Cooke, Carter Lead Soddy Daisy Past Red Bank

Trojans Score Early & Often In 49-15 Romp

  • Friday, August 21, 2015
  • John Hunt
Soddy Daisy's Tre Carter is off to the races, trailed by Red Bank defenders during the Trojans' 49-15 shellacking in a season opening win. Soddy Daisy literally turned the lights out on the visiting Lions, who will face a tough Baylor squad at home next Friday night. The Trojans will remain at home against Central.
Soddy Daisy's Tre Carter is off to the races, trailed by Red Bank defenders during the Trojans' 49-15 shellacking in a season opening win. Soddy Daisy literally turned the lights out on the visiting Lions, who will face a tough Baylor squad at home next Friday night. The Trojans will remain at home against Central.
photo by M.A. Locke

They turned out the lights at Soddy Daisy's Robert Taleska Field Friday night.

Seriously, the lights shut off less than two minutes into the second quarter, but it didn't seem to matter.

The game between visiting Red Bank and the Soddy Daisy Trojans was over by that point anyway.

They eventually got three of the four light poles to come back on, but it didn't change anything as the Trojans scored on three of their first five plays and rolled to a convincing 49-15 victory in the non-region season opener for both teams.

Justin Cooke, a scrappy 16-year-old junior who is the Soddy Daisy quarterback, had a memorable first game as starter as he finished with 213 yards as he completed all eight of his passes.

Five of those completions ended up as touchdowns, including four to speedy Tre Carter.

 Chances are that Soddy Daisy might not be quite as good as the score might indicate and you can bet your next check that Red Bank isn't as bad, but on an evening when temperatures were mild and spirits were high, everything went Soddy Daisy's way.

"The effort was there, but we have a lot of stuff to clean up," said Soddy Daisy coach Justin Barnes after the game finally ended.

"We were attacking on defense all night as we were just swarming to the ball, but we had way too many penalties and we have to correct that.  We sort of shot ourselves in the foot to start the second half, but luckily, we didn't allow any big plays on defense.

"I thought that Justin Cooke did an outstanding job.  That's what you want from your starting quarterback, but we just told him to get the ball in the hands of our playmakers.  He did exactly that, but if he can play like that every Friday night, we'll be just fine," Barnes said.

Cooke was all smiles after the game ended.

"That was fun.  I was able to relax a little after the first touchdown, but I wasn't too nervous.  I think I played pretty well, but I need to learn how to stay in the pocket a little better," he added.

Carter has already committed to play baseball for the Tennessee Vols, but he's a playmaker on the football field as well.

"Tonight's game went really smooth, except for all the penalties," he said after the game.

"I just do what I can, but give our offensive linemen all the credit as they did it all.  I think I've scored three touchdowns in a game before, but I don't think I ever got four," he smiled.

While Cooke had five touchdown passes for the game, four of them went to Carter.

The first one came just 1:08 into the game before the sun had even set behind Mobray Mountain.

Brandon Davis picked off a pass from Red Bank's Caleb Tate while Cooke connected with Carter for 36 yards on the next snap.  Tyler Killingsworth booted the extra point and the rout was on.

The Trojans stopped Red Bank short on fourth and a from the Soddy Daisy 45.

Christian Bell picked up three yards on first down before Cooke got nine on a keeper.  Then with 8:37 still showing on the first-quarter clock, Bell sprinted 39 yards for the second TD of the game.

And just over two minutes later following a Red Bank punt, Cooke found a wide-open Carter on a play that covered 57 yards and the difference was 21-0 with 6:22 left in the opening stanza.

Red Bank's offense had a tough time getting anything started, but the kicking game is in good shape as senior kicker Sandy Beganovic booted three field goals, including a 43-yarder on the play right before the lights went out.

He later added a 37 yarder right before the half and a 46 yarder to open the second half that hit the crossbar and caromed across.

Carter had TD catches of 25 and 79 yards as Soddy Daisy carried a 35-6 lead into the dressing room at the half.

Bell had a second scoring run of 4 yards with 5:28 showing in the third while Cooke's fifth TD pass covered 2 yards to Jaden Holcombe with 3:27 in the third that made it 49-9 and allowed the mercy rule to take effect.

Red Bank got the ball back for one final shot after the Trojans were stopped at the 35 on downs and that's when Tate hooked up with Cole Seely for a 65-yard score on the final play of the game.

Red Bank coach Chad Grabowski didn't have a lot of positives to discuss, but he was upbeat anyway when the game ended.

"Our sophomores and freshmen got a lot of playing time tonight and that's a good thing, but we're mighty young and still have a awfully long way to go.  At least we finished the game on a positive play," he added.

Soddy Daisy finished with 319 total yards, including 213 through the air and 106 on the ground.

Carter was the leading receiver with four catches totaling 197 yards. Bell finished as the leading rusher with 89 yards on nine trips, including 75 yards on six carries in the first half.

Red Bank finished with 195 total yards, including 98 on the ground and 97 through the air.

Demarcus Rivers was the leading rusher with 51 yards on 11 carries, including a long of 21.  Seely was the leading receiver with the 65-yarder on the final play.

Red Bank will be at home next Friday to host Baylor while Soddy Daisy will be at home again to host Central.

 

 

 

 

Soddy Daisy head coach Justin Barnes confers with his quarterback, junior Justin Cooke.
Soddy Daisy head coach Justin Barnes confers with his quarterback, junior Justin Cooke.
photo by M.A. Locke
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