It was homecoming at Ooltewah's James N. Monroe Stadium Friday night, but Soddy Daisy junior Cedrick Edwards and his Trojan teammates did most of the celebrating.

Pretty Anna-Marie Mayfield was crowned queen at halftime for Ooltewah, but that was about all the Owls had to cheer about.

The Trojans made three first-half touchdowns stand as they captured their second shutout in a row with the 19-0 victory.

Soddy Daisy is now 2-1 overall and 1-0 in District 5-AAA while the Owls are also 2-1 overall and 0-1 in 5-AAA.

Edwards was the man of the hour for the Trojans as he scored all three touchdowns and gained 238 yards on 19 carries.

The 5-9, 175-pound junior had 170 yards in the first half when he scored on runs of 21, five and seven yards.

"Teamwork, teamwork, teamwork. That's what it was all about tonight," the 17-year-old Edwards said after the game ended.

"Our offensive line created some huge holes. I just took the ball and ran with it," Edwards added.

While Edwards was the most effective weapon for the Soddy Daisy offense, quarterback Trevor Card also completed eight passes for 111 yards as the Trojans finished the evening with 352 total yards and 19 first downs.

Ooltewah, on the other hand, had plenty of chances, but never made the big play when they needed them most.

The Owls never really threatened in the first half, but they had the ball inside the 20 four times in the final two quarters, including inside the 10 twice, but were turned away all four times.

A fumble at the 14 ended Ooltewah's first drive in the second half while quarterback Goose Manning got stopped at the 9 on a fourth-and-14 early in the fourth quarter.

On the next possession, Manning's pass in the end zone fell incomplete on fourth-and-goal from the 6.

The Owls had one final opportunity with a fourth down at the Soddy Daisy 20, but Manning was intercepted in the end zone by Talon Harris with less than a minute remaining to preserve the shutout.

Needless to say, Soddy Daisy coach Kevin Orr was really pleased with the play of his team, especially his offensive line.

"Our offensive line is our strength, so I was really happy with the way they blocked tonight. We knew coming in that this was a big district win, so for us to come up here and get a shutout is huge," Orr began.

"Cedrick Edwards is about 70 percent where he needs to be as he's still learning, but he's a very specail running back and I can promise you that he has some big days ahead.

"This is a game we let get away last year, so we've been pointing toward tonight for a long time. This is a district game, so that makes it even bigger," Orr added.

Ooltewah's Shannon Williams was quick to take the blame for the Owls first loss after impressive wins over Tyner and Austin-East.

"I don't think we were ready to play at the start of the game and I'll take the blame for that," Williams began.

"We had plenty of chances, but we just didn't make the big play when we had to have it. I'm proud of the way our team fought back in the second half.

"We can't dig ourselves into a hole like we did in the first half and expect to win, especially against a good team like Soddy Daisy.

"They hit us in the mouth at the start and had us against the ropes. We never recovered," Williams added.

While Edwards was the leading rusher for the victorious Trojans, Harris was the leading receiver with 57 yards on two catches.

Daniel Crawley had five catches for 37 yards.

Ooltewah finished with 258 total yards and 15 first downs.

Randall Freeman gained 48 yards on 16 carries as the Owls gained 96 yards on the ground while Manning completed 10 passes for 162 yards.

T.J. Warren was the leading receiver with one catch for 42 yards.

Juice Arnold had three catches for 32 yards while Jay Rudwall had two for 24.

Both teams will be on the road next Friday with Soddy Daisy facing arch-rival Red Bank and Ooltewah going to middle Tennessee to face Franklin.

SODDY DAISY 7 12 0 0 -- 19
OOLTEWAH 0 0 0 0 -- 0

SD -- Cedrick Edwards 21 run (Luke Underwood kick), 9:10 left in first;
SD -- Edwards 5 run (kick blocked); 11:31 left in second;
SD -- Edwards 7 run (run failed); 6:18 left in second.

(Email John Hunt at tnmoose2002@aol.com)