Page 52 - Cityview Jan-Feb 2017

sportsIN THE ZONETHEN FLORIDA CAME TO TOWNThe Gators took a 21-0 lead in the rst half, and the score was 21-3 at hal ime. It did not look good for the hometeam. But in the third quarter, the Vols scored a touchdown, and then another, followed by two quick scores to start the fourth. Tennessee beat Florida 38-28 and all was right with the world.The following week, on the roadin Athens, Tennessee successfully completed an incredible “Hail Mary”on the last play of the game to shock Georgia in a 34-31 win. This was unquestionably the high point of the season. Undefeated, 5-0, and with two wins over Tennessee’s most troublesome eastern division foes, life was good.Tony Basillio, who has been doing sports talk in Knoxville for 25 years, describes the win as one of the “three most exciting Vol wins” during his career. Basillio describes grown men at a watch party “crying” and “jumping on dogpiles.” “It was glorious,” he said.The Vols then lost three games in a row. Losing to Texas A&M and Alabama is somewhat understandable, but a loss to South Carolina? Carolina had three wins, over Vanderbilt, East Carolina, and UMass. For an SEC football team, that’s like saying, “I just beat my little sister, the middle school bully and a random kid on a skate board.”50JANUARY FEBRUARY 2017