McCallie football coach Ralph Potter said he would know what kind of team he had after Friday’s Division II-AA East/Middle Region game against four-time defending state champion Ensworth.
He found out quite a bit about the Blue Tornado.
“I’d say we’re pretty explosive on offense,” Potter said.
Unbeaten McCallie scored on eight of 10 offensive possessions, including all five in the first half, and registered a victory of seismic proportions in a 62-34 dismantling of the Tigers at Spears Stadium.
It was McCallie’s first win in 10 tries against Ensworth, which came into the game having won 36 of its last 37 games.
The Blue Tornado had never scored more than 36 points in the previous nine meetings.
“This feels good,” said sophomore linebacker Shawn McColley, who caused and recovered a fumble on the same play and minutes later returned an interception 47 yards for a touchdown. “But we can’t stop here. We have to keep playing hard because we’ve still got some tough teams coming up.”
Indeed.
The Blue Tornado next faces bitter rival Baylor and then caps a grueling three-game region grind against Brentwood Academy on Oct. 10.
McCallie tuned up for Ensworth by knocking off Bowling Green (Ky.), 21-20, last week, breaking the Purples’ 48-game winning streak, third-longest in the country and two shy of the the state's all-time winning streak.
The offensive explosion produced a record point total against the Tigers, who had not given up more than 42 points in a single game in school history – a span of 99 games. Ensworth came into Friday’s game having allowed just 64 points all season.
Three teams had posted 42 points against Ensworth – Baylor in 2011 and Brentwood Academy in 2007 and 2005 – and the Tigers lost all three of those games.
“There was a lot of offense out there tonight,” Ensworth coach Rick Bowers said. “Two teams scoring 96 points, that doesn’t happen very often. I’ve gotten killed lots of times, but I don’t think I’ve ever had a team give up 62 points.”
McCallie tailback Alex Trotter led the offense, scoring five touchdowns on runs of 1, 10, 1, 11 and 39 yards while rushing for 177 yards on 27 carries.
A senior, Trotter now has gained 1,179 yards rushing this season – he’s averaging 196.5 per game – and scored 114 points.
Ensworth tried to focus on Trotter, but on his 39-yard scoring gallop the Tigers’ defense was completely confused assignment-wise, weren’t sure how many players they had on the field and the Blue Tornado sensation skirted right end and zipped untouched down the sideline and into the end zone.
“This feels really good,” Trotter said. “We worked hard all week and everybody was pushing everybody else to do well. It was a hard-fought game and we’ve got to forget about this win and come back Monday ready to work and focus on Baylor.”
Trotter’s backfield mate, Paul Silverblatt, gained 134 yards on 11 carries and quarterback JaVaughn Craig completed 9-of-12 passes for 146 yards with touchdown strikes of 12 and 35 yards to Matt Brock and Tyler Payne, respectively.
Craig also rushed for 103 yards on 16 carries and scored on a 5-yard run in the third quarter.
The Blue Tornado (6-0, 2-0) rolled up 560 yards of total offense, 414 coming on the ground.
“This game says a lot about our offensive efficiency,” Potter said. “We scored on eight possessions. We didn’t make many mistakes. JaVaughn played an incredible game; he had good judgment, threw the ball well and ran the option efficiently.
“The offensive line was great. I thought Matt Brock played well. Tyler Payne caught a couple of great passes and Alex knows how to get into the end zone.”
McCallie’s defense by no means stopped the Tigers, who are 50-3 since a 0-2 start in 2010, the year they started their four-year state championship run.
Ensworth quarterback P.J. Settles passed for 302 yards, completing 15-of-27 attempts with two touchdowns to Rico McGraw covering 27 and 71 yards. McGraw, who has committed to Alabama as a defensive back, caught eight passes for 196 yards.
The Tigers’ Donovan Sheffield, who has committed to Vanderbilt, rushed for 90 yards on 15 carries and scored three times on runs of 1, 12 and 8 yards.
Ensworth (4-1, 2-1) finished with 477 yards of offense.
However, Bowers felt the Tigers’ defense didn’t do particularly well against McCallie’s vaunted option attack.
“We knew their quarterback was elusive and they were well-drilled in the option,” he said. “My sense is that they either blocked us really well or we didn’t do a good job defeating blocks, and I’m primarily talking about on the perimeter. My guess is it was a little of both.”
McCallie’s five first-half scoring drives covered 40, 80, 84, 83 and 77 yards and 41 plays. The Blue Tornado used 16 plays on the 83-yard drive capped by Trotter’s third score.
The Blue Tornado, 6-0 for the first time since 2001 when they went 12-0 and won their only Division II-AA state title, ran the ball 57 times while the Tigers had 34 rushes from scrimmage.
“When you’re defending the option,” Bowers said, “you’re playing assignment football. When you have broken assignments it’s a disaster, especially when you’re playing a team with speed like McCallie. We had a number of mistakes. We just didn’t prepare as well as we should have and that’s my fault.”
With all the offensive fireworks – the teams combined for 1,037 yards, ran 131 plays and had 45 first downs – throughout the game there was room in the spotlight for some defense.
McColley delivered a one-two punch to Ensworth’s gut in the second half.
A Sheffield touchdown pulled the Tigers with two scores with 6:08 left in the third quarter.
On McCallie’s ensuing possession, highlighted by 18-yard runs by Craig and Trotter, the Blue Tornado faced a fourth-and-seven from the Tigers’ 31. Craig and Payne failed to hook up on a pass play and the Tigers took over on downs.
Ensworth’s Tim Covington gained 11 yards on first down. On the next play, Covington fumbled after a hard hit by McColley, who fell on the ball at the Tigers’ 40. Six plays later Craig scored from 4 yards out to give McCallie a 48-27 advantage.
Ensworth’s next drive carried over into the fourth period. The Tigers caught a break when on a third-and-nine pass play the Blue Tornado’s Tynelius Hall was called for pass interference, giving Ensworth a first down.
On third-and-nine, McColley stepped in front of a Settles pass and rumbled 47 yards for a touchdown that extended the Blue Tornado lead to 55-27 with 10:14 left in the game.
It was McColley’s first defensive touchdown.
“That was a good feeling when I scored,” McColley said. “I was just trying to play hard and do what the coaches told me to do.”
Said Potter, “That pick-six was huge. That was a common (pass) route for them and we worked hard on it all week. Shawn did a good job on the play and it hurt them.”
McCallie’s Myles Patton also had an interception.
Scoring Summary
Ensworth 13 7 7 7 – 34
McCallie 14 20 14 14 – 62
First Quarter
McC – Matt Brock 5 pass from JaVaughn Craig (Drew Viscomi kick), 8:50
ENS – Rico McGraw 27 pass from P.J. Settles (kick failed), 5:00
McC – Alex Trotter 1 run (Viscomi kick), 3:16
ENS – Donovan Sheffield 1 run (Colby Green kick), 34.7
Second Quarter
McC – Trotter 10 run (Viscomi kick), 10:34
McC – Trotter 1 run (kick failed), 1:28
ENS – McGraw 71 pass from Settles (Green kick), 1:10
McC – Tyler Payne 35 pass from Vaughn (Viscomi kick), 32.7
Third Quarter
McC – Trotter 11 run (Viscomi kick), 8:33
ENS – Sheffield 12 run (Green kick), 6:08
McC – Vaughn 4 run (Viscomi kick), 52.8
Fourth Quarter
McC – Shawn McColley 47 interception return (Viscomi kick), 10:14
McC – Trotter 39 run (Viscomi kick), 2:49
ENS – Sheffield 8 run (Green kick), 5:10
YARDSTICK
ENS McC
First Downs 21 24
Rushes-Yards 34-175 57-414
Passing Yards 302 146
Com.-Atts.-Int 15-28-2 9-12-0
Total Yards 62-477 69-560
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 0-0
Punts.-Avg. 2-29.5 0-0
Penalties-Yds. 9-79 3-34
Individual Statistics
Rushing – Ensworth: Donovan Sheffield 15-90, Darius Morehead 10-66, Tim Covington 2-9, Jaylon King 1-6, Nicky Clifton 1-4, Taylor Smith 1-2, P.J. Settles 4-minus 2; McCallie: Alex Trotter 27-177, Paul Silverblatt 11-134, JaVaughn Craig 16-103, Team 3-0.
Passing – Ensworth: Settles 15-27-2, 302, Team 0-1-0; McCallie – Craig 9-12-0 146.
Receiving— Ensworth: McGraw 8-196, Thomas Freeland 4-67, Sheffield 2-21, Morehead 1-18; McCallie: Tyler Payne 3-65, Silverblatt 2-16, Matt Brock 2-9, Tyrik Stewart 1-44, Trotter 1-12.
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)