NOTRE DAME 55, EAST RIDGE 27
The star: Notre Dame quarterback Alex Darras had five touchdowns and more than 350 yards of total offense to avenge a regular-season loss to the Pioneers.Up next: The Fighting Irish travel to face Alcoa in the Class 3A semifinals next week.
A football season's worth of stress, struggle and success for the East Ridge Pioneers ran into a green brick wall Friday night.
The emotional story lines the Pioneers carried into their Class 3A quarterfinal were of little consequence for a determined Notre Dame bunch.
Sure, East Ridge may have had a storybook season, but Fighting Irish senior quarterback Alex Darras cared only about adding another chapter to his career. He did that in a 55-27 win at Finley Stadium.
"I don't really want to think about that, but you know that it could be your last high school football game," Darras said after throwing for three scores and running for two more. "We know we didn't play our best early in the season, but everyone is really picking it up and we're playing together."
As for his five-touchdown performance that included more than 350 yards of offense, Darras said: "I've never had more fun playing football than I did tonight."
Darras and the Irish (10-3) head to Alcoa for next week's semifinals.
For the Pioneers, there were only tears and hugs and reluctant smiles as East Ridge closed its historic season at 12-1.
"Yeah, it was pretty much a nightmare start," East Ridge coach Tracy Malone said. "It's part of it, though. We came out a little slow and they exploited us a little bit."
It was so one-sided early that even the most devoted East Ridge fan couldn't help but hum the familiar Notre Dame fight song, which played after a river of first downs and each of the four touchdowns before East Ridge - which beat Notre Dame 14-9 in October on the way to the Region 3-3A title - got going.
"We really wanted another shot at them, and we wanted this one really bad," Akil Sledge said after scoring three times for the Irish. "We really felt like this was a do-over game for us in a lot of ways."
The variety with which the Notre Dame offense marched across the Finley turf in the first quarter was impressive.
The first drive was 42 yards - all rushing - as Sledge hammered his way into the end zone on a 1-yard run. The second drive was ground-dominated but mixed with a dash of pass and a ton of runs from Darras as the Irish overcame a couple of penalties before Sledge scored from short range. The third drive was a jumbled assortment that ended with a perfectly thrown Darras-to-Cameron Wynn pass.
It was an overwhelming first quarter as the Irish scored three times in the same span the Pioneers took all of six offensive snaps.
Down 27-0 before everyone had settled into their seats, the Pioneers finally remembered who they were - and they recalled what they have been and that this grey-and-orange magic carpet ride had known no bounds.
First, Traneil Moore reminded us why he is a Mr. Football finalist with a 56-yard touchdown run. Then a big completion from Eric Bennett to Jeremiah McKibben became a 66-yard touchdown.
A late safety on a bad snap aside, the Pioneers clawed back into the game when Jesse Jones went roughly 80 yards total on a scoring run that officially measured 43 yards to cut Notre Dame's lead to 29-21 early in the third quarter.
At that point, though, the Irish leaned on the experience of Darras and the power of Sledge.
Each had a major part in the scoring barrage as the Irish pulled away to book a trip to face one of the state's perennial powers and the top-ranked 3A team.
"We have to have a great week of practice," Notre Dame coach Charles Fant told his team after the win, "but we aren't done yet."
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com, 423-757-6343 or twitter.com/jgreesontfp.