The styles couldn't be more different, but the results were very similar as Ooltewah's fast-paced offense and Rhea County's grind-it-out style were both impressive during the Chick-fil-A prep football jamboree Saturday night at Finley Stadium.
The Owls defense created three turnovers and the offense was never slowed in a 20-0 win over Franklin County. Later in the evening, Rhea County punched East Hamilton in the nose, outrushing the Hurricanes 161 to minus-8 in a 7-0 win.
"That's what we have to do to beat people," Rhea coach Mark Pemberton said. "We've got a good deal going shuttling different backs in and running at people. That's our game plan and everybody knows it."
After driving deep into Hurricanes territory to open the game, only to lose a fumble, Rhea County scored midway through when senior running back Nikki Wallis scooted around right end for a 9ine-yard touchdown. The Eagles were threatening again as time ran out.
Every quarter was decided by shutout.
* Ooltewah 20, Franklin County 0: The Owls began showing why they were picked as the Region 4-5A favorite. Quarterback London Elrod ran for one TD and passed to Ethan Walls for another as the Owls displaced Tyner as the best-looking participant in the two-night jamboree.
Cameron Turner, taking full advantage of a pair of good blocks, went 73 yards on a screen pass for the Owls' final TD. The defense also looked quite strong, holding the Rebels to near minus yardage. Kendall Robinson and Jeremiah Jackson had interceptions.
* Walker Valley 14, East Ridge 0: The Mustangs kept it simple, only once sending a receiver deep downfield. That one play resulted in 37-yard TD hookup from Kolten Gibson to Avery Jones. It was their second score, the first coming on their opening drive, again thanks to Gibson. This one, a catch-and-go, covered 58 yards with Bryce Nunnelly doing the going.
"We have some good skill people and I've made no bones about that," Walker Valley coach Glen Ryan said. "They've been playing since they were freshmen so they ought to be pretty good. Hopefully we can keep that up. We were a little sluggish at first defensively but we stiffened up. We're replacing four linebackers. That was a concern as was the offensive line and both are coming along and headed in the right direction."
East Ridge had an impressive opening drive but could not hold onto the football, taking two steps back all too often to please coach Tracy Malone.
* Boyd-Buchanan 7, Central 0: Isaiah Dillard capped an impressive 11-play drive with a 1-yard scoring run to open the quarter, and the Buccaneers defense made it stick. Senior quarterback Cooper Hodge had several nice runs for the Bucs, who hurt themselves with four penalties in the quarter.
"Cooper's a pretty good athlete who gives us a little something extra at that position," Bucs coach Grant Reynolds said. "But we'll talk about how sloppy we were come Monday's practice. Four penalties? That's not us. We don't do that. We can't."
* Soddy-Daisy 7, Signal Mountain 0: Justin Cooke gave Soddy-Daisy fans reason for hope that record-setting Hunter Maynor will not be missed. The junior ripped off a nice run or two and had two TD passes, although one was called back against the Eagles, who dressed just 27 players and who likely lost senior starter Garrett Hensley (knee) for the season.
Cooke had a 59-yard scoring toss to Jacob Lemons. His 62-yarder to Tre Carter was nullified by a holding penalty.