Ooltewah Smothers Rhea 16-0 In Region 4-5A Showdown

Owls Avenge Last Season's Big Loss In State Playoffs

  • Friday, September 18, 2015
  • Larry Fleming
Ooltewah's Tyler Reid got to Rhea County quarterback Daniel Dotson and was joined by Jeremiah Jackson for a second-quarter safety in the Owls' 16-0 victory over the Eagles in thrilling Region 4-5A football action Friday night.
Ooltewah's Tyler Reid got to Rhea County quarterback Daniel Dotson and was joined by Jeremiah Jackson for a second-quarter safety in the Owls' 16-0 victory over the Eagles in thrilling Region 4-5A football action Friday night.
photo by Dennis Norwood

This time Ooltewah’s defense was rock-solid.

Ooltewah, avenging a 33-point loss to Rhea County in last year’s state playoffs, got a crushing defensive effort – highlighted by A.J. Diggs’ 72-yard fumble return for the game’s first touchdown – and stymied the high-power Golden Eagles offense in a 16-0 victory that put the Owls in a strong position for the Region 3-5A regular-season championship.

“This feels pretty good considering they put us out of the playoffs last year,” said Owls linebacker Jeremiah Jackson, who was credited with 13 tackles.

“We talked all night about pressuring them. I told the D-line that if they got pressure on the quarterback I was going to buy them a steak. So, the whole D-line has a steak coming to them sometime next week.”

With a crowd estimated at 3,500 to 4,000 at James N. Monroe Stadium, the Owls (4-1) held Rhea County to 208 yards of offense, just 41 on the ground.

On Nov. 14, 2014, Rhea County piled up 475 yards of offense, with 436 coming on the ground, while smashing the Owls, 47-14, in the second round of the TSSAA state Class 5A playoffs at Rhea’s Bill Horton Field.

On Friday, the Owls dashed any threat by Rhea County (3-2) to score and handed the Golden Eagles their first shutout since Oct. 14, 2011, when Ooltewah blasted them 38-0 in a home-field victory.

“We knew they had a good team,” Eagles quarterback Daniel Dotson said. “We just weren’t getting anything done offensively and that’s on me. It’s my offense. Our defense was doing OK, but I couldn’t get the offense going.”

Ooltewah stacked the box and dared the Eagles to throw, and Dotson did a significant job doing that, but couldn’t get the Eagles into the end zone. Dotson passed for 153 yards, completing 11-of-22 passes, with one interception by Elijah Wigfall in the Owls’ end zone. Rhea wideout Noel Patterson caught eight passes for 134 yards.

“We watched a lot of film and got exactly what we expected with their pressure,” Dotson said. “We didn’t get the job done.”

After last year’s blowout in Evensville, Owls coach Mac Bryan and his staff spent much of the offseason devising a plan that would slow down Rhea County’s gashing wing-T assault up the middle and around either perimeter. The Eagles had seven rushing plays that amassed 308 yards.

Defensive tackle Nick Putman and his up-front teammates were having none of that Friday.

Rhea ran 29 times and managed only 24 yards. Dotson finished with 11 carries for minus-35 yards, most of the negative yardage coming on sacks.

The Owls sacked Dotson eight times, including three each by Putman and William Whitson, and harassed him numerous other times. Often, if he turned right to avoid an Owl defender, there was another Ooltewah rusher bearing down on him.

It was that kind of night for the gutty Rhea signal caller, who had helped the Eagles’ offense average 50 points per game – they twice scored 62 points in three games following a season-opening loss to Baylor – coming into Friday’s highly hyped contest, which was Ooltewah’s homecoming.

“Honestly, we really wanted this win,” Putman said. “We wanted to stop that trap play. Stop everything. It feels awesome and very satisfying that I helped do that.”

Said Bryan, “Rhea is a good program and we are too. It was an interesting ballgame and I thought our defense did an outstanding job. We needed to make some negative plays against them, which is difficult because of the way they’re structured.

“We took the run away so they couldn’t get anything going. They usually throw to hurt you, but they had to throw to try and move the ball and that’s not what they normally like to do.”

Rhea County’s defense showed up strong as well.

Ooltewah gained only 140 yards, managing a mere 24 on the ground. Quarterback London Elrod completed 12-of-25 attempts for 116 yards and a touchdown. Ethan Walls caught three passes for 62 yards.

“Rhea didn’t allow us any explosive plays,” Bryan said. “We’re used to getting explosive plays. And we had a hard time finding lanes to run the ball against their front-seven.”

Diggs, a senior defensive back, shocked the Golden Eagles when he picked up a Cody Bice fumble and rambled 72 yards for a touchdown with 7:02 left in the first quarter.

That was a gigantic momentum boost for the Owls, not to mention a new experience for Diggs.

“The slot guy blocked down on me, so I ripped over the top and they had a pitch-back,” he said. “The ball popped up and I caught it in mid-air and took off. It was my first touchdown and it felt great.”

Bryan thought that was a key play in the game.

“Momentum is a huge thing and anytime the defense scores it’s great,” he said. “I thought we had another one at the end.”

With 2:35 remaining in the game, Rhea’s Patterson fumbled at the Eagles’ 30 and Ooltewah’s junior linebacker Gene Myers scooped up the ball and raced 30 yards for an apparent touchdown. However, officials slapped the Owls with a facemask penalty and brought the ball back to the spot Myers made the recovery.

Ooltewah missed a golden first-quarter opportunity to extend the lead – bringing back bad memories of the season opener when it had four chances inside the 5 and only got a field goal in a 9-5 loss to Riverdale.

Apparently, Rhea County called for a fake punt but the center snapped the ball to kicker Gavin Downey, who was jumping into the air with his back to the line of scrimmage. The ball rolled inside the Rhea 5 and Downey was about to pick it up when Ooltewah’s Joseph Norwood dived at Downey’s feet, knocked the ball closer to the goal line and recovered it at the 2.

In three plays, the Owls gained 1 yard, despite a new alignment that had Putman and Jackson in the backfield as big-sized blockers. On fourth down, Elrod tried a sneak and came up short.

“London said he got in (to the end zone), but obviously he didn’t,” Bryan said. “We moved some defensive guys in to the backfield and gave Rhea a different look. We decided we could stick it in there and went right at them.”

Still, Rhea took over at its own 1.

Dotson was held for no gain. Braxton Dieckhaus got a yard. On third down, Dylan Smith took a crack at picking up yardage only to have Owls linebacker Tyler Reid tackle him for a safety to give Ooltewah a 9-0 lead with 2:11 left in the first half.

After Scottie Strickland’s return of the ensuing kickoff, Ooltewah set up shop at the Rhea County 46.

On second down, Elrod hit Kobe Jones for a 15-yard gainer to the 37. Later, on third-and-8 from the 10, Elrod found Jones in the end zone for the game’s only offensive touchdown with 13.6 seconds left in the half. After Alek Toser’s extra point, Ooltewah had a 16-0 lead.

Ooltewah’s defense continued to hammer away at the Rhea offense the rest of the game.

The Owls forced a turnover when the Eagles failed on a fourth-and-8 pass from the Ooltewah 16 and that was as close as the Eagles came to scoring in the second half.

And Jackson, one of the area’s top college prospects, could smile.

“I was really psyched for this game,” he said. “Last year I was going through some stuff. I went to my granddad’s funeral the same day of the playoff game. It was a rough time. So, I’m dedicating this game tonight to him.”

Rhea County                   0 0 0 0 – 0

Ooltewah                         7 9 0 0 – 16

First Quarter

OOL – A.J. Diggs 72 fumble return (Alek Toser kick), 7:03

 Second Quarter

OOL – Safety, Tyler Reid tackled Dylan Smith in end zone, 2:11

OOL – Kobe Jones 10 pass from London Elrod (Toser kick), 13.6  

YARDSTICK

                                            RC                        OOL

First Downs                       12                           1

Rushes-Yards                   46-41                     29-24

Passing Yards                   167                       116

Comp-Att-Int                      12-23-1                 12-25-0

Total Yards                        69-208                   54-140

Fumbles-Lost                    4-3                          0-0

Punts-Avg                          4-37                      8-34

Penalties-Yds                    4-45                      3-23

INDIVIDUALS

RUSHING – Rhea County: Cody Bice 13-58, Dylan Smith 14-31, Noel Patterson 1-1, Gavin Downey 1-minus 31, Daniel Dotson 11-minus 35; Ooltewah: Cameron Turner 16-28, Rashun Freeman 7-0, London Elrod 2-0, Team 4-minus 4.

PASSING – Rhea County: Dotson 11-22-1 153, Patterson 1-1-0 14; Ooltewah: London Elrod 12-25-0 116.

RECEIVING – Rhea County: Patterson 8-134, Smith 2-17, Dotson 1-14, Jared Edwards 1-2; Ooltewah: Ethan Walls 3-62, Kobe Jones 2-25, Joseph Norwood 2-15, Turner 2-6, Corey Heard 1-5, Peyton Oliver 1-2, Scottie Strickland 1-1.

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

 

 

 

Wide receiver Kobe Jones (9) of Ooltewah, going up over Rhea County defender Noel Patterson, snagged two passes for 25 yards, including a 10-yard throw from London Elrod for the game's only offensive touchdown.
Wide receiver Kobe Jones (9) of Ooltewah, going up over Rhea County defender Noel Patterson, snagged two passes for 25 yards, including a 10-yard throw from London Elrod for the game's only offensive touchdown.
photo by Dennis Norwood
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