Ooltewah was going nowhere fast in 2002. The Owls opened their season with a resounding win over Red Bank but then suffered consecutive losses to Hixson and McMinn County.

In Game 4, upstart Central jumped ahead 14-0. It was as if Blake Foster and friends had suffered enough. They erupted for 49 unanswered points as Foster ran for a city-record 359 yards and six touchdowns.

Ooltewah built from that to a playoff berth and two postseason games.

“I remember that game vividly,” said Ted Gatewood, Foster’s coach at the time and now an assistant to Benny Monroe at Ooltewah. “Central jumped ahead of us — Curt had gotten things going over there — and we looked around and said, ‘OK, we’re in a dogfight. Let’s do what we do best.’”

Foster had 301 rushing yards by halftime.

“The team as a whole stepped up. It was unbelievable how we took off,” Gatewood recalled. “We gave the ball to Blake, and he went 60 yards for a score. It seemed like every time he touched the ball good things were happening, and the game began to swing in our favor.

“He had two or three more touches and scored again. Everything fell into place.”

The state single-game rushing record at the time was around 400 yards, but with the game well in hand, Gatewood pulled Foster midway through the third quarter.

Foster remembered that a Farragut running back who ran for 127 yards and a game-winning touchdown beat him out for state player-of-the-week honors.

“I think, though, what I remember most about that year is my offensive line and all of my senior teammates. It was a great team,” said Foster, now a manager for P.F. Chang’s, a restaurant behind Hamilton Place mall. “I remember we won the region and we were playing our second playoff game against Jefferson County, and it started raining and we lost 21-14 in the last few seconds. At the time we were ranked second or third in the state.”

Foster finished the year with 28 touchdowns and 1,800 rushing yards and was at one time a school record-holder in a number of sprints in track.

When he looks back at his high school years, though, Foster has one major regret.

“I wish I had walked on at (the University of Tennessee). I wish I had been more consistent,” he said. “When I talk to kids at the high school, I tell them to make sure they do what needs to be done as far as their grades. It’s something I didn’t do. I was 18 years old and immature and thought the world revolved around me. My bubble got popped.

“Being a student comes first ahead of being an athlete. I beat myself up for a while. It cost me a Division I scholarship because I didn’t take care of my end of the deal. Playing in Neyland Stadium was my ultimate dream, and giving it up as easily as I did is a big regret.”

Foster went to Chattanooga State instead of UT and was working as a server at P.F. Chang’s when he got the management opportunitr. He was married with a child by then and took the offer, giving up the chance to further his playing career.

“Blake was a hard worker and still is,” Gatewood said. “He’s competitive. If a game was on the line, he wanted to be involved. He has never been afraid of a challenge as a player or as a person.”

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