RINGGOLD, Ga. — Sometimes there's nothing like a simple game plan in the opening game of a football season.
For Ringgold and first-year head coach Austin Crisp, that meant doing two things Friday night at Catoosa County rival Heritage: Turn loose the pass rush, and give the Generals a lesson in trying to tackle a bowling ball.
The Tigers made life hard on first-year starting quarterback Brady Chandler early and often in a 21-12 win as a pass rush led by end Bryce Hart made him hurry a few throws. Chandler's second pass was intercepted by Logan Moore, who returned it 35 yards for a touchdown on the game's third play.
"That play set the momentum for the game," said Crisp, who was Ringgold's offensive coordinator under former coach Robert Akins. "Coach (Houston) White does a good job with the defense, so I pretty much put my headset down and let him handle it. Bringing pressure on a first-year starting quarterback was huge, and getting him rattled early was definitely huge."
(READ MORE: Final scores and photos from Friday night's Chattanooga-area prep football games)
Despite a second Moore interception of Chandler, the Heritage defense kept it a 7-0 game until the second quarter, when the Tigers put together a 75-yard drive that featured 5-foot-6, 180-pound sophomore running back Haddon Fries.
Fries started the drive with a 19-yard run, then added a 35-yard run to take the ball to the Heritage 15. The Tigers capped the drive with a Garrett Edgar 2-yard touchdown pass to 6-4 receiver Taylor Pierce for a 14-0 lead.
Despite the two-touchdown lead, the Ringgold offense managed just 93 first-half yards and three first downs. The production changed in the second half as Fries and his offensive line took control.
"The more he gets warmed up, he's hard to bring down," Crisp said of Fries. "He's a bowling ball, and when it's wet like this, he's a slippery bowling ball."
A nine-play, 57-yard drive — all on the ground — midway through the third quarter was capped when Fries broke off left tackle through a huge hole for a 10-yard touchdown run and 21-0 lead. Fries, who totaled 165 yards on 22 carries, praised his line afterward
"I would buy those guys steaks if I had the money to afford it," he said with a laugh. "On the touchdown, they bought the fake to Kishaun (Taylor), and my line did the blocking and I just walked in.
"The game plan tonight was to blitz their quarterback heavy and run the dang ball. This feels great to win at Heritage. I made a promise last year that I would never lose to them again, and I've got two years left, but this was a great start."
The game did have some late drama as Chandler, who completed 15 of 33 passes for 126 yards, finally had some time to pass midway through the final quarter. He completed five passes in a 84-yard drive, ending it with a 14-yard touchdown to Cody Bryans with just less than six minutes to play.
A miscommunication on a fourth-down play — the call was to try and get Heritage to jump offsides, but the ball was snapped, leading to a turnover on downs — set up the Generals at the Ringgold 42. Six plays later, Chandler connected again with Bryans, this time from 13 yards out, for a touchdown, but the point after was missed to keep the lead at nine.
Ringgold ran out the final 2:33 to seal the program's first win at Heritage since 2015.
"We didn't do anything crazy," Crisp said of the improved second-half offense. "We just got into some different personnel groupings we liked, but they did such a good job adjusting that we had to make that same adjustment, it seemed like every drive. We just did it with different personnel groups.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com.