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Ethan Cunningham entered Page’s senior night and Region 6-5A championship game against Nolensville with a ton of momentum. Last week the Patriots’ senior back had one of the best games of his career rushing for 158 yards and a touchdown in an important 12-point win over Centennial.
As good as that night was, it had nothing on what Cunningham would do against the Knights.
Cunningham ran for over well over 100 yards and scored three times on the ground as the Patriots closed out the regular season with a 45-14 win and their second region title in three years.
“This is amazing because we’ve been working for this moment for a long time,” Cunningham said. “Doing this on my senior night, this is how I wanted it to happen.”
Cunningham attributed a lot of his success to having a healthy offensive line in front of him leading the way. Clemson commitment Ronan O’Connell returned last week after missing much of the year with an injury as did a few other pieces on the Patriots’ line.
“I think he’s been hungry all year and to have his offensive line back, I know he’s excited,” Page coach Charles Rathbone said. “I’m happy for him and deserves it because he works so hard.”
Page’s defense continues to dominate
With Cunningham setting the tone on offense, the Patriots’ defense didn’t let Nolensville find the end zone until the third quarter.
The Knights intercepted a pass by Jonathan Palmer and a play later Aaron Sylvester connected with Caleb Pharr a play later for a long touchdown. After Cunningham scored his third touchdown late in the third to put Page up 30-7, Zion Tamaska made the game a little more interesting with his short touchdown run with 10:44 remaining.
That’s as close as the Patriots would let things get though.
William Wiebush intercepted a Sylvester pass on Nolensville’s next drive and took it to the house making it 37-14. Wiebush’s pick-six was followed up immediately by one from Brenden Anes to cap off another blowout win for the Patriots.
“When I got it I was just like ‘dang, did he really just throw it me?’,” Anes said. “I watched Wiebush get his pick and knew he was gone the second he got it. It was just a great night all around.
…the d-line got pressure on their quarterback all night. The linebackers player great as did the secondary and they really only got us on one play. It was a great night for the defense again.”
