By JOE BYRD

Sports Writer

Championship teams rise to the occasion, and that's exactly what Tusculum did Saturday on the biggest occasion in the history of Pioneer football.

The Pioneers' thrilling 45-44 home win over arch rival Carson-Newman not only earned Tusculum a share of this year's South Atlantic Conference championship, it earned them the program's first ever trip to the playoffs.

"This is the best win in the biggest game that's ever been played by Tusculum College football even before I was born. I don't know how it could have been any bigger," said a sparking cider-soaked coach Frankie DeBusk amidst the celebrations. "This is by far the biggest win that Tusculum College football has ever had, maybe will ever have."

It's hard to say which one of the Pioneers rose to the occasion more.

It could have been senior quarterback Corey Russell's three rushing touchdowns and his 29-for-51 two-touchdown day passing or junior wide receiver Ryan Tallent's 11 catches for 138 yards and a touchdown.

It could have been senior free safety Jeremy Thompson's interception and two fumble recoveries, the second of which he returned for a 55-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to put the Pioneers out front for good. It could have been senior linebacker Justin Scott's 12 tackles and two forced fumbles or even sophomore kicker Gareth Rowlands' six-for-six performance on extra points and his 30-yard field goal.

One thing's for sure, junior Brandon Kelley's block of an Eagle extra point attempt with under two minutes to go made up the margin of victory -- one point.

But in a game with so much scoring, 89 combined points, it was ironic that it came down to a monster defensive play and a huge special teams performance.

"I still can't believe we blocked that kick," DeBusk said. "We have been close all year to blocking them. Dang if we don't run through there and block that thing. It was unbelievable."

Russell said he never had a doubt.

"This is amazing," Russell said. "We've been waiting a long time for this. Everybody played their hearts out today. When they scored that last touchdown, I just had a feeling that we were going to block it. Losing was not an option. We were going to win. We've had such a great year. We didn't want to end it here. We've not been beaten at home in two years. We never thought we were going to lose."

At the start, it certainly didn't look like there was any way Tusculum could lose.

The Pioneers jumped out to a 10-0 start. Rowlands nailed a 30-yard field goal, then Thompson cut short Carson-Newman's first possession with a fumble recovery that he returned 31 yards to the 3 where Russell punched it in for his first of three touchdowns.

Carson-Newman got on the board when quarterback Alex Good scored the first of his four touchdowns, but Tusculum answered right back with two more at the start of the second quarter.

Nate Binder pulled in a 21-yard pass from Russell that he grabbed out of the air with one had just as he stayed in bounds, then Calvin Britt had a 37-yard reception to set up a 15-yard touchdown pass from Russell to Tallent.

The Eagles rallied with 10 unanswered points at the end of the second to close the score to 24-17 at halftime.

If there was a chink in Tusculum's armor on Saturday, it was allowing big plays.

The Eagles scored touchdowns of 49, 41, 80 and 43 yards. Their other three scoring drives each contained a play of more than 50 yards.

The Pioneers didn't exactly keep the lead in the second half, but they never trailed. Russell put Tusculum up 31-17 with an eight-yard touchdown run at the start of the third, but Good answered for the Eagles. Russell scored on a three-yard run, then Good responded as the two started quarterbacks went back-and-forth in a battle to the finish.

Good struck on an 80-yard touchdown run as the fourth began, but it was a miscue by the Eagle quarterback that set the stage for the most furious finish in the history of Pioneer Field.

He kept the ball on the option, rolling left before being dropped hard by Scott and fumbling the football. Thompson scooped it up and raced 55 yards untouched into the end zone.

Thompson did his part just a week earlier with an goal line interception in the fourth quarter against Mars Hill to even have the Pioneers in position to win the conference title in the season finale. He said at the time that was his biggest play of the year, but now it's not even close.

"Another big game, another big play," Thompson said. "I didn't see anything but grass in front of me. I knew I had to make a big play, so I was just trying to get to the end zone."

Although Thompson's touchdown gave the Pioneers a 45-38 lead with time running short, there was still plenty of time for the Eagles to score again, and they did just that when Good hooked up with Otis Miller for a 43-yard touchdown pass with 1:49 on the clock.

Perhaps remembering 2001 when Tusculum stopped a late two-point conversion attempt to beat Carson-Newman, the Eagles elected to kick the extra point and play for overtime.

The gamble didn't pay off seven years earlier, and it didn't pay off Saturday. The exchange from center was high, allowing Kelley to crash the Eagles' line and block the kick to preserve the Pioneers' narrowest of leads.

"I knew we'd have to score points going in," DeBusk said. "I told our team that they were going to score, and we'd have to score. I actually said it was going to come down to a special teams play. I didn't realize we were going to block that kick to secure the win."

The kick itself didn't really secure the win. The Eagles tried an onsides kick that was recovered by Tusculum. The Pioneers couldn't quite run out the clock and had to punt on the final play of the game. John Gregory pinned the Eagles and one of the best punt return men in the SAC in Reggie Hubbard inside their own 10, and that wrapped up a roller-coaster afternoon for the playoff-bound Pioneers.

"It's incredible how high and how low I got on the sidelines," DeBusk said. "There was so much good and so much bad. I told our team there was going to be a lot of big plays and a lot of emotion. I told them we were going to have to play for four quarters. Carson-Newman is not used to play four quarters of football. Not knocking them, but they're not. I knew if we played for four quarters, the full 60 minutes, we'd win."

The win gives the Pioneers their second ever South Atlantic Conference championship and their first ever trip to the NCAA Division II playoffs with a record of 8-3, 5-2. Newberry and Carson-Newman also claim a share of this year's league title with 5-2 conference records.

Tusculum defeated both Newberry and Carson-Newman head-to-head, but it was the win over the Eagles that mattered most.

"We just beat one of the best football teams in the country," DeBusk said. "But guess what. We are one of the best football teams in the country, too."

Carson-Newman 7 10 14 13 - 44

Tusculum 10 14 14 7 - 45

First Quarter

TC - Gareth Rowlands, 30 yd field goal

TC - Corey Russell, 1 yd run (Rowlands kick)

C-N - Alex Good, 49 yd run (Joey Scribner-Howard kick)

Second Quarter

TC - Nate Binder, 21 yd pass from Russell (Rowlands kick)

TC - Ryan Tallent, 15 yd pass from Russell (Rowlands kick)

C-N - Reggie Hubbard, 41 yd pass from Good (Scribner-Howard kick)

C-N - Scribner-Howard, 29 yd field goal

Third Quarter

TC - Russell, 8 yd run (Rowlands kick)

C-N - Good, 1 yd run (Scribner-Howard kick)

TC - Russell, 3 yd run (Rowlands kick)

C-N - Good, 1 yd run (Scribner-Howard kick)

Fourth Quarter

C-N - Good, 80 yd run (Scribner-Howard kick)

TC - Jeremy Thompson, 55 yd fumble recovery (Rowlands kick)

C-N - Otis Miller, 43 yd pass from Good (kick blockd)

------

C-N TC

First downs 21 26

Passing yards 224 345

Passes (att-comp-int) 21-11-1 51-29-1

Rushes-yards 43-352 27-68

Total offense 64-576 78-413

Fumbles-lost 4-2 0-0

Penalties-yards 6-63 4-60

Punting 6-40.2 6-44.5

Possession time 29:36 30:24

------

Individual Stats

RUSHING: Carson-Newman-Alex Good 22-169; Dewayne Mims 10-103; Buck Wakefield 9-71; Tony Richardson 2-9. Tusculum-Corey Russell 16-43; Ryan Tallent 6-18; Brian Marshall 4-5; Justin Scott 1-2.

PASSING: Carson-Newman-Alex Good 11-21-1-224. Tusculum-Corey Russell 29-51-1-345.

RECEIVING: Carson-Newman-Otis Miller 5-78; Buck Wakefield 2-77; Reggie Hubbard 2-52; Mo Whitten 1-12; Douglas Belk 1-5. Tusculum-Ryan Tallent 11-138; Jarrell NeSmith 8-72; Nate Binder 6-82; Rashaad Carter 3-16; Calvin Britt 1-37.