CCS Snaps Streak With 34-21 Win Over Notre Dame

Chargers Never Trailed Despite Heroic Effort By Jeffery Watkins, Jr.

Friday, October 18, 2019
John Hunt

Chattanooga Christian's Traveon Scott runs by a Chargers' cheerleader on his way to the end zone Friday night at Jim Eberle Field as Notre Dame fell to CCS 34-21 in a DII-AA East Region game.
photo by Dennis Norwood

Notre Dame had beaten rival Chattanooga Christian eight straight years coming into Friday night’s game at Jim Eberle Field, but the visiting Chargers were the ones doing the celebrating following a hard-fought 34-21 victory.

With the win, CCS improves to 4-3 overall and 3-1 in the Division II-AA East Region while Notre Dame’s record falls to 2-6 overall and 1-4 in region play after losing for the fifth straight week.

“That was a heck of an effort, but we still have two big region games left,” CCS coach Mark Mariakis told his players following the hard-hitting contest.

“It’s been a hard week after a tough loss last Friday at Knoxville Grace, but we challenged these young men and they responded as we tried to focus on the little things. Our defense played really well and our offense took advantage of some big opportunities, but I thought that goal-line stand at the end of the first half may have been the turning point of the game.

“It’s been eight years since we beat Notre Dame and we needed it to assure a playoff spot. This is a huge win for our team. We’ve been trying to convince our guys that we have a pretty good football team and they’re starting to believe it, but you still have to make plays.

“I wasn’t real happy about the long kickoff return and we made some big mistakes, but nothing that can’t be corrected. But we’ll enjoy this for a couple of days before going back to work on Monday,” the veteran coach added.

The Chargers scored on their second possession, needing just three plays and 74 seconds to move 41 yards for their first touchdown. Traveon Scott’s 35-yard run put the visitors ahead with 7:07 left in the opening quarter.

Jeffery Watkins Jr, who was Mr. Everything for the Fighting Irish, got his team on the board about five minutes later on a run from the 2, but his run failed and the CCS lead was 7-6 with 2:52 left in the first.

The Chargers added two more TDs in the second stanza, the first on a 38-yard pass from quarterback Sam Hall to Scott and a keeper from the 2 by Hall with 3:37 left before intermission.

Notre Dame drove deep into CCS territory, but Watkins was stopped short on fourth-and-three from the 4 in the final minute of the half.

The difference was still 21-6 at halftime.

Watkins returned the second-half kickoff 102 yards for Notre Dame’s second touchdown to get the Fighting Irish within a touchdown at 21-14, but again the Chargers answered the call.

A four-yard run by Jamichael Baxter with 9:52 left in the game made it 27-14 while a 73-yard scamper by Baxter four minutes later was the back-breaker as the difference was 20 points with time becoming a factor.

The Irish kept battling and Watkins scored again from the 5 with 2:47 to play, but neither team threatened again as the Chargers hung on for the win.

Notre Dame coach Charles Fant would be the first to admit that this season has been extremely challenging from so many angles, but he had nothing but good things to say about the effort his young men put out on their final home game of the season.

“We wouldn’t give up and were even battling to score at the end when we were down by three touchdowns,” he began afterward.

“It seems like we’ve trailed by similar margins in at least three other games, but we hadn’t played hard in the second half until tonight. This is a group of young men I really love as they battle for each other. No matter what our record is, we haven’t made any excuses.

“I keep telling my guys that these are life lessons we’re learning, that there will be times when things don’t go as planned. We’re learning all about perseverance, but we were fighting like made to score at the end and I couldn’t ask for any more than that,” Fant concluded.

CCS finished with a 379-310 advantage in total yards, which included 303 yards on the ground and another 76 through the air.

Baxter was the workhorse for the Chargers with 142 yards on 17 carries while Javoris Havis followed with 79 yards on six attempts, including a long of 59 yards that set up his team’s third touchdown.

Scott had 52 yards on nine attempts and caught one pass for another 38 yards.\

Watkins finished with 184 yards rushing on 36 carries and completed all three of Notre Dame’s passes for 43 yards.

Connor Pischke added 41 rushing yards on six trips while Khalil Spence picked up 20 yards on four carries late in the game.

Defensively, Dee Hinton and Joel McDevitt both had a fumble recovery while Hinton also had a partially-blocked punt.

Both teams finished with 15 first downs.

CCS will be at home next week to host Knoxville Webb while Notre Dame pays a visit to Boyd-Buchanan.

CHATTANOOGA CHRISTIAN 7 14 0 13 -- 34

NOTRE DAME 6 0 8 7 -- 21

CCS – Traveon Scott 35 run (Erick Manirakiza kick), 7:07 left in first;

ND – Jeffery Watkins Jr. 2 run (run failed), 2:52 left in first;

CCS – Scott 38 pass from Sam Hall (Manirakiza kick), 9:09 left in second;

CCS – Hall 2 run (Manirakiza kick), 3:37 left in second;