Ooltewah quarterback Kyrell Sanford, who turned 18 years old Friday, drags a McMinn County defender for extra yards during their Region 6-2A football in Athens. Sanford threw for 272 yards and three touchdowns a week after his brother was shot and killed.
photo by Dennis Norwood
ATHENS, Tenn. – The end zone was 65 yards away.
Trailing by three points, Ooltewah had 73 seconds to get there.
It didn’t take that long.
Quarterback Kyrell Sanford hit T.J. Taylor with a perfectly thrown pass on a seam route that covered 55 yards for the game-winning touchdown Friday as the once-beaten Owls stunned gutty McMinn County, 20-17, and regained a share of the Region 2-6A lead with Maryville.
Ooltewah (6-1, 3-0) travels to Maryville (6-1, 3-0), a perennial championship contender, next week for the season’s biggest showdown in the largest football classification in the state.
“Our backs were against the wall with about a minute to play,” said Taylor, a senior two-way player that made his presence known on defense earlier with a fumble recovery that set up Ooltewah’s second touchdown. “We had to do something.”
Thirty-six seconds prior to the Owls’ beautifully designed play – put in earlier in the week with scatback Sincere Quinn as the intended receiver -- the Cherokees (3-4, 1-3) drove 80 yards in 10 plays to grab a 17-14 lead on quarterback Parker Manney’s 1-yard sneak.
McMinn fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter, but clawed its way back to within 14-10 when Jalen Hunt rambled 13 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter.
After the early touchdowns McMinn stymied the Owls’ offense for 36-plus minutes until the Sanford-to-Taylor dagger in the waning seconds.
Following the jubilation of its clutch drive and score, McMinn’s ensuing kickoff went out of bounds and the Owls took over at their own 35.
Tahj Cargle gained 10 yards for a first down at the Ooltewah 45. With the Cherokees’ defense in a two-high alignment with a pair of safeties deep, Sanford, who celebrated his 18th birthday on Friday, dropped back and whipped a bullet to Taylor, who had a defender on his right hip.
With just two strides, Taylor, who starts in the Owls’ secondary, roared into a higher gear and smoked McMinn’s secondary en route to the end zone for the touchdown. His lone reception in the game was a memorable one.
“I was really wide open, caught the ball and just ran and didn’t look back,” Taylor said.
Taylor wasn’t supposed to be the target.
However, coach Scott Chandler suspended three starters – Sincere Quinn, Malachi Quinn and Johnnie Chumley for the game in a “football disciplinary matter” and that circumstance propelled Taylor into the receiver slot.
“We had a fake going one way just to move one of the safeties a few steps and went right down the middle and Kyrell threw a perfect pass,” Chandler said. “T.J. is close to being the fastest guy we’ve got.
“By winning this football game, we’re in a good position to go play for a region title next week at Maryville. Hopefully, we’ll be a full strength and shore some things up by that time. I don’t know if anybody, except us, thought we’d be 6-1 right now.”
The suspensions weren’t the only problem for the Owls this week.
Place-kicker Braden Haynes had “some eye problems” and was sidelined for Friday’s game. Sophomore Cameron Hollis took over the kicking duties.
And Sanford, a dual-threat quarterback and the trigger to Ooltewah’s offense, was playing with a heavy heart after his brother was shot and killed last Friday.
“We’ve had a lot of adversity,” an emotional Chandler said, his voice cracking. “We had to discipline some kids, all of them starters and it’s been hard for Kyrell this week with that situation.
“I told them after McMinn went ahead, that we’ve come back twice (against Bradley Central and Soddy-Daisy, why not make it three times. There is no quit in this team.”
McMinn coach Bo Cagle fell on his own sword after the Owls’ shocking quick-strike touchdown that stunned the team and its fans.
“The coaches, especially me, should have put us in a different defense,” he said. “But, two-high safeties is our defense. They weren’t killing us down the field; they were killing us with screens underneath and the quarterback running around with the ball.
“We thought we’d use that defense and later on put in an extra defensive back. We were one play late. The defensive line was taking care of the screens. You take one of those guys out it opens up the middle, then you’ve got all those athletes running around in space and it’s hard to handle. They might have scored either way, but I should have put us in a better situation for us to win on our go-ahead touchdown. I guarantee you I take responsibility for that.”
Sanford went 14 for 23 with 272 yards and three touchdowns. He connected with Hunter Moss on an 11-yard scoring play to start Ooltewah’s first-quarter outburst. Tylan Cargle, caught a 30-yard TD screen pass on second-and-19 to produce the two-touchdown lead. On first down at the McMinn 21, Sanford was sacked for a 9-yard loss. Then Cargle caught a pass in the left flat and zigged and zagged twice for the score.
The drive was set up by when Jaylun Watkins blocked Federico Banuelos’ 32-yard field goal attempt and Taylor recovered the ball at Ooltewah’s 34.
Banuelos came back to kick a 32-yarder as time expired in the second quarter, getting the Cherokees on the scoreboard.
Tylan Cargle filled in for Sincere Quinn and led the Owls’ rushing with 42 yards on 19 workhorse carries. He also caught six passes for 100 yards, including a couple of screen plays that gave the Cherokees fits in the first half. Cargle dropped a pass in the end zone six plays later that would have been the team’s second touchdown.
On the next possession, Cargle, a senior, made up for the drop with his TD catch-and-run.
“It was my time to step up,” he said. “It’s bad we didn’t have those guys with us tonight, but I couldn’t worry about that.”
Ooltewah, which has won six straight games against the Cherokees, used its passing game to offset a sub-par rushing attack that managed 85 yards and 35 carries. Conversely, McMinn gained 186 yards on the ground and 61 through the air. Hunt led the way with 93 yards on 11 carries.
Tyler Phillips, a senior defensive lineman, came up with two quarterback sacks for minus-15 yards.
Scoring Summary
Ooltewah 14 0 0 6 – 20
McMinn County 0 3 7 7 – 17
First Quarter
OOL – Hunter Moss 11 pass from Kyrell Sanford (Cameron Hollis kick), 8:59
OOL – Tylan Cargle 30 pass from Sanford (Hollis kick), 1:33
Second Quarter
MC – Federico Banuelos FG 32, 0:00
Third Quarter
MC – Jalen Hunt 13 run (Banuelos kick), 7:08
Fourth Quarter
MC – Parker Manney 1 run (Banuelos kick), 1:13
OOL – T.J. Taylor 55 pass from Sanford (run failed), 0:13
YARDSTICK
OOL MC
First Downs 18 18
Rushes-Yds 35-85 40-186
Passing Yards 272 61
Comp-Att-Int 14-23-0 7-12-0
Plays-Total Yds 58-357 52-247
Fumbles-lost 3-0 1-1
Punts-Avg 2-23 3-34
Penalties-Yds 8-104 6-70
INDIVIDUALS
RUSHING – Ooltewah:Tylan Cargle 19-42, Kyrell Sanford 13-30, Tahj Cargle 1-10, Kamrin Givens 1-4, Team 1-minus 1; McMinn County: Jalen Hunt 11-93, Cam Johnson 8-44, Parker Manney 17-33, Jalen Sharp 2-5, Ezra Markle 1-3, Unknown 1-8 .
PASSING – Ooltewah:Sanford 14-23-0-272 ; McMinn County: 7-12-0-61 .
RECEIVING – Ooltewah:Tylan Cargle 6-100, Jason Tabor 3-87, T.J. Taylor 1-55, Hunter Moss 3-26, Fisher Perry 1-4; McMinn County: Zavion Bradley 1-38, Unknown 1-13, Noah Brown 2-6, Unknown 1-6, Hunt 2-minus 2.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)