Owls Steal Spotlight In Saturday's Football Jamboree

Ooltewah Scores Quickly, Picks Off Three Passes

  • Saturday, August 15, 2015
  • Larry Fleming
Ooltewah linebacker Jeremiah Jackson (5) rumbles down field after grabbing one of three Owls interceptions in a 20-0 win over Franklin County on Saturday in the prep football jamboree at Finley Stadium.
Ooltewah linebacker Jeremiah Jackson (5) rumbles down field after grabbing one of three Owls interceptions in a 20-0 win over Franklin County on Saturday in the prep football jamboree at Finley Stadium.
photo by Dennis Norwood

If anyone’s looking for the prep football jamboree spotlight on Saturday night, just drive up to Ooltewah.

The Owls stole it.

Ooltewah, which won the District 5-AAA regular-season title and went 11-1 overall, losing only to Rhea County in a second round playoff game, smothered Franklin County with a blanket defense and the Owls raced to a 20-0 victory in the night’s highlight 20-minute quarter before a decent crowd at Finley Stadium.

    

The Owls’ intercepted three passes, two by junior defensive back Kendell Robinson, and limited the Rebels to one first down.

“That’s what I’m in there for,” Robinson said. “I feel very confident that I can make plays when I’m on the field and I’ve learned a lot from the seniors in front of me, especially Rashun Freeman. He has helped on and off the field and always has my back.”

Robinson, whose nickname is “Chicken Hawk,” was actually playing for Freeman, the district defensive back of the year in 2014. Freeman has been bothered in preseason with an ankle injury and was in a walking boot Saturday night.

 “I feel like I have three safeties,” Owls defensive coordinator Doug Greene said. “Kendell and Rashun can play free safety. Sometimes I can put him down where he can play like an outside linebacker and sometimes we can use him deep.”

Said coach Mac Bryan, “Kendell is very physical – he will bring some leather – and he’s really learning to play defense. He’s a very instinctive player with a bright future.”

Senior quarterback London Elrod capped an opening 70-yard scoring drive with a short run on a keeper and the Owls never looked back.

Elrod completed three passes for 55 yards on the team’s first possession, hitting wide receiver Scottie Strickland for 14 yards on the second play and kept the drive alive by connecting with wide receiver Blake Smith for a 30-yard gainer on a second-and-23 play.

Later, Elrod found wide receiver Ethan Walls for a touchdown strike and a 14-0 lead.

The Owls forced a Franklin County punt on a fourth-and-25. On the ensuing possession, the Rebels got a 31-yard pass from quarterback Dalvin Russell to Mike Leslie, but the ball-hawking Robinson fouled up the drive with his second interception at the 4:05 mark.

Ooltewah turned the Rebels’ turnover into its third touchdown when reserve quarterback Collin Thurman flipped a short pass to Cameron Turner, who rambled for a 73-yard score with 2:05 on the clock.

“The offensive line and the blocking of my wide receivers make that play possible,” said Turner, whose brothers Darrell and Marcus also played at Ooltewah and were at the jamboree Saturday night. “Although I’m confident in the backfield I couldn’t have scored without the blocking.”

On Franklin County’s final possession, middle linebacker Jeremiah Jackson intercepted a pass and the game ended seconds later.

What did East Ridge learn from a 14-0 loss to Walker Valley?

Coach Tracy Malone told his players exactly what the task at hand is when the season begins next week.

“If we have six bad snaps and bad coverage, we can’t beat anybody,” Malone said.

Talented defensive end Jeremiah McKibben couldn’t disagree with his coach.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said. “I feel like we could have run the ball better, but the snaps really hurt us. We have to come out harder, be more aggressive and be ready to play next time.”

In a 7-0 win over Central, quarterback Cooper Hodge and Eli Legg, a Murphy Fair preseason all-state offensive lineman who also plays defense, certainly looked like they were ready for the Bucs’ opener.

On the first drive, Hodge appeared trapped behind the line, but scrambled for a nice 7-yard gain. He also connected with running back Isaiah Dilliard for an 18-yard pass play to the Pounders’ 22. A few plays later, Dilliard went around left end on a 1-yard touchdown run.

“We were a little sloppy, made some mistakes and that’s not us,” Hodge said. “The light will click on the regular season and we’ll be fired up.”

Legg felt the defense played well in stopping the Pounders from reaching the end zone.

“Coming in we wanted to force some three-and-outs, shut them down and not give them first downs and touchdowns. We can take the positive things we did tonight and work hard all week to get better for our first game.

“Tonight, I think we got the jitters out of the way.”

Rhea County’s vaunted wing-T offense piled up 172 total yards – 161 came on the ground – against East Hamilton, but scored once when running back Nikki Wallis hit paydirt on a 9-yard run.

Earlier, the Golden Eagles, which finished 13-1 last season, losing only to Knoxville West in the Class 5A playoff semifinals, were driving for a score only to see the Hurricanes’ senior defensive back Jeffrey Coleman end the threat with a fumble recovery.

Coleman scooped up the ball at East Hamilton’s 15 and ran to the 43 before being tackled.

“I saw it pop out and knew I had to make the play,” Coleman said. “I thought I could score. I gave the guy a move, but it didn’t work. It was a great play on his part.”

East Hamilton finished with minus-4 yards of offense.

In the night’s final matchup, Soddy-Daisy got an excellent 59-yard scoring pass play from quarterback junior quarterback Justin Cooke to senior wide receiver Jacob Lemons in a 7-0 win over Signal Mountain.

The throw was strong and Lemons leaned away from a defender to make an outstanding catch.

“I had a back-side vertical route and the ball wasn’t supposed to come to me,” Lemons said. “I saw Justin was in trouble and threw up my hand because I got behind the defensive back. As the ball got closer I leaned to get open and made the catch.”

After grabbing the ball, Lemons took a few steps and tumbled into the end zone.

The Trojans had two good plays negated by yellow flags, including a holding penalty what wiped off a long touchdown pass from Cooke to Tre Carter.

Soddy-Daisy’s senior defensive back Chase Payne had a fumble recovery to help keep the Eagles from reaching the end zone.

“They ran an option play and the quarterback made the pitch, but the running back bobbled the ball,” Payne said. “I saw in the air and broke on the ball and got it.”

The Trojans were psyched for the jamboree appearance.

“Our seniors were excited,” Payne said. “We knew this would be a test and I think we played great, except for some penalties.”

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

                                           

 

Quarterback London Elrod (17) of Ooltewah waits for running back Cameron Turner (33) to take the handoff during Saturday's jamboree at Finley Stadium. Cameron scored one touchdown on a pass from reserve Collin Thurman.
Quarterback London Elrod (17) of Ooltewah waits for running back Cameron Turner (33) to take the handoff during Saturday's jamboree at Finley Stadium. Cameron scored one touchdown on a pass from reserve Collin Thurman.
photo by Dennis Norwood
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