Ooltewah Crushes Campbell County 51-14 In 5A Playoffs

Owls Will Face Region Rival Walker Valley In Second Round

  • Friday, November 4, 2016
  • Larry Fleming
Ooltewah defensive back Jake Sullivan (34) returns a kick Friday night in the Owls' 51-14 rout of Campbell County in the Class 5A football playoffs. Sullivan had a 68-yard interception return as the game ended in the big win at James N. Monroe Stadium.
Ooltewah defensive back Jake Sullivan (34) returns a kick Friday night in the Owls' 51-14 rout of Campbell County in the Class 5A football playoffs. Sullivan had a 68-yard interception return as the game ended in the big win at James N. Monroe Stadium.
photo by Dennis Norwood
This is Ooltewah coach Mac Bryan’s favorite time of the football season.

The pressure is palpable.

Win, move on.

Lose, go home.

There is no gray area about the postseason.

Bryan’s Owls clobbered Campbell County 51-44, scoring three times in the final 2:32 and twice in the last 55 seconds, for a Class 5A state playoff victory at James N. Monroe Stadium.

It was a matchup of state-ranked foes, but that’s what you get this time of year.

“It’s survive and advance now,” said Bryan, who missed this week’s practice sessions while in North Carolina where his father passed away on Thursday. “Region standings don’t matter. Polls don’t matter. It’s all about surviving and advancing and I thought we played a nice second half.”

Ooltewah outscored the Cougars 34-0 in the second half, including 27 in the final quarter, to turn the opening-round contest into a blowout.

Sincere Quinn scored on an 8-yard run in the third period. Hard-running Cameron Turner scored on a 1-yard burst to start the offensive onslaught in the final quarter.

Turner scored again, this time on a 3-yard burst.

Tylan Cargle scored on a1-yard run following Kendell Robinson’s 90-yard return of an interception and Jake Sullivan rambled 68 yards to score on a second interception as the game ended.

“It’s awesome,” Sullivan said. “It was the first round of the playoffs, a big game. We came out with a win and we dominated Campbell County.”

The Owls (9-2) advanced to the second round and will host Region 4-5A rival Walker Valley (7-4) next Friday at 7 p.m. The Mustangs went on the road and knocked off Oak Ridge, 35-27, to earn their second crack at the Owls in three weeks.

Ooltewah crushed Walker Valley 63-35 in the regular-season finale when Turner and Quinn combined for 520 rushing yards and seven touchdowns.

“We have some good memories of that game,” said Turner, who rushed for 128 yards on 22 carries. “It should be fun. They’re a really good team and I can’t wait.”

After their opening drive fizzled and ended with Aleksander Toser missing a 26-yard field goal try, the Owls’ defense forced a punt. On third-and-six quarterback Collin Thurman connected with Turner on a 29-yard gainer to the Cougars’ 23.

Two plays later, Thurman found Cam Chambers on a 21-yard touchdown strike.

On the second play of the second quarter, Quinn darted 22 yards for his second TD and pushed the Owls’ lead to 14-0.

Campbell County’s Shane Bowman scored on a 1-yard run, slicing the Owls’ lead in half.

Toser bounced back from the early miss with a 26-yard field goal, but the Cougars answered with a 35-yard drive in four plays with Bowman scoring from the 2. The drive was set up by Seth Roberts’ 62-yard kickoff return.

Earlier, the Cougars, trailing 17-14 at the time, got a 36-yard pass play from Zach Rutherford to Landon Reese to the Owls’ 3. Ooltewah held Bowman to no gain on the first two plays. Bowman threw an incomplete pass on third down and place-kicker Will Martin missed a 16-yard chip-shot field goal.

“The goal-line stand was critical and then Andrew Manning made a big catch for us that changed the field position and we were able to put the ball in the end zone.”

On second-and-10, Thurman hit Manning, who made a move to shake a defender and raced down field to the Cougars’ 15. Three plays later Quinn scored his second touchdown with 1:05 left in the third quarter, extending the Owls’ lead to 24-14.

The Owls later failed to convert on a fourth-and-11 play, but the stingy defense forced a Campbell County punt, a 33-yarder to the Cougars’ 47.

Turner started with back-to-back runs for 13 and 11 yards, but a holding penalty on the next play pushed the Owls into a predicament. However, on fourth-and-16, Thurman hit his favorite target, Manning, for a 25-yard gainer and a first down at the Cougars’ 28.

Manning finished with four catches for 132 yards, with three receptions and 108 yards coming after halftime. Thurman passed for 247  yards, completing 15 of his 29 attempts.

“This is what a team win looks like,” Thurman said. “If we can run the football, stop the run and take the ball away on defense, we can do just about what we want to do.”

Ooltewah started the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead.

Midway through the period Turner capped a 47-yard, eight-play drive with his short TD run. The Owls had to convert a fourth-and-16 to keep the drive alive. Thurman did it with a screen pass to Thurman, who turned the play into a 25-yard gain to the Cougars’ 3. Two plays later he scored with 7:29 left.

Turner was coming off a 310-yard, three-touchdown effort against Walker Valley. Quinn had 210 rushing yards and four scores against the Mustangs.

“The defense really helped the offense out tonight,” Turner said. “I wouldn’t want any other defense than ours. This game gives us a lot of momentum, but we’ll still have to work hard and get ready for Walker Valley.”

The Owls’ defense sacked Cougars quarterback Zach Rutherford on back-to-back plays , the second coming on a fourth-and-12 at Campbell County’s 32.

On Ooltewah’s ensuing drive, it converted third-and-18 and fourth-and-20 plays – Thurman hooked up with Manning on 19- and 24-yard gainers in both situations. That last moved the Owls to the Cougars’ 7-yard line.

On second down, Campbell County was flagged for pass interference in the end zone. Two plays later Turner scored from the1 and the Owls led 38-14.

Defensive back Kendell Robinson picked off a Rutherford pass at the Owls’ 9 and returned it 90 yards before being tackled at the 1.

“I ran out of gas,” said Robinson, who had an earlier interception negated by a penalty. “As a unit, the defense played very good. I knew we would play good because of the way we practiced this week. I was very confident in our defense.”

On the next play sophomore running back Tylan Cargle scored from the 1 to give the Owls a 45-14 advantage.

The Cougars had one last possession.

It ended when defensive back Jake Sullivan picked off another Rutherford pass and rumbled 68 yards for a touchdown as the game ended.

“Hey, the game wasn’t over,” Sullivan said. “There was less than a minute left, but we don’t give up and we keep on playing. I caught the ball and saw a defender, but I got past him and I was gone. Touchdown.”

Will Whitson led the Owls’ defense with 12 tackles. Gene Myers, Corey Morgan and Robinson had eight apiece. Whitson and Dylan Dickson had sacks while Morgan and Grayson Avans shared one.

SCORING

Campbell County           0 14 0 0 – 14

Ooltewah                        7 10 7 27 – 51

First Quarter

OOL – Cam Chambers 22 pass from Collin Thurman (Alek Toser kick), 4:05

Second Quarter

OOL – Sincere Quinn 22 run ((Toser kick), 11:18

CC – Shane Bowman 1 run (Will Martin kick), 8:24

OOL – FG Toser 26, 2:18

CC – Bowman 2 run (Martin kick), 0:47

Third Quarter

OOL – Quinn 8 run (Toser kick), 1:05

Fourth Quarter

OOL – Cameron Turner 2 run (Toser kick), 7:29

OOL – Turner 1 run (Toser kick), 2:33

OOL – Tylan Cargle 1 run (Toser kick), 55.1

OOL – Jake Sullivan 68 interception return, 0:00

YARDSTICK

                                           CC                         OOL

First Downs                      16                           17

Rushes-Yards                   19-11                     40-147

Passing Yards                   241                        247

Comp-Att-Int                     22-42-2                  15-29-0

Plays-Total Yds                61-252                    69-394

Fumbles-Lost                   2-1                          2-0

Punts-Avg                        6-33.8                     3-37.7

Penalties-Yds                  5-24                        3-25

INDIVIDUALS 

RUSHING – Campbell County: Zach Rutherford 7-30, Landon Reese 2-7, Shane Bowman 4-4, Patrick Strunk 6-minus 30; Ooltewah: Cameron Turner 22-128, Sincere Quinn 13-34, Tahj Cargle 1-1, Tylan Cargle 1-minus 8.

PASSING – Campbell County: Rutherford 22-41-2-241, Bowman 0-1-0-0; Ooltewah: Collin Thruman 15-29-0-247.

RECEIVING – Campbell County Reese 4-79, Logan Phillips 5-67, Max Farris 7-51, Seth Roberts 4-26; Ooltewah: Andrew Manning 4-132, Turner 4-51, Cam Chambers 3-48, Ta. Cargle 4-16.

(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)

Kendell Robinson returned an interception 90 yards in the fourth quarter to set up Ooltewah's next-to-last touchdown against Campbell County on Friday night. The Owls won 51-14 and advanced to the second round of the playoffs next Friday against Region 4-5A rival Walker Valley.
Kendell Robinson returned an interception 90 yards in the fourth quarter to set up Ooltewah's next-to-last touchdown against Campbell County on Friday night. The Owls won 51-14 and advanced to the second round of the playoffs next Friday against Region 4-5A rival Walker Valley.
photo by Dennis Norwood
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