 1, Jared Hunt could not convert the first down, giving the ball to the Bruins at the Bartlett 35.
The Bruins moved it to the Bartlett 18. Quarterback Grant Nelson then hit Matthew Manning on 4th-and-6 for a big first down. Adam Fontechia ran it in from 5 yards out to get Brentwood on the board, 14-7.
Brentwood then tried an onside kick, but Panther Andrew Martin took it to the house for a Bartlett touchdown and with under 4 minutes to go in the third quarter, Bartlett was up 21-7.
On its next drive, Brentwood got two key first downs by passing on third down, one a 51-yard pass by Nelson to Clayton Merrill to the Bartlett 10.
Brentwood got 3 yards on a run, but three straight incomplete passes from the 7 turned the ball back over to Bartlett and the third quarter ended 21-7 Bartlett.
Bartlett had to punt on its next possession but got the ball back on downs after Cortez Chambers and David Milburn sacked Nelson for a big loss on fourth down at the Brentwood 44 yard line.
The Panthers went to the ground game, handing off five straight times to Terrell Neal, who powered Bartlett to the Brentwood 3. On fourth-and-1 from the 2 yard line, Georgia State signee Ragland punched it in for the final touchdown of the night, making the score 28-7.
Brentwood had one more chance on their last drive to make it a 2-score game, but Panther Tucker Waltz got a sack on 4th-and-3 at the Bartlett 18.
Receiver Jeremiah “Snap” Reed enjoyed the playoff atmosphere.
“The O line was blocking, the defense was holding them to 7, so the run game was very big for us,” Reed said.
Martin said the defense played really well, giving up only 7 points. And the onside kick he returned?
“I really didn’t think I was going to return it, I thought I was going to go down and have good field position for our offense,” he said. “The onside kick return also gave my team some motivation as well.”
Defensive backs coach LA Owens said everyone embraced the idea of playing strong Friday after giving up 21 points to Centennial in the second half the previous week, a 46-28 win in the first round of the playoffs.
“We’ve gotta learn how to finish,” Owens said. “Our kids played hard this week, boxed the interior to stop the run, stop everything, and the guys in the back stopped the pass. As a unit, we played lights out.”
Bartlett will get a rematch against Germantown (10-2) in the quarterfinal game Friday, Nov. 18, at Panther Stadium at 7 p.m. The Panthers lost to the Red Devils, 17-16, on Sept. 16 when Germantown was able to grab a loose ball in the end zone after Bartlett blocked a punt.
“Bartlett is a well coached, tough team,” Bruins defensive coordinator Mike Kane said after Brentwood’s season ended. “We might not be the most talented team in the world, but our guys battled, but Bartlett made plays when they needed to and we just fell short.”
Ragland finished with 124 yards passing and 74 rushing yards, including the TD run. Luster had 3 tackles and 1 sack, Parker Moore had 4 tackles, and Rahmaan Rinkin had 4 tackles for Bartlett.
The Panthers held the Bruins to -3 yards rushing, while gaining 214 yards on the ground. Bartlett had only 1 penalty all night and dominated time of possession, 36 minutes to 12 minutes.
