It was bone-chilling cold at Notre Dame's Jim Eberle Field Friday night for the second round of the TSSAA Class 3-A playoffs, but it appeared to be much colder on the visitors sideline after the host Fighting Irish raced to a 55-7 victory.
At some point, Notre Dame is going to have a close game in the playoffs, but after two weeks, that hasn't been the case so far.
The Fighting Irish will be at home again next week as they host the McMinn Central Chargers, a 10-2 team that ended Red Bank's season, 30-7.
Upperman is the team that eliminated Notre Dame a year ago, so revenge may have played into Friday's lopsided results.
"It's all about how we started tonight and how well we had prepared all week in practice, but had another fast start and that was critical," Notre Dame coach Charles Fant told his team following their 11th straight victory.
"This is the team that ended our season last year, but we know that it's a new opponent every week and this was just another opportunity for us to get another win and advance," he added.
The visiting Bees simply couldn't stop -- or even slow down -- the explosive offense that Notre Dame has created.
Auston Banks gained 12 yards on the first play before Alex Darras threw an incomplete pass. Banks took the next handoff and raced 44 yards for Notre Dame's first touchdown just 45 seconds into the game.
The next three TDs were even quicker.
Darras hooked up with Anthony Flemister on a 19-yard strike for a score following a nice punt return by Jared Andrews of 36 yards.
Upperman opted to go for it on fourth-and-one on its next possession and came up short. Notre Dame then made it 21-0 with 7:16 left in the first quarter when Darras found a diving Patrick Martin in the right corner of the end zone from 30 yards out.
Banks scored his second touchdown on a four-yard run just over two minutes later for a 27-0 lead before Upperman scored its only touchdown in the final minute of the first quarter when quarterback Bailey Phillips connected with Ben Guffey from the 9.
Again, Notre Dame answered immediately.
Kareem Orr returned the kickoff from the Notre Dame 31 to the Upperman 20 where Darras found Andrews in the end zone for the 20-yard TD strike.
The difference was 34-7 when the first quarter ended.
Upperman again tried to convert a fourth-down play, but an incomplete pass gave the ball back to Notre Dame at the Irish 25.
Banks made the most of his opportunity for the last time as he raced 75 yards untouched down the right sideline for this third TD of the game.
It was also his final carry as he had 155 yards on just five attempts with three touchdowns, all in the first 16 minutes of the game.
Upperman had one more chance to score before the halftime break as a pass from Phillips to Cody Leckenby moved the ball from the 17 to the 5, but Notre Dame's defense stood tall and sacked Phillips twice for a dozen lost yards before the Bees were flagged for intentional grounding.
Phillips gained 22 yards on fourth down, but needed 10 more, so the ball went over on downs.
Darras was intercepted on Notre Dame's second play, but Upperman was stopped once again when Leckenby was tackled at the 2 following a six-yard screen pass as the halftime horn sounded.
With the mercy rule in effect for the second half, the clock ran the whole time, but the Irish scored both times they touched the ball, the first on a one-yard run by Ricky Ballard and the second on a keeper from the 8 by Andrews.
If revenge a motivating factor for Darras, he didn't admit it.
"We did a good job of getting ahead early again, but we just have to keep playing hard. This was just another game for us to play, but I thought we did a good job of spreading the ball around. They did a good job of keying on Kareem, so we had to find other ways to score after they shut down our big man," he nodded.
Upperman coach Ben Herron felt like the Notre Dame players had last year's game as a motivating factor.
"That was a rough one," he said after talking with his team following a season that ended at 7-5.
"Sometimes you just run into a buzzsaw and that's what it felt like tonight, but they were after us and they were looking for another shot.
"We had a lot of yards in the first half, but just didn't have much to show for it. I thought we battled hard, but there was no way we could simulate the speed they had. But we had a pretty good year with a lot of young kids and we hope to come back next year," he added.
Notre Dame ended up with 380 total yards, including 215 on the ground and 165 through the air.
Banks was the leader on the ground with his 155 yards on just five carries in the first half while William Montgomery had 42 yards on five trips and a two-point conversion run.
Darras completed six of 10 passes for 146 yards and had one interception while Andrews completed one of two passes for 19.
Flemister had two grabs for 56 yards to lead Notre Dame receivers while teammate Martin had two snags for 38.
Upperman finished with 248 total yards, incuding 186 on the ground and 62 through the air.
Phillips was the leading rusher with 62 yards on 15 attempts, including a long of 40 in the first quarter. Austin Butler followed with 55 yards on a dozen trips while Dylon Cushing finished with 37 yards on eight attempts.
Leckenby was the leading receiver for the Bees with five catches for 38 yards. Guffey was next with 19 yards on three receptions while Butler had five yards on two catches.
UPPERMAN 7 0 0 0 -- 7
NOTRE DAME 34 8 7 6 -- 55
ND -- Auston Banks 44 run (Rhys Robertson kick). 11:15 left in first;
ND -- Anthony Flemister 19 pass from Alex Darras (Robertson kick), 9:00 left in first;
ND -- Patrick Martin 30 pass from Darras (Robertson kick), 7:16 left in first;
ND -- Banks 4 run (kick failed), 5:08 left in first;
UPP -- Ben Guffey 9 pass from Bailey Phillips (Allen Fields kick), 0:26.8 left in first;
ND -- Jared Andrews 20 pass from Darras (Robertson kick), 0:03.1 left in first;
ND -- Banks 75 run (William Montgomery run), 7:38 left in second;
ND -- Ricky Ballard 1 run (Robertson kick), 5:52 left in third;
ND -- Andrews 8 run (kick failed), 4:00 left in fourth.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@Comcast.net)