Trojans trounce bumbling Owls

Soddy-Daisy offensive coordinator Josh Roberts may coach football several more years, but he also may never have an easier time calling plays than he did Friday night.

Roberts called for an inside zone run about 20-something times in the Trojans’ District 5-AAA high school game against Ooltewah. Or better explained, running back Cedrick Edwards carried the ball 28 times on the way to 232 yards and three touchdowns in Soddy-Daisy’s 19-0 victory on the Owls’ homecoming night.

The Trojans were on their game from the start, beginning with the opening kickoff. The ball was taken into a huddle around the 10-yard line, and Talon Harris emerged with it and took it to the Trojans’ 33.

After an incomplete pass, Roberts called his pet play — basically a handoff up the middle from shotgun formation — for the first time.

Edwards gained 5 yards on that rush and went on to pick up 57 of Soddy-Daisy’s 67 yards on its scoring march.

Edwards finished the first quarter with 108 rushing yards and by the half he was up to 167 on 18 carries. His touchdown runs covered 21, 5 and 7 yards.

“We didn’t think our offensive line was going to be the strength of the team this year, but they’re looking like they are,” Soddy-Daisy coach Kevin Orr said. “Cedrick had some big holes to run through.”

So dominant was the Trojans’ first half, they had a 255-71 advantage in yards from scrimmage and a 15-5 edge in first downs.

“They punched us in the mouth in the first half,” Ooltewah coach Shannon Williams said. “We came out flat. That’s on us coaches.”

The Owls turned things around somewhat in the second half. For instance they closed the gap on first downs, which ended up 19-15 in favor of Soddy-Daisy (2-1, 1-0).

However, Ooltewah’s four possessions — all ending up in the red zone — ended with a lost fumble, two turnovers on downs and Cody Jones’ interception in the end zone.

“I’m really proud of the way we came out in the second half,” Williams said. “We pitched a shutout, and they never stopped us. We stopped ourselves.”

Even though Owls running back Randall Freeman ran for 163 yards last week, Soddy-Daisy’s defensive game plan was clearly to focus on containing quarterback Goose Manning. He ended up throwing for 159 yards, but 39 rushing yards was all he produced on 18 carries. The Trojans did that, and limited Freeman to 48 yards on 16 rushes.

“It was a total defensive effort. We knew we had to stop No. 5,” Orr said of Manning. “We had to do a little Goose hunting. I’m glad he’s a senior. I don’t want to watch him running around anymore.”

The last time the Trojans beat Ooltewah (2-1, 0-1) was in 2003. Orr’s son, Gary, now a defensive assistant at Soddy-Daisy, quarterbacked a 37-12 victory.

The game was the first regular-season home loss for Ooltewah since losing 17-7 to Oak Ridge on Oct. 26, 2007.