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Score and Photos of Friday night high school football - Oct. 16
Notre Dame High School football coach Charles Fant had never known victory at Signal Mountain before Friday night. None of the Irish had.
But Notre Dame punched its postseason ticket with a 33-9 win over the Eagles, a victory that was bouyed by big plays and punctuated by a persistent pass rush.
"We'd never won here before," Fant said after his team improved to 5-3 overall and 3-1 in Region 3-3A. "It wasn't always pretty, but some of that was because of some of the things Signal was doing. They fought hard until the end."
Defensively, Signal (0-8, 0-4) started strong and at times appeared to frustrate the high-powered Irish. Signal forced three-and-outs on three of Notre Dame's first five possessions and in the first quarter held the Irish to three first downs.
But the big-play capabilities of a variety of Notre Dame players allowed the Irish to stretch beyond the Eagles' reach. Notre Dame senior quarterback Alex Darras' 23-yard connection with Cameron Wynn on third-and-7 led to the game's first touchdown, a 6-yard run by Akil Sledge.
Calvin Sims turned an acrobatic one-handed interception into a 32-yard touchdown return to put the Irish in control early in the second quarter.
Signal had several chances to potentially match those big plays but was unable to convert any of its defensive chances.
"I thought defensively we really competed all night, and we had some missed opportunities to convert some turnovers," Signal coach Ty Wise said. "It shows the scheme is working, and coach Barry Loyal did a great job getting them ready."
The missed chances became even more painful in the second half as Notre Dame continued to summon big plays.
Darras hit Andrew Banks for a 51-yard catch-and-run touchdown to stretch the lead to 23-0. After Darras made his second field goal of the night, Banks turned the corner around the right edge and outraced the Eagles for an 80-yard touchdown to make it 33-0.
"He looked a lot like his brother," Fant said of Andrew Banks' big-play style that is similar to his brother Auston, who played for Notre Dame. "We have three or four guys who can make a big play at any time that can change the game."
For the Eagles, a fourth-quarter charge led by freshman quarterback Drew Lowery and sophomore running back Charlie Gauthier offered a silver lining.
Gauthier scored the Eagles' touchdown on a 33-yard run on fourth-and-1 late in the game, and Lowery finished 15-of-26 for 149 yards after missing on six of his first seven throws.
"I thought we played well enough in spots to win a game tonight," Wise said.