Irish Want To Bring Playoff Curtain Down On Upperman

Notre Dame is literally the only high school football game in town Friday night.

With six Chattanooga high school teams advancing into the second round of the TSSAA state playoffs, coach Charles Fant’s Irish are the only one playing at home.

Notre Dame (10-1), a No. 1 seed in quadrant two and riding a 10-game winning streak, plays host to the Upperman Bees (7-4) at 7 p.m. at Jim Eberle Field.

Hixson goes to Livingston Academy and Signal Mountain travels to Loudon, Red Bank will play at McMinn Central, while McCallie goes to Montgomery Bell Academy and Baylor Memphis Christian Brothers.

In last week’s opening round action, the Irish clubbed Chattanooga Christian, 55-14, while Upperman, a No.

4 seed, knocked off York Institute, 34-7.

The same two teams squared off last season in the quarterfinals.

“Upperman put us out of the playoffs last year,” Fant said.

Football memories, especially tough-to-swallow playoff losses, have staying power.

“They had an amazing quarterback (Connor York) who had about 700 total yards against Tyner the week before,” Fant said.

York actually accounted for 711 total yards and nine touchdowns in a crushing 70-49 win over the Rams. York rushed for 372 yards and five scores and passes for 339 and four touchdowns.

That same night Notre Dame was slipping past Polk County, 12-10.

In their quarterfinal matchup, the Irish stayed with the Bees before falling, 19-10, ending their season at 9-4. The Bees were pummeled by Alcoa, 75-18, a week later in the semifinals, finishing the season with a 13-1 record.

On Friday, Notre Dame will go into the rematch with many of the same players from 2013, but Upperman won’t have York.

The 6-foot-1-inch, 164-pound York led the state in rushing with 2,611 yards as a senior – he put up 5,135 total yards – and set a single-season record with 72 rushing and passing touchdowns. He ended his career with 134 career touchdowns.

York signed with East Tennessee State University, which will revive its football program in 2015.

“(York) was a rare Johnny Football type kid,” Fant said, “but we held him in check until the fourth quarter last year. He was a headache and our offense couldn’t put up any points in the second half and that hurt us.”

Fant said Upperman’s quarterback this year “is solid” and is a dual threat.

The Irish coach seems more concerned with the Bees’ 4-4 defensive scheme.

“No question they run that defense well,” Fant said. “They really get after it on that side of the ball. They’re trying to create turnovers for their offense. They don’t mind if you score every now and then. They figure they can score more than you can.”

Come Friday, Notre Dame might give Upperman’s defense more problems than it did in 2013.

The Irish’s three main weapons – quarterback Alex Darras, running back Auston Banks and receiver Kareem Orr – have accounted for a combined 2,199 passing and rushing yards and 35 touchdowns.

Since losing to Knoxville Catholic, 15-12, in the season opener, Notre Dame, seeking its 12^th trip to the quarterfinals since 1975, has run off 10 consecutive victories, winning by an average score of 45-6.

“Take away a couple games early, we’ve jumped on our opponents from the first snap to the last,” Fant said. “Against Signal Mountain (a 35-3 win) we put pressure on them with two scores and went into the half with a nice lead. That’s how we’re playing right now. We want to play big and start fast.”

Meanwhile, Hixson didn’t have to wait 51 weeks for a rematch with Livingston Academy. The teams played on Sept. 26 at Hixson, which posted a 39-34 win. It was Hixson’s second victory in what has become a seven-game winning streak and only setback this year for Livingston Academy, which rebounded with six straight wins to reach the second round.

“They’ve got a very good football team,” Hixson coach Dan Duff said of Livingston, which has reached the playoffs in four of the past five years. “They went up on us 14-0 in the earlier game because they are explosive and can score on anybody at any time, but our kids fought back. We were down 28-27 at halftime, but played a lot better defense in the second half.”

Duff is hopeful the playoff game doesn’t turn into another shootout.

He knows his Wildcats cannot afford to make turnovers, which they did during the regular season against coach Bruce Lamb’s Wildcats. Three Hixson interceptions kept Livingston in the earlier game.

“I want to drive the ball and tick time off the clock,” Duff said. “If we can hold the ball, we can keep their offense off the field as much as possible. I think we’ll be OK if we can do those two things.”

James Cole gives Hixson the best chance of churning of rushing yards. He has gained 964 yards and scored 11 touchdowns this season.

Quarterback Preston Wilkey has thrown for just 480 yards and three touchdowns with four interceptions.

“But we have to be balanced,” Duff said. “We have to take care of the football and execute what we’re doing.”

While Duff is hopeful of a second win over Livingston Academy, he admits it could be another tight ballgame for one key reason.

“I think both teams have improved from the first game,” he said. “At this point in the season, it’s 50-50 whether you can advance. Half the teams are going home, the other half will move on.”

TSSAA Second Round Pairings

All Games Start 7 p.m. Local Time

Class 5A

Ooltewah (11-0) at Rhea County (11-0)

Cleveland (6-5) at Oak Ridge (11-0)

Class 4A

Hixson (9-2) at Livingston Academy (10-1)

Signal Mountain (9-2) at Loudon (11-0)

Class 3A

Upperman (7-4) at Notre Dame (10-1)

Red Bank (7-4) at McMinn Central (9-2)

Class 2A

Jackson County (7-4) at Marion County (9-1)

Class 1A

South Pittsburg (6-5) at Copper Basin (6-4)

Division II-AA

McCallie (9-2) at Montgomery Bell Academy (8-2)

Baylor (7-4) at Christian Brothers (6-4)

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