Trojans hold on to beat McMinn

By Allan Taylor

Correspondent

Soddy-Daisy dominated the statistics Friday night, but four turnovers made for anxious moments in a 20-3 District 5-AAA home win over McMinn County.

The Trojans (5-3, 3-1) snapped a two-game slide behind a big second half from tailback Cedric Edwards, who ran for all but 17 of his 194 yards after intermission. His 47-yard touchdown with 3:32 left finally put away visiting McMinn County (1-7, 0-4), which lost its seventh straight game and also lost two touchdowns to officiating blunders.

One gaffe cost the Cherokees a breakaway score on their second drive. The controversial play began with quarterback Nathan Simbeck faking a middle handoff at the Soddy-Daisy 40, then scurrying around the right edge and dodging the lone backside defender. But as Simbeck pulled away for an apparent touchdown, two whistles blew: The officials mistakenly presuming the tailback had been tackled with the ball at the line of scrimmage.

Simbeck was credited with only a 10-yard gain, and McMinn eventually turned over the ball on downs at the 35.

“I heard the whistle when I broke loose, and I was thinking, ‘Are you kidding me?’” Simbeck said.

Soddy-Daisy’s coach Kevin Orr agreed that his defense — and he oficials — were fooled by the misdirection.

“We bought the fake and the guys in the white hats bought the fake and their quarterback scored,” Orr said. “They got robbed on that one.”

McMinn might have been robbed again trailing 14-3 in the fourth quarter, when Simbeck was flagged for an illegal forward pass on his scrambling, 22-yard touchdown toss to Dorian Simpson. Television replays showed Simbeck had not crossed the line of scrimmage.

“That’s 14 points the officials took away from us,” McMinn coach Bo Cagle said. “Now I don’t know what happens at the end if those calls go our way, but I know those mistakes took the wind out of our sails and really changed momentum.”

The struggling Cherokees managed only 94 yards of total offense but took a 3-0 second-quarter lead on Nathan Gill’s 30-yard field goal. That was set up after a fumbled snap by Soddy-Daisy freshman quarterback Brent Standifer. In his third game subbing for injured senior Trevor Card (torn quad), Standifer lost three fumbles and threw an interception.

“He’s 14, so we’re going to have to live with his mistakes,” Orr said. “But he’s a gamer and he’s going to be a really good quarterback.”

Standifer flashed some of that potential late in the half, lofting a 43-yard pass to Talon Harris at the McMinn 5. After a pass-interference flag in the end zone, Cedric Edwards bulled in from the 1. Soddy-Daisy converted the two-point try when Daniel Crawley made a diving sideline catch in the back of the end zone.

The Trojans made it 14-3 by marching 70 yards on seven plays to open the second half. Edwards did most of the work, but Standifer capped the drive with a 2-yard quick out to Harris.

“We laid an egg in that first half,” Edwards said, “but we came out and got a better push in the second half. The holes were bigger, and when the offensive line makes its blocks, then I do what I do.”

Contact Allan Taylor at sports@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6273.