Owls Beat McMinn, 30-12, To Complete Unbeaten Regular Season

Leon Leads Third-Quarter Uprising That Subdues The Cherokees

  • Thursday, October 30, 2014
  • Larry Fleming

Undefeated.

Sounds nice, huh.

After a sluggish first half that produced only three points on a Laszlo Toser field goa., third-ranked Ooltewah came to life in the third quarter, riddled McMinn County’s defense with three Kelvin Leon touchdown passes in the third quarter and went on to beat the Cherokees, 30-12, at James N. Monroe Stadium to secure the school’s third unbeaten regular season.

“We didn’t hide it (unbeaten record) from the kids,” Owls coach Mac Bryan said.

“It’s a big deal. We wanted that 10-0 season because it’s special; it’s the third unbeaten season in school history. We feel very good about being a part of that and the kids worked hard for it.

“It’s nice to put it behind us now and move into the playoffs. We’ll see how we do.”

The TSSAA will announce the playoff brackets in all six classifications on Saturday.

Leon, who threw for 105 yards in the first half, completed 7-of-8 passes for 179 yards and the three touchdowns in the Owls’ first three possessions after halftime. The senior signal caller wound up completing 10-of-13 passes for 213 yards in the quarter.

He went for 334 yards on 28-of-39 passing with one interception in the game and now has thrown for 2,549 yards and 25 touchdowns on the season with at least one more game remaining – next week’s Class 5A playoff opener.

“We knew we didn’t execute very well in the first half,” Leon said. “We made some adjustments at halftime and did what we had to do. (McMinn) got down a little after those touchdowns. It just feels good to make a little history at Ooltewah.”

Leon connected twice with Edward Hayes on touchdown tosses covering 44 and 38 yards – 3 minutes apart – and hit Brandon Byrd on a screen pass that the Owls running back converted into a 53-yard scoring play to stretch the lead to 24-6 with 6:25 left in the period.

“We told ourselves in the locker room at halftime we had to come out and play some football,” said Hayes, who caught 13 passes for 181 yards and the two scores. “They weren’t going to lay down, so we had to play.”

The win gave Ooltewah’s its first perfect regular season since 2006 when the Owls went 13-0 before losing to Smyrna 28-25, in the playoff semifinals.

The Owls would have had another 10-0 season in 2009 had it not been for a 20-17 loss to the Cherokees when Ooltewah, under coach Benny Monroe, was ranked No. 1 in the state. Monroe is a McMinn County alumnus and was a standout quarterback in his day.  

Ooltewah has now won eight of the last 11 games in the series, but had to fight for its life to win last year’s 36-35 thriller in Athens when McMinn quarterback Corbin Powers threw for 515 yards and three touchdowns and ran for two scores.

The Cherokees went for a game-winning two-point conversion, but Powers’ pass deep in the end zone intended for Dre Hall was intercepted.

The Owls – they are 11-1 in league play in Bryan’s two seasons – wrapped up the regular season District 5-AAA championship last week with a 30-14 win over Cleveland, but came out Friday night as if they were still celebrating.

The Cherokees (3-7, 3-3) got on the scoreboard first with a 66-yard, seven-play drive (all on the ground) when Dimese Bradley scored from the 2. Bradley, carrying the ground game on his back after 1,000-yard rusher D.J. Kimpson fell ill earlier Thursday afternoon.

Bradley finished with 204 yards on 36 carries and both McMinn County touchdowns – he scored in the fourth period on a 3-yard burst.

“We found out about 2:45 that D.J. was sick,” Cherokees coach Bo Cagle said. “It was rough on us. It was hard for us to move the ball effectively. If we have D.J. out there I think we could have made a lot more first downs and kept (Ooltewah’s) offense off the field.”

On Thursday, Powers, who can scramble out of trouble with superb elusiveness, completed 12-of-15 passes for 109 yards with two interceptions, one each by the Owls’ Rashun Freeman and Gene Myers, a play that ended the game.

“Coach (Bryan) always tells us we’re going to face some adversity, so we just stepped up our defense after their fast start,” defensive lineman Nick Putman said. “We were playing their game in the first half. We came out and played our game and shut them down. Coaches got on us a little in the locker room. They told us to stop their run.”

Ooltewah, playing without linebacker Jeremiah Jackson due to a concussion suffered in the win over Cleveland, slowed McMinn’s rushing attack by racing into the end zone three times in the third quarter.

The Owls went 73 yards in five plays on the opening drive after halftime and grabbed a 10-6 on Leon’s pass to Hayes and Laszlo Toser’s extra point.

After a McMinn County punt, Ooltewah launched a 57-yard, four-play drive capped by the Leon-to-Hayes connection 2 minutes and 59 seconds after the first one. The drive almost ended on second down when Leon’s pass was almost intercepted by the Cherokees’ Colin Cornett.

The Owls forced another McMinn County punt and took over on their own 47.

After an incompletion, Leon flipped a screen pass over the middle to Byrd, who then darted and dashed his way into the end zone on a sterling 53-yard play.

“The coaches told us in the locker room that McMinn was doing some different stuff and moving around a little on defense,” Hayes said. “We changed up a little and those quick scores took the steam right out of them. When we scored that first one I think they knew we were on a roll.”

Tyler Palmgren recovered a McMinn County fumble to give Ooltewah possession at its 45.

On third-and-10 from the Cherokees’ 24, Leon hit Hayes for a 4-yard gain.

Toser came on to kick his second field goal, this one for 35 yards to extend the lead to 27-6.

Toser, who went 7-for-7 on kickoffs into or through the end zone, finished the Owls’ scoring with a 33-yard field goal with 1:34 left in the game. Toser has now reached the end zone on 62-of-70 kickoffs and is 14-of-17 on field goals, including a school-record 52-yarder against Bradley Central.

“The third quarter was big,” Bryan said. “We left some plays on the field in the first half, so we tweaked a few things and basically just had better execution in the third quarter. That helped us make some explosive plays like we have most of the year.”

Freeman suffered a leg injury on his interception return and left the field on crutches. Defensive back A.J. Diggs left with a shoulder injury during McMinn County’s final possession.

GAME SUMMARY

McMinn County                      6 0 0 6 – 12

Ooltewah                               0 3 24 3 – 30

First Quarter

MCM — Dimese Bradley 2 run (kick blocked)

Second Quarter

OOL – FG Toser 37, 9:45

Third Quarter

OOL – Edward Hayes 44 pass from Kelvin Leon (Toser kick), 10:51

OOL – Hayes 38 pass from Leon (Toser kick), 7:52

OOL – Brandon Byrd 53 pass from Leon (Toser kick), 6:25

OOL – FG Toser 35, 1:24 

Fourth Quarter

MCM – Bradley 3 run (run failed), 5:42

OOL – FG Toser 33, 1:34 

District 5-AAA Standings 

School                                     District           Overall

xy-Ooltewah                            6-0                   10-0

y- Cleveland                            4-2                    5-5

y-Bradley Central                    3-3                    5-5

McMinn County                       3-3                    3-7

East Hamilton                          2-4                    2-8

Walker Valley                          1-4                    4-5

Soddy-Daisy                           1-4                    4-5

x-District champion

y-Earned playoff berth

Thursday’s Game

Ooltewah 30, McMinn County 12

Bradley Central 27, East Hamilton 24

Friday’s Games

Soddy-Daisy at Walker Valley

Cleveland bye

(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)

 


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