Photo courtesy of Tucker Smith.
J.T. Russell, Tucker Smith and Hayden Marbut with their plaques following Briarwood’s third straight national championship victory.
Winning the national championship once was a dream come true for Tucker Smith.
He accomplished that in 2018. Then, again in 2019. And, somehow, he pulled off a three-peat in 2020.
Smith, a recent Briarwood Christian School graduate, took to Kentucky Lake in Paris, Tennessee, and helped his boat win the Mossy Oak Fishing Bassmaster High School National Championship presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors for the third straight time in October.
“It was super shocking,” Smith said of winning the tournament yet again. “Just to get to that tournament is a huge deal. To win it in one year is crazy. Everyone wants to win a national championship.”
Smith won the first two titles for Briarwood with fishing partner Grayson Morris. This time around, he fished with Hayden Marbut, but the result was the same.
“We do the same kind of things, and we were pretty comfortable in the boat with each other,” Smith said. “He did good. He carried his weight and caught some big fish.”
In 2019, Smith and Morris pulled off a thrilling finish on day three to win the tournament. But this time around, Smith and Marbut got off to a strong start and set the tone for a strong event. They secured a huge 22 pounds, 2 ounces on the first day of the three-day tournament, before finishing with a total of 47-5.
That first-day success gave the duo plenty of confidence heading into the final two days.
“It took a lot of pressure off,” Smith said.
The duo earned $5,000 in scholarship money and another $200 for the big bass of the tournament, a 7-5 catch on the first day.
Marbut said the big bass of the tournament hit his topwater bait close to the boat and came unbuttoned as soon as they netted it, according to Bassmaster.
Smith and Marbut fished mostly the same way on day two. But on day three, “a strong cold front sent temperatures south and created windy and wavy conditions on Kentucky Lake, putting an end to their topwater bite.”
“Back-to-back was historic,” Briarwood Athletic Director Jay Mathews said. “Now that you have a national championship three-peat, I can say that will never be done again.”
Making the third consecutive victory even more impressive was the fact that this year’s national championship was contested under much different conditions. As opposed to the event being held in August, this year’s was conducted in October.
“It was colder, and the fish were not in the same areas, so we had to scrap our other game plan and fish completely differently,” Smith said.
J.T. Russell served as the boat captain for the third consecutive year as well, with Mathews attributing the success in large part to how well Smith and Russell work together.
Mathews calls starting the bass fishing program at Briarwood one of the most gratifying things he has done in his career, as he has seen the program grow to having 30 to 40 kids in the club on an annual basis.
Curtis Gossett now coaches the team at Briarwood.
“He’s done a great job training the next generation,” Mathews said. “It’s been quite a satisfying thing, mainly because the great kids we’ve had come through the program. The program has been a real blessing to this school.”
