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Scores and Photos of Friday Night High School Football - Aug. 21
ATHENS, Tenn. - McMinn County High School has been waiting a year for this kind of revenge.
From T-shirts in the stands to signs in the stadium, the Cherokees and their fans clearly hadn't forgot about their first loss to McMinn Central in 26 years.
The chant of "Why so quiet?" rang out several times from the student section sporting black and yellow.
They were cheering in some fashion - until the Chargers rallied in the second half - during the Cherokees' 34-20 win.
"Today was such an emotional day not because we lost last year, but because we didn't play like a McMinn County team should play," coach Bo Cagle said. "Tonight we did those things."
McMinn County's offensive line controlled the Chargers at the point of attack and helped running back D.J. Kimpson gained 168 yards on 28 carries and scored two touchdowns.
The Cherokees strolled from the start. They took 10 plays to travel 72 yards including a 30-yard touchdown run by Damiese Bradley on fourth down. Bradley took the handoff and sped around right side and went untouched down the right sideline for the first score.
The Cherokees converted on fourth-and-1 earlier in the drive - a common occurrence throughout the night.
Kimpson scored his first touchdown from 11 yards out through a huge hole in the middle of the line. Teammates helped him up after stretching cramps out of his legs.
"I think we won fourth down one time all game, on both sides of the ball," Chargers coach Josh Goodin said. "That was huge."
On another fourth-down victory following a timeout, this time with 30 seconds left in the first half, Kimpson powered through a defender at the line of scrimmage and into the end zone for a 21-0 lead. He carried 20 times for 117 yards before the break.
McMinn Central had 22 yards of total offense before retreating to the locker room. Its final play of the half lost 16 yards on a snap over Jackson Guy's head.
The Chargers rallied for a touchdown on their opening possession of the second half. They marched 80 yards in 12 plays, including a fourth-down conversion. Jordan Brooks capped the drive with a 5-yard run cutting the Chargers' deficit to 21-6. Then their defense forced a three-and-out.
"If we would have come out and played at all the first half, we could have given ourselves a chance," Goodin said. "We came out like gangbusters in the third quarter, but we didn't play the whole game like that."
The Chargers scored again to awaken the powder-blue sideline. Guy rolled to his left and found Zack Newman on the edge of the end zone and floated a pass. Newman tiptoed for the touchdown.
McMinn Central had a chance to tie the game early in the fourth quarter, but the Cherokees won fourth down once again. They stuffed Guy as he tried to run around the left side from the 3-yard line.
"We had to bow our backs at the end to keep them out of the end zone," Cagle said. "We made plays that McMinn County players do. We had backups come in and make plays."
The Cherokees marched all the way down the field, thanks largely to a 62-yard run by Xavier Abernathy - who made two interceptions on defense. Again, the Cherokees won fourth down. Cagle wanted a timeout, but nobody saw him. Bradley reached the ball over the goal line for a 3-yard touchdown gain and a 27-13 lead.
Guy capped the scoring with a 70-yard sprint around the right side with less than a minute to play.
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP