Saturday, August 25, 2012
- by B.B. Branton
Dre Sanders scored two touchdowns and Kelvin Wells scored one to lead McMinn County to a 20-14 win against visiting McCallie in a high school football game Friday night.
Wells (201 yards) and Sanders (104 yards) combined for a strong running game, while quarterback Corbin Powers was 12-15 through the air for 111 yards, including a 33-yard scoring play to Sanders late in the first half.
Chad Toliver scored both McCallie touchdowns in the second quarter on runs of 85 and 10.
"We came out with intensity, our offense played well and our defense was outstanding," said coach Bo Cagle who saw his Cherokees start 2-0 for the first time since 2002.
The Black and Gold took the opening kickoff and marched 80 yards in 11 plays capped by Wells 10 yard run for a 7-0 lead after Dre Hall kicked the first of two extra points.
"We've not done this well this early in the season in awhile," said Cagle who is now 34-22 in six years at McMinn.
The last time a McMinn County team started 2-0 was a dozen years ago when the Cherokees won their first three games.
This is the first McMinn County win against McCallie in 25 years as the Cherokees won 14-0 in 1987.
The teams combined for 21 points in the final 3:07 of the second quarter.
McCallie's Tolliver raced 85 yards to even the score at 7-7 after Peter Phillips converted the first of two extra points. Tolliver scored again with just under two minutes before intermission to lead 14-7, but a Powers to Sanders 33-yard scoring play made it 14-14 at halftime.
The Cherokees started the second half in similar fashion to the first taking the ball on its first possession and moving 62 yards in 10 plays as Sanders scored from 10 yards out and a 20-14 lead after Hall's extra point attempt was no good.
For McCallie coach Ralph Potter he saw missed tackles and miss opportunities.
"We had plenty of chances, but we did not tackle well at all and we are not very good, "said Potter who is in his second stint as McCallie head coach after leading the Blue Tornado from 1997-2006.
McCallie (0-1) had the ball twice in Cherokee territory in the final four minutes, but lost the ball on a pair of interceptions by McMinn County's Austin Fairbanks and Taurian Linder, the later coming with 14 seconds remaining.
"Tonight was fun, but next Thursday (against Rhea County) is when the district championship starts," said coach Cagle. "We have a short week of practice so we will come ready to work on Monday."
Next Games: Thursday Aug.30 - Rhea County (1-1, 0-0) at McMinn County (2-0, 0-0) ...
Fri. Aug. 31 - Ensworth (2-0) at McCallie (0-1)
Cherokee Hall of Fame: In a pre-game announcement, McMinn County officials elected the late Richard William Edwards as the school's first sports hall of fame inductee. Edwards was a long time sports writer for the Daily Post Athenian before passing away last month (July 4).
Stats:
RUSHING: McCallie-Chad Toliver 6-109; Samir Usman 11-37; Alex Trotter 9-34;
Nelson Johnston 9-10. McMinn Co.-Kelvin Wells 23-201; Dre Sanders 23-104;
Corbin Powers 7-7; TEAM 1-minus 4; Blake Powers 1-minus 4.
PASSING: McCallie-Nelson Johnston 10-23-2-93; TEAM 0-1-0-0. McMinn
Co.-Corbin Powers 12-15-0-111.
RECEIVING: McCallie-Spencer Morgan 4-25; Alex Trotter 3-27; CJ Fritz 2-30;
Eric Wolf 1-11. McMinn Co.-Blake Powers 4-36; 81 2-20; Clay Bennett 2-19;
Kelvin Wells 2-minus 1; Dre Sanders 1-33; Dre Hall 1-4.
INTERCEPTIONS: McCallie-None. McMinn Co.-Taurian Linder 1-13; Austin Fairbanks, 1-5.
FUMBLES: McCallie-Samir Usman 3-1; Paul Silverblatt 1-1; Nelson Johnston 1-1.
Fumble Recoveries: McCallie - Asa Peeples, Matthew Brock, Paul Silverblatt, ; McMinn County - Aaron Kimpson, Cole Plaster
McMinn Co.--Dre Sanders 1-1; Kelvin Wells 1-1; Corbin Powers 1-0; Dre Hall, 1-1
McMinn County 20, McCallie 14
McCallie 0 14 0 0 - 14
McMinn County 7 7 0 6 - 20
McMinn - Kelvin Wells 18 run (Dre Hall kick), 7-0 ... 8:43, 1st Quarter
McCallie - Chad Toliver 85 run (Peter Phillips kick), 7-7 ... 3:07, 2nd Quarter
McCallie - Toliver 10 run (Phillips kick), 14-7 ... 1:55, 2nd Quarter
McMinn - Tre Sanders 33 pass from Corbin Powers (Hall kick), 14-14 ... :32, 2nd Quarter
McMinn - Sanders 10 run (kick failed), 20-14 ... 2:37, 4th Quarter
Records: McMinn County (2-0), McCallie (0-1)
McCallie - McMinn County
FIRST DOWNS................... 14 19
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 35-190 55-304
PASSING YDS (NET)............. 93 111
Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 24-10-2 15-12-0
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 59-283 70-415
Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 0-0 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards............ 1-5 2-27
Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 2-29 2-45
Interception Returns-Yards.... 0-0 2-18
Punts (Number-Avg)............ 7-34.1 6-30.5
Fumbles-Lost.................. 5-3 4-3
Penalties-Yards............... 6-49 9-77
Possession Time............... 21:32 26:28
Third-Down Conversions........ 3 of 12 5 of 14
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 0 of 1 0 of 2
Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 1-1 2-4
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 0-0 3-18
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net