Haywood football aims to bring home a TSSAA state championship after years of being so close

BROWNSVILLE – Haywood football has been so close to its goals for almost a decade.

The Tomcats have made four appearances in the TSSAA state championship game, the last coming in 2020. Since 2017, if Haywood hasn’t made the championship game, it has played in the semifinals, including last year’s 48-20 loss to eventual state champion Pearl Cohn.

Going into the 2024 season, the biggest question for the Tomcats is how can they find that extra win or two to bring the gold ball back to Brownsville?

“We’ve got to play as a team,” said senior lineman Jeff Parker. “We have more leaders on the field. But we still need to have those leaders and we’ve got to play for each other.”

The Tomcats had a high-powered offense last season with 39.2 points per game, including nine games scoring 40 or more points, as they finished 11-3.

Deandre Hines, another Tomcats senior lineman, said that the team had several disadvantages in the preseason last year with key players out with injury but were able to get back on the field.

“I feel like we’re at a better point than last year,” Hines said.

The Tomcats have some Power Five talent in wide receiver and defensive back Caden Harris, some other high-level talent in defensive back Connor Fason and running back Kemonte Williams among others.

Haywood also has some tough tests throughout the season with a tough non-region schedule, including the season opener against PURE Academy and a highlight road trip to Oakland in Week 3. Another game to watch is the Tomcats’ eighth game, at home against Hardin County.

Tomcats coach Josh Puckett said the nature of the schedule should set the team up well going into the playoffs. Until then, though, the thought is all about the day-to-day and preparing for that first game.

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“It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” Puckett said. “We don’t have to be perfect (in the preseason), but we’ve got to be better than we were yesterday. … If we keep doing that, we’ll be right by the time we get to Thanksgiving.”

Playing on Thanksgiving weekend is exciting; it’s become a tradition for Haywood. However, everyone around the program wants that tradition to extend another week, especially this year.

“The goal is a state championship,” Puckett said. “Anything less than a state championship is looked at as a busted season. It’s state title or bust. That’s a lot of pressure, but that’s what it is, that’s what this program his, this community is and that’s how we’ve got to be.”

Austin Chastain is a sports writer covering West Tennessee high schools. Reach him by email at achastain@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @ChastainAJ.

This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: Haywood football aims to bring home a TSSAA state championship after years of being so close