Tunstall has a long tradition of deep postseason runs in the state baseball tournament, producing a line of standout pitchers that included the likes of Bubba Scarce, Wil Inman, along with Jacob and Justin Thompson.
But Buddy Brown's football team has done its part this season in Dry Fork, and now the Trojans are set to make their very first state semifinal appearance.
“It's so exciting. We've been wanting this the whole year,” Tunstall quarterback Chris Buckner said. “This is what we've been working up to play for. Throughout the summer we all knew we were gonna be a good team. We just needed to do what we needed to do. It's very exciting.”
The Trojans offense will put its hopes on quarterback Chris Buckner, who has more than 1,400 yards in the air this season with 18 TDs. Six of those went to Evan Huffman, who also tallied nine touchdowns on the ground, and six interceptions on defense.
“Evan has really stepped his game up once we got into the playoffs,” Tunstall coach Buddy Brown said. “He's been a good player for us all year long. He was our quarterback the last three years and then we switched and put Chris Buckner at quarterback and moved Evan to slot. It kind of freed him up. In the two playoff games, he scored seven touchdowns and intercepted two passes and ran those back for touchdowns, had a huge pass breakup on the fourth down play against Cave Spring Friday night to seal the win. He's just really come on. He's a senior and kind of put us on his back, and we're gonna count on him heavily on Saturday.”
Tunstall does have plenty of speed, but the Trojans' defense will face its biggest challenge to date in trying to slow down explosive Brookville.
“I'm always looking forward to a challenge and everything Brookville does, they just present a different challenge,” Huffman said.
