Ooltewah Demolishes Soddy-Daisy 62-7 In Homecoming Blowout

Owls Use 31-Point First Quarter As Springboard To Lopsided Win

  • Friday, September 30, 2016
  • Larry Fleming

Ooltewah exploded for 31 first-quarter points, kept the pedal to the metal and steamrolled Soddy-Daisy 62-7 Friday night in a Region 4-5A football whuppin’ that left the Trojans shaking their heads and the Owls celebrating an eye-popping homecoming triumph at James N. Monroe Stadium.

It was Ooltewah’s sixth straight win against the Trojans and the average score in those games has been 46.7 to 9.3 in the Owls’ favor. Soddy-Daisy’s last win in the series was a 19-0 decision in 2010.

In the winning streak, the Owls have also scored 58 points, 48, 42, 40 and 30 points and their defense recorded two shutouts.

“I thought the first half we played as complete a game as we can play,” Owls coach Mac Bryan said. “Special teams did good things. The defense was solid. They couldn’t get a first down for a long time and on offense we were very efficient.”

With a plethora of outstanding efforts on both sides of scrimmage, perhaps the Owls’ best came from senior defensive back Kendell Robinson.

Robinson scooped up a dreadful Soddy-Daisy punt snap and went 3 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter flare-up. Robinson smothered another poor snap to set up Quinn’s first touchdown, had his hands on two potential interceptions and then got a pick with less than five seconds left in the first half with the Owls up 45-0.

The colossal halftime margin assured the second half would start with a TSSAA-mandated running clock.

“That is the best I’ve played this season,” Robinson said. “I was really confident in our defense for this game. We were ready and we played hard the entire game.”

Said Bryan, whose Owls are 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the region, “Kendell is a good player, a great athlete. He’s a very aggressive, very physical kid that runs well. He does a lot of good things for us and he’s one of the few seniors we have that has a lot of experience.”

The Owls unleashed a veritable big bang blowout and registered touchdowns and a pair of Aleksander Toser field goals of 37 and 33 yards.

Ooltewah’s quarterback Collin Thurman threw touchdown passes of 6 and 64 yards to Cam Chambers and Andrew Manning, respectively.

The senior had a good time on a special night for the student body and football players.

“I felt good and we came out ready to roll tonight,” Thurman said. “Rolling on homecoming is always fun. I had a good time tonight.”

With Thurman jolting the Trojans’ defense with highly accurate passes and triggering a solid run game, the Owls managed to pile up 365 yards of total offense – 232 on the ground and 133 through the air. Thurman completed 9 of 13 attempts.

Manning caught two passes for 76, obviously the long TD making up most of that receiving yardage.

Reserve running back Sincere Quinn had short touchdown runs of 7 and 3 yards. Reserve running back Tylan Cargle, who ran the ball just eight times, scored on a 65-yard bolt around left end and led all rushers with 91 yards.

Cargle made the most of his limited action with the Owls’ second offensive unit, and his patience on the 65-yard TD run was impressive for the 5-foot-6, 140-pound sophomore.

“We got in a rhythm when coach (Bryan) gave us the opportunity,” Cargle said. “Coach always tells us to be slow to the hole and when it opens, just hit it. That’s what I did.”

Cargle followed two blockers to the left perimeter and when they moved two defenders out of the way the little scatback split them and was off to the races.

Tailback Cameron Turner hit paydirt from 2 yards out to trigger the Owls’ scoring parade that lasted for 44 of the game’s 48 minutes.

The Owls’ other touchdown came early in the third quarter when Jake Sullivan intercepted a Gavin Chambers pass and returned it 32 yards down the far sideline.

One key factor in the game was field position. Ooltewah had it; Soddy-Daisy didn’t.

The Owls started their first four possessions at the Trojans’ 47, 7, 34 and 3 and each series ended with an Ooltewah touchdown. The first two scores came in a 20-second span – Turner scored; Soddy-Daisy fumbled; the Owls recovered and Quinn scored on the next play.

“We got hit quick,” Soddy-Daisy coach Justin Barnes said.

Tyler Henderson got the third Ooltewah interception on the final play of the third period.

Ooltewah’s defense limited the Soddy-Daisy (1-5, 1-2) ground attack to 6 yards on 23 carries.

With that aspect of the Trojans’ offense stymied, quarterback Gavin Chambers would drop back and look right down the barrel of onrushing Ooltewah defenders. Chambers was sacked five times – twice by senior linebacker Grayson Avans and held to minus-31 yards.

Brandon Davis returned a late kickoff 93 yards and then scored on a 2-yard run on the next snap for Soddy-Daisy’s lone touchdown.

“From the get-go Ooltewah came out and scored,” Barnes said. “On our first play we fumble. We should have pulled it and threw a hitch, but we didn’t. That’s the kind of night it was and to add insult to injury we lose another guy (Landon Reece) for the year with a broken ankle.

“We had a few guys come in and do well and they’ve been doing that this year. The next guy is trying to step up. One good thing is we’re getting some valuable experience for some of the guys.”

Reece was injured after catching a quick slant pass over the middle and got hit after a 2-yard gain. He was carried off the field, placed on a golf cart and taken to the Trojans’ locker room.

SCORING

Soddy-Daisy                     0 0 0 7 – 7

Ooltewah                           31 14 7 10 – 62

First Quarter

OOL – Cameron Turner 2 run (Aleksander Toser kick), 8:29

OOL – Sincere Quinn 7 run (Toser kick), 8:09

OOL – Kendell Williams 3 return bad snap (Toser kick), 5:58

OOL – FG Toser 37, 2:36

OOL – Quinn 3 run (Toser kick), 1:04

Second Quarter

OOL – Cam Chambers 6 pass from Collin Thurman (Toser kick), 8:39

OOL – Andrew Manning 64 pass from Thurman (Toser kick), 52.7

Third Quarter

OOL – Jake Sullivan 32 interception return (Toser kick), 9:14

Fourth Quarter

OOL – FG Toser 33, 6:04

SD – Brandon Davis 2 run (Cooper Hamilton kick), 4:58

OOL – Tylan Cargle 65 run (Toser kick), 3:55

YARDSTICK

                                                SD                          OOL

First Downs                           6                             12                          

Rushes-Yds                         23-6                        25-232

Passing Yards                      92                           133

Comp-Att-Int                         13-21-3                  9-13-0

Plays-Total Yds                    44-98                     38-365

Fumbles-Lost                       1-1                          0-0

Punts-Avg                             5-33.2                    1-36.0

Penalties-Yds                       1-5                         4-28

INDIVIDUALS

RUSHING – Soddy-Daisy: Seth Ayala 6-36, Brandon Davis 6-17, Jaden Holcombe 1-11, Garrett Richardson 3-5, Gavin Chambers 7-minus 31, Team 2-minus 31; Ooltewah: Tylan Cargle 8-91, Cameron Turner 10-62, Max Klischies 1-37, .Kyrell Sanford 2-26, Sincere Quinn 2-10, Collin Thurman 1-3, Tahj Cargle 1-2, Charles Hunter 1-1.   

PASSING – Soddy-Daisy: Chambers 13-21-3-92; Ooltewah: Thurman 9-13-0-133.

RECEIVING – Soddy-Daisy: Zach Johnson 5-44, Holcombe 3-25, Landon Reece 2-14, Richardson 2-8; Ooltewah: Andrew Manning 2-76, Cam Chambers 2-22, Turner 1-17, Ethan Walls 1-4.

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

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