Chattanooga: Campbell pals reunited

The way Chris Lewis-Harris tells the story, which has developed into a long-running joke between them, both he and Brian Sutherland had a shot at an interception in Campbell High School’s 20-17 win over Central Gwinnett in the first round of the 2006 Georgia Class AAAAA football playoffs.

When asked to describe their most memorable high school moment together, Lewis-Harris didn’t hesitate before describing his generosity. Lewis-Harris, then a senior and now a redshirt freshman at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, said he let his close friend and fellow defensive back make what turned out to be a pivotal play.

“I kind of gave him an interception. He doesn’t admit it, but I gave him an interception. I kind of handed it to him,” said Lewis-Harris, who started seven games for the Mocs in 2008.

Sutherland, then a Campbell junior and now a member of the Mocs after transferring to UTC in January and signing his letter-of-intent Wednesday, remembers things a little differently.

“He’s been claiming that for the past however long it’s been since it happened,” Sutherland said with a big laugh. “Our safety went up for the ball and (Lewis-Harris) happened to be there to embrace it. I caught the ball and he acts like he gave it to me.”

Lewis-Harris cites a tape he has from the game as evidence that will prove him correct. However, in this digital, Internet world, it took less than five minutes on YouTube.com to find the play in question, on a highlight video from Sutherland’s junior season. In fact, the play happens at the 4:36 mark.

The ball clearly passes just beyond the reach of a Campbell safety, and both Lewis-Harris and Sutherland are in position to make the interception. After that it appears in the grainy video that Sutherland is the one who reaches out for the ball, while Lewis-Harris’ arms are below Sutherland’s, as if there to catch the ball if Sutherland drops it.

“I caught it fair and square and took it back about 30 yards,” Sutherland said.

After that season, Lewis-Harris signed with UTC. A year later, after being named Class AAAAA all-state as a returner — he averaged 20.3 yards per punt return and 31.7 yards a kickoff return — the 5-foot-10, 170-pound Sutherland signed with Miami (Ohio).

Sutherland redshirted this past fall, during which several factors prompted the decision to transfer closer to home, none more important than the health of his mother, Sheila.

“At first my mom wasn’t doing so well at all,” he said. “She was diagnosed with cancer, and she also had pneumonia at the same time. I didn’t know what was going to happen, and I’m all the way up in Ohio and I don’t know what’s going on at all. This decision has been really helpful as far as that, because it’s so much easier to get home.

“She’s gotten a lot better. It was a rare type of cancer and they don’t know if it’s going to come back or anything, but we’re just hoping for the best.”

Lewis-Harris said he answered Sutherland’s questions about UTC but didn’t try to sway his decision, even though he was eager to have his friend be a teammate once again.

“I tried to sit back and let him make the decision on his own,” he said. “I know he can play. I know he can make some plays on the offensive side of the ball.”

Sutherland, who grew up in Miami, Fla., before moving to Smyrna, Ga., was listed as a defensive back at Miami (Ohio) but is hoping to play wide receiver and return kicks for the Mocs.

That means Sutherland and Lewis-Harris could be lined up against one another in practice — both going for the ball.