CHATTANOOGA — Northwest Whitfield coach Mike Falleur took only a bittersweet joy in watching his Bruins come back to defeat Chattooga 23-21 in a Victoryswap.com football scrimmage Thursday at Finley Stadium.

He was happy to see his junior varsity overcome a 14-point halftime deficit to get the win, which was sealed by an Oscar Solarzano field goal with three seconds remaining, but unhappy with his varsity, which allowed 244 yards to a speedy Indians squad in the first half.

“Our young kids did a great job in the second half,” Falleur said. “They came in, did a good job and played well. We’ve got a long way to go with our first group — it was obvious. I think some of them were living in the past. It’s a new season, a new team and nobody’s going to give us anything.”

The Bruins took a 7-0 lead on a 1-yard run by Chito Chibuye less than two minutes into the game. Chattooga, which had 244 yards rushing in the first half, came right back with a 6-yard score by Senorise Perry.

The Indians’ Fabian Brown got loose on Chattooga’s next possession for an 82-yard score, and backup quarterback Rashad Ramsey found a spot on the right side and scored on a 16-yard run with 2:19 to go in the first half.

Both teams played with their jayvees in the second half and the Bruins took full advantage, with Mason Woods scooting for a 16-yard run and Tyler Shepard hitting Chad Keeter for a 47-yard score to cut it to 21-20. The Bruins tried for a two-point conversion, but David Jajoura was stopped short.

Chattooga fumbled with 2:19 to go, and Austin Poole recovered on the 33. A pair of runs got the team closer and Solarzano’s left-footed kick soared through the uprights for the win.

“It’s a scrimmage,” Falleur said. “You’re going to go back, look at what you did wrong and try to fix it, and there isn’t very long to fix it.”

New school Heritage High lost 25-0 to Trion. The Generals were held to 30 yards of total offense, and 23 came on a run by freshman Tyler Phillips in the fourth quarter.

“The Bulldogs were ready and they came out and got after our rear end,” Heritage coach Tim James. “The bottom line is we’re young and inexperienced. We have to get more physical, but as we grow up some, that will take place. We saw what we needed to work on not only as a team, but as a staff. Good thing these things don’t count.”