Football Playoffs: Pioneers Get Another Shot At Lions

East Ridge Now Mostly Healthy For Class 3A Showdown

  • Monday, November 7, 2016
  • Larry Fleming
East Ridge football coach Tim James, left, oversees a kickoff session during Monday's practice in front of new stands erected on the home side of Raymond James Stadium. The Pioneers play at Red Bank on Friday in a Class 3A second-round playoff game at 7 p.m.
East Ridge football coach Tim James, left, oversees a kickoff session during Monday's practice in front of new stands erected on the home side of Raymond James Stadium. The Pioneers play at Red Bank on Friday in a Class 3A second-round playoff game at 7 p.m.

East Ridge’s 2016 football season can be described several ways.

Injury plagued, comes to mind.

What about, inconsistent.

There’s an argument for erratic.

“Well, roller coaster would be an accurate description,” Pioneers coach Tim James said Monday as his Pioneers began practice for a rematch at Region 3-3A regular-season champion Red Bank in the second round of the TSSAA state playoffs on Friday.

Game time is 7 p.m. and admission is $8.

James has no problem pin-pointing a key reason the Pioneers ended the regular season with 5-5 overall and 3-2 in region play. East Ridge won its first 11 games last season – the best mark in school history – before losing to region rival Notre Dame 55-27 in the quarterfinals.

“Coaches talk about starting the same kids from week to week,” James said. “It got to the point we didn’t have the same starting kids from series to series. At one point we had five offensive starters off the field. In 26 years, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Traneil Moore, the 2015 TSSAA Class 3A Back of the Year, was on the injured list until the Pioneers’ fourth game against Central’s Pounders. He had some “dings and bruises” from his first action of the year when East Ridge faced Red Bank the following week.

“Like coach has been saying, this year has been all about the medicine man,” said Moore, a 6-foot, 190-pound senior tailback. “We’ve had a ton of injuries we’ve been playing a lot of second team guys quite a bit. “But we had just about everybody back for the playoffs.”

The Pioneers advanced to the second round by posting a 23-18 road victory over DeKalb County last week to set up this week’s showdown against the Lions (8-3).

East Ridge opened the season with a stunning 35-28 loss to Polk County, which had lost 21 straight games dating to the 2013 season finale.

Regrouping in Week 2, East Ridge started a three-game winning streak by clubbing Brainerd and following it up with wins over Signal Mountain and Central – by a combined score of 82-40.

After dropping a 22-10 loss to Red Bank there were two more setbacks against Hixson and Notre Dame – that one a 50-26 blowout.

The Pioneers stopped the bleeding with a 13-7 win over Howard, but the totally unexpected – much like the season opener – happened again. Loudon’s Redskins hosted the Pioneers having lost their previous 15 games, including 10 offensive performances that produced single-digit points.

Loudon, which had been outscored 351-78, dumped East Ridge 16-13, its second-highest point total for the entire season.

“Offensively, we’ve sputtered,” said James, concluding the first year of a return stay with the Pioneers – his first stint ran from 2001-07. “Defensively, we’ve gotten a lot better, we’ve got most of them (injured players) back and we’re healthier now than we’ve been in a long time.”

The Pioneers rebounded once again from a tough loss and clipped Chattanooga Christian 39-28 and headed into the playoffs on a high note and an opening date with DeKalb County (7-3). East Ridge came out of that game – one of 16 played in Class 3A – as just one of five teams to win on the road.

With that challenge handled, the Pioneers now gear up to face Red Bank, which drubbed Upperman 54-13 in its playoff opener.

The East Ridge-Red Bank winner will hit the road and play the Notre Dame-Sequatchie County winner on Nov. 18 in the quarterfinals.

The Pioneers have gotten past the second round only twice since 1970, the year they lost to Memphis Melrose in the semifinals. Of course, East Ridge lost to Notre Dame in the quarterfinals.

James is not as frustrated by this season as one might think and believes the Pioneers have a legitimate shot to upend the Lions.

“It has been rewarding to see these kids battle a lot of adversity this year,” James said. “There were high expectations for us because of last year’s success. There were high expectations having a new coach. To be honest for several weeks we weren’t living up to hose expectations.

“Right now, though, we’re playing pretty good football. Traneil is healthy again and we’re starting to click on offense.”

That’s a good thing considering the way James answered the next question:

“What does East Ridge have to do this time to beat Red Bank?”

“Our offense has to score,” he said. “The defense scored our only touchdown in the Red Bank game on a scoop-and-score off a fumble. The offense had a field goal.”

Said Moore, “I think we’ll go into the game with confidence. We need to have a lot of team chemistry and be focused on the game.”

Speaking of an attitude built on self-assurance going into Friday action, East Ridge’s middle linebacker, a 6-1, 210-pound junior, believes the Pioneers can pull a surprise.

“I think we got ‘em,” he said. “I feel confident because we’re getting our groove going in all three phases of the game – offense, defense and special teams. It would be good to beat the team that beat us early in the year.”

If East Ridge is a better team right now than it was a month ago, that doesn’t mean the Lions don’t have the same feeling about themselves.

Two of Red Bank’s losses came to local private school powers Baylor (47-7) and McCallie (47-0) and the third was a 28-0 setback against 14-time champion Alcoa.

The Lions have won six of their last seven games.

“I thought they were one of the better teams in our region athletically before the season started,” James said. “Coach (Chad) Grabowski has done a good job; his new offensive coordinator Drew Akins’ kids are producing a lot of points and defensive coordinator Charles Weems is pitching some shutouts and always does a nice job.”

James added this about his own troops, “I think they feel fortunate we’ve got another shot at Red Bank. I’m preaching to them that we can’t leave anything on the field. We’re the underdogs going in. They beat us during the season and they’re the region champs.

“We’re just little ol’ East Ridge, but we’re going to get on the bus, go over there and give it our best effort.”

2016 TSSAA Football Playoffs

First-Round Results (Nov. 4)

Class 6A

Bradley Central 29, Cookeville 25

Class 5A

Ooltewah 51, Campbell County 14

Walker Valley 35, Oak Ridge 27

Farragut 40, McMinn County 21

Rhea County 45, Lenoir City 7

Class 4A

Page 34, Chattanooga Central 7

Giles County 42, Hixson 14

Marshall County 46, East Hamilton 0

Class 3A

Red Bank 54, Upperman 13

East Ridge 23, DeKalb County 18

Notre Dame 49, Smith County 15

Sequatchie County 42, Howard 6

Class 2A

Marion County 42, Westmoreland 0

Watertown 38, Boyd-Buchanan 24

Meigs County 49, Jackson County 14

Class 1A

South Pittsburg 62, Cornersville 12

Fayetteville 49, Copper Basin 6

Whitwell 23, Summertown 8

Columbia Academy 49, Grace Baptist 21

Division II-2A

McCallie 49, Father Ryan 14

Baylor 35, Pope John Paul 20

Second-Round Pairings (Nov. 11)

Games Start at 7 p.m. Local Time

Class 6A

Bradley Central (9-2) at Blackman (8-3

Class 5A

Walker Valley (7-4) at Ooltewah (9-2)

Farragut (10-1) at Rhea County (9-2)

Class 3A

East Ridge (6-5) at Red Bank (8-3)

Notre Dame (7-4) at Sequatchie County (11-0)

Class 2A

Watertown (10-1) at Marion County (10-1)

Meigs County (10-1) at Forrest (10-1)

Class 1A

Fayetteville (9-2) at South Pittsburg (10-1)

Whitwell (6-5) at Columbia Academy (10-0)

Division II-2A

Quarterfinals

McCallie (7-4) at Brentwood Academy (8-2)

Baylor (7-4) at Memphis University School (10-0)

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

 

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