The first seven minutes and final four of Ooltewah’s harrowing 35-28 playoff victory over Hardin Valley on Friday night were worthy of a Hollywood movie script.
“We wanted to get after them early,” said Owls running back Sincere Quinn, who rushed for 155 yards and two touchdowns. “We put in a lot of hard work for this game and had come too far to lose it there at the end.”
To start, Ooltewah (9-2), which has won eight of its last nine games, scored touchdowns on its first two plays – a 22-yard run by quarterback Kyrell Sanford and an explosive 87-yard lightning bolt scamper by Quinn down the far sideline in front of the Hawks’ bench.
Two plays.
Two touchdowns and 108 yards rushing on plays that took about 20 seconds of clock time.
The Owls’ first score was set up by Chase Sanders’ recovery of a lateral on Hardin Valley’s first play from scrimmage at the Hawks’ 22.
“That was a great start,” said Sanders, who had an interception that led to the Ooltewah TD that opened a 35-14 lead early in the fourth quarter. “This was a big win for us and we’re looking forward to playing Farragut next week. It’s going to be a tough week, but we’ll work hard to get ready for them.”
At crunch time, the Owls did what they do best: win the tough ballgames. One of their losses was a 35-34 setback at Science Hill in the season’s second game. Ooltewah has won four games by a total of 14 points, including a one-pointer and two three-point wins. There were some good old fashioned blowout victories along the way too.
“People kept telling me that if we could make them (players) good guys, have good character and win three or four games we’ll be happy,” said first-year coach Scott Chandler. “Here we are at 9-2, baby, in the second round. Anything can happen now.”
The Owls pulled away from a 21-14 dogfight on TD runs by Sanford of 11 yards late in the third quarter and Quinn’s 16-yard jaunt early in the fourth.
Hardin Valley’s offense awoke from its slumber with a pair of touchdowns in about three minutes and pulled to within 35-28 with 6:04 left in the TSSAA Class 6A first-round nail-biter.
Later in the game, the Owls’ defense made a brilliant red-zone stance and Jarian Green, a senior linebacker, made one of the season’s most spectacular plays, stopping Hawks quarterback Grayson Vaughn for no gain on a fourth-down play at the Owls’ 2 with 1:21 left to play.
“It was an amazing play and probably one of my biggest to be honest with you,” Green said.
Leading up to Green’s heroics, Vaughn connected with Luke Defur on a 26-yard TD strike; Hardin Valley blocked a Braeden Haynes punt and took over at the Owls’ 25. Four plays later Vaughn, a homeschool student-athlete who transferred to Hardin Valley before his junior season, found Cartez Campbell on a 29-yard touchdown pass with just over six minutes remaining.
Hardin Valley forced another Ooltewah punt and took over at its own 37. The Hawks quickly drove to the 32 and moved to Ooltewah’s 17. The Owls’ Jaylun Watkins was flagged for pass interference in the end zone and, suddenly, the Hawks were knocking on the door at Ooltewah’s 9.
Kelton Gunn gained 5 yards to the 4.
Vaughn fired an incomplete pass. Then another, with Sincere Quinn breaking up the play. Sanders was flagged for a facemask penalty and the Hawks were at the Owls’ 2.
Vaughn threw high over a receiver on a third-and-goal.
On fourth down, Vaughn, who rushed for 78 yards on 13 carries, mostly in the first half, took the snap and ran to his left.
Fighting off a Hardin Valley blocker, Jarian Green leveled Vaughn with a picture-perfect, rib-rocking, one-on-one tackle, stopping the signal caller dead in his tracks and preserving the victory with 1:21 on the clock.
“We called a defense before that play and I knew exactly where I was going,” Green said.
Said Quinn, “Our defense came to play, Jarian made a great play and won the game for us. Anything could have happened at that moment.”
The in-the-shadow-of-the-goal sequence began at the 9. Vaughn took three snaps from the 4 and the last two from the 2.
“Six stops inside the 9, unbelievable,” Chandler said. “I can’t say enough about these guys. When it gets down to time to play some ball we somehow find a way to hold on and win the game. We love to make it interesting and I would have loved to ride that thing out at 35-14, but not us.”
Vaughn, who came into the game having accounted for 2,000-plus total yards that included 1,578 through the air, plagued the Owls with his running early in the game. In the Hawks’ fourth-quarter rally, Vaughn’s passing made it happen.
The Owls’ defense, which also denied the Hawks at the 13 and twice at the 12 earlier in the game, had a good idea what was coming on the final Hardin Valley play.
“I tried my hardest to get through the blocker; I did and made the tackle,” Green said. “They were a physical team and we did what we had to do to win.”
Chandler had a good idea what the Owls would do once the Hawks drove deep into the red zone late.
“Up to those last two drives, they had been very predictable,” the coach said. “We were in a deal that we could rush the quarterback and take a chance on him running or play and protect the run and it bit us in the butt because he stood back there and threw two touchdown passes.
“Then we decided to put some pressure on him. Anytime they got in ‘trips’ and (Kelton Gunn) was the running back, it was the speed option and Jarian knew that was coming. He made a great play.”
Quinn came out of the game with 900 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns this season.
Sanford, who passed for only 15 yards, was a thorn in the Hawks’ side with his superlative running skills. He picked up 109 yards on nine carries, pushing his season total to 811 with 11 touchdowns.
He also scored on runs of 51 and 11 yards in the third quarter.
A two-year starter, Sanford padded his stats nicely against the Hawks, pushing his total yardage production to 5,062 yards and 49 career touchdowns. He has passed for 1,218 yards and 12 TDs in his senior season.
However, Sanford was more than happy to talk defense after the game.
“I believe in our defense,” he said. “Every time they step on the field, I believe in them. I got no worries. If they slip up and the other team scores, I believe they’ll stop them on the next drive. It’s simple. That last play by Jarian Green was a great, great play.”
Ooltewah will play at Farragut on Friday at 7 p.m. The Admirals (10-1) crushed Cleveland, 49-24, in their playoff opener. Farragut’s lone loss was a 17-13 decision against Bearden on Oct. 11.
Two years ago, Ooltewah faced Farragut in the Class 5A semifinals in Knoxville.
The Owls had a 42-14 halftime lead, but the Admirals rallied to tie the game at 42-42 with 65 seconds left in regulation. The Owls drove to the Farragut 10 with 2.4 seconds remaining, but Alexsander Toser’s field goal sailed wide right.
Farragut went on to win, 56-49, in double overtime and eventually captured the state championship.
“We’ve got some guys that played in that game,” Chandler said. “I’m sure they got revenge on their minds. Some of the guys think they got robbed of a state championship because Farragut went on to win it.
“But Farragut has a great program and a great team. We’ll have to play our best game to stay with them.”
Scoring Summary
Hardin Valley Academy 0 7 7 14 – 28
Ooltewah 14 0 14 7 – 35
First Quarter
OHS – Kyrell Sanford 22 run (Braeden Haynes kick), 11:29
OHS – Sincere Quinn 87 run (Haynes kick), 4:57
Second Quarter
HVA – Kelton Gunn 1 run (Josiah Lambert kick), 10:11
Third Quarter
HVA – Cartez Campbell 44 pass from Grayson Vaughn (Lambert kick), 7:54
OHS – Sanford 51 run (Haynes kick), 4:34
OHS – Sanford 11 run (Haynes kick), 42.3
Fourth Quarter
OHS – Sincere Quinn 16 run (Haynes kick), 10:28
HVA – Luke Defur 26 pass from Vaughn (Lambert kick), 8:58
HVA – Cartez Campbell 29 pass from Vaughn (Lambert kick), 6:04
YARDSTICK
HVA OOL
First Downs 19 12
Rushes-Yds 31-135 33-267
Passing Yards 204 15
Comp-Att-Int 15-35-1 3-8-1
Plys-Total Yds 66-339 41-282
Fumbles-Lost 3-1 1-1
Punts-Avg 1-23 4-26
Penalties-Yds 7-41 13-95
INDIVIDUALS
RUSHING – Hardin Valley Academy: Grayson Vaughn 13-78, Kelton Gunn 13-54, Lochlain Hardin 2-2, Travis Griffin 2-1, Trey Bozeman 1-0; Ooltewah: Sincere Quinn 17-155, Kyrell Sanford 9-109, Tylan Cargle 5-5, Team 2-minus 2.
PASSING – Hardin Valley Academy: Vaughn 14-33-1-192, Luke Defur 1-2-0-12; Ooltewah: Sanford 3-8-1-15.
RECEIVING – Hardin Valley Academy: Cartez Campbell 6-131, Defur 5-53, Griffin 2-13, Braden Schloff 1-4, Gunn 1-3; Ooltewah: Tahj Cargle 1-8, Sincere Quinn 1-5, Alize Carroll 1-2.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)