East Hamilton's Jhaeden Smith slips through a tackle attempt by Andrew Manning.
photo by M.A. Locke
In a first half when senior quarterback Collin Thurman's passing was impeccable, Ooltewah built a commanding 28-3 lead over bitter rival East Hamilton and went on to beat the Hurricanes 38-3 before a standing-room-only crowd at Larry Henry Stadium.
Thurman completed all 11 passing attempts for 119 yards and touchdowns covering 2 and 20 yards to Tahj Cargle and Kasaud Featherstone, respectively, in the first 24 minutes.
“We wanted to come out fast, score on the first drive and execute our offense,” Thurman said. “Bang, bang, bang. We scored right away and had all the momentum, and that was good.”
The smooth-operating Thurman, who bided his time behind previous starters Kelvin Leon and London Elrod, connected with Cam Chambers on a 14-yard pass on the Owls’ first play of the third quarter, giving him 13 straight completions for a combined 133 yards.
On a second-and-3 from the Hurricanes’ 5, Thurman overthrew Chambers in the end zone for his first miss of the Owls’ sixth victory in seven meetings against East Hamilton.
Thurman finished the game completing 16 of 18 attempts for 169 yards and the two scores. Cargle caught seven passes for 77 yards to lead the Owls’ receivers.
“The game kind of dictated what we wound up doing when it comes to passing and running,” Thurman said. “We could do anything we wanted and wound up pretty balanced.”
The Owls, who have won three in a row after losing the season opener to Riverdale, used the East Hamilton game as their final tune-up for Region 4-5A play that starts next week at Rhea County.
The Golden Eagles, who thrashed Clinton 59-14, has eliminated the Owls from the past two playoff campaigns, both times in the second round. Dating to 2005, Ooltewah has won six of the last seven regular-season showdowns, including four decisions of blowout proportions.
“Our first half tonight was flawless and the offense controlled the game,” Owls coach Mac Bryan said. “The defense was great and in the second half we did what we needed to do. Now we’ll get ready for region play and head over to Rhea County.”
It was clear Friday night that East Hamilton had Ooltewah’s full attention.
Tyler Henderson rushed 13 times for 62 yards and a pair of touchdowns covering 8 and 5 yards. Cameron Turner led all rushers with 70 yards on nine tries and scored from 14 yards out to open the second-quarter scoring.
Aleksander Toser kicked a 32-yard field goal in the third quarter for the Owls.
East Hamilton’s lone score was Jake McClure’s 36-yard field goal.
East Hamilton (2-2) got the opening kickoff, but the Owls’ defense forced a three-and-out.
Thurman completed his first three passes – two to Cargle, a 5-foot-6, 135-pound sophomore in the left flat and one to Turner – and capped the 70-yard, nine-play drive by hitting Cargle on a 2-yard touchdown strike.
On the previous play, Turner converted a fourth-and-2 with an inside plunge. After bringing the chains out, the Owls got a first down by mere inches.
Ooltewah forced a fourth-and-18 on the Hurricanes’ next possession and punter Jake McClure got off a 21-yarder. The Owls set up at East Hamilton’s 29.
Turner gained 9 yards on first down and Thurman fired a 20-yard dart to Featherstone, who had beaten his defender on a crossing route in the end zone and the Owls had a 14-0 advantage.
East Hamilton, held to 88 total yards with 57 coming on the ground, ran three plays and punted a third time.
Thurman, starting from his own 14, opened the drive with a 13-yard strike to Cargle for his sixth consecutive completion. After two first downs, Thurman found Ethan Walls and Henderson for 7 combined yards.
On fourth-and-1 from the ‘Canes’ 24, Turner bulled his way for 3 yards and a first down. Thurman’s seventh completion was to Chambers for 7 yards. Turner rambled 14 yards for the first of his two touchdowns and the Owls extended their lead to 20-0 after Toser missed the extra-point kick.
A fourth straight East Hamilton possession ended with a punt – the Hurricanes two first downs at that point – and the Owls had good field position at their own 44.
Thurman connected with Chambers and Cargle for a combined 18 yards and the Owls were at midfield. Turner galloped 17 yards and Sincere Quinn broke a 14-yarder to the East Hamilton 8. Quinn was stopped for no gain, but Henderson scored on the next play, pushing the lead to 28-0 after Thurman hit Chambers for the two-point conversion.
That drive covered 56 yards in eight plays.
“I ran all right, but I could have done better,” said Henderson, a 200-pound junior running back who has three rushing touchdowns this season. “The inside plays were working. I’d make one cut and boom; I was gone a few times.
“This was a good win. We don’t like East Hamilton.”
Ooltewah has now defeated the Hurricanes in six of seven meetings between the two rivals separated by just eight miles. The Owls won last year 51-7. East Hamilton’s lone win (26-19) came in the 2013 playoffs.
“They did a good job tonight,” Hurricanes coach Ted Gatewood said of the Owls. “We couldn’t get anything started. We knew they were going to be good; they put 69 points on the board last week (in a 14-point win over Clyde A. Erwin out of North Carolina), so they’re doing something right.”
Force to punt once again, McClure got off a 43-yarder and Ooltewah’s Jake Sullivan, who had fielded all of McClure’s previous towering kicks, muffed this one and East Hamilton’s Burton Bell recovered at the Owls’ 21.
McClure was forced to salvage the drive that went nowhere with his 36-yard field goal.
On the Owls’ next possession, Thurman completed his 12th straight pass – a 14-yarder to Chambers. After three Henderson runs picked up 10 yards, Thurman missed his 13th try intended for Chambers. On third-and-goal from the 4, Thurman was sacked for an 11-yard loss and Toser came on to kick a 32-yard field goal.
Ooltewah capped the scoring early in the fourth quarter when Henderson scored from the 5 with 9:44 left in the game. The extra point gave the Owls a 35-point lead and a running clock was used for the remainder of the game.
“Tyler and Cameron are both big backs and they run hard,” Bryan said. “And (Quinn) looks pretty good when he gets in there. He tweaked an injury and we held him back quite a bit tonight.”
Said Thurman about his backfield mates, “We have three backs that can make some noise and that helps our entire offense. And (Cargle) is very valuable to us because he can stretch the defense.”
SCORING
Ooltewah 14 14 3 7 – 38
East Hamilton 0 3 0 0 – 3
First Quarter
OOL – Tahj Cargle 2 pass from Collin Thurman (Aleksander Toser kick), 5:41
OOL – Kasaud Featherstone 20 pass from Thurman (Toser kick), 2:34
Second Quarter
OOL – Cameron Turner 14 run (kick failed), 7:23
OOL – Tyler Henderson 8 run (Cam Chambers pass from Thurman), 2:04
EHS – FG Jake McClure 36, 15.4
Third Quarter
OOL – FG Toser 32, 5:30
Fourth Quarter
OOL – Henderson 5 run (Toser kick), 9:44
YARDSTICK
OOL EHS
First Downs 24 7
Rushes-Yards 32-195 31-57
Passing Yards 169 31
Comp-Att-Int 16-18-0 7-12-0
Plays-Total Yds 53-372 43-88
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 1-0
Punts-Avg 0-0 6-34.7
Penalties-Yds 0-0 4-40
INDIVIDUALS
RUSHING – Ooltewah: Cameron Turner 9-70, Tyler Henderson 13-62, Sincere Quinn 6-54, Tahj Cargle 1-11, Collin Thurman 3-minus 2; East Hamilton: Andrew Sturdivant 18-42, Jhaeden Smith 8-22, Drako Wise 5-minus 7.
PASSING – Ooltewah: Thurman 16-18-0-169; East Hamilton: Sturdivant 7-12-0 31.
RECEIVING – Ooltewah: Cargle 7-77, Kasaud Featherstone 1-20, Cam Chambers 3-28, Henderson 2-16, Bryce Matthews 1-14, Ethan Walls 1-5, Turner 1-8; East Hamilton: Blake Aldredge 6-17, Jake McClure 1-14.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)