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Score and Photos of Friday night high school football - Oct. 16
It was the quickest and easiest decision of the night for East Ridge coach Tracy Malone. Less than a minute into the second half, Pioneers star running back Traneil Moore broke free for a 46-yard gain, his fourth run of 30-plus yards of the game. But after Moore had to be helped back to the sideline with what looked to be a minor knee injury, Malone made an executive decision.
"He's finished for the night," Malone said to his offensive staff. "He's done enough already, and that was scary."
While Moore's work was complete, having gained 193 yards - most of them looking effortless on just 11 carries - the rest of the sixth-ranked Pioneers continued finding the end zone. They added three second-half touchdowns to go with the three scored in the first half to register a 42-12 Region 3-3A win over Howard.
"He was fine once he got to the sideline and was walking around. But there was no way I was going to take a chance on putting him back in, since we had the game under control," Malone said of Moore, who leads the area with more than 1,200 yards this season. "Up until that last run, he was just doing what he's done all year. He's a special player with another gear that not a lot of guys have."
The win moved East Ridge to 8-0 overall, 4-0 within the region. It's the best start for the program since beginning the 1997 season 9-0 on the way to a 10-win season that ended in the second round of the playoffs. The Pioneers will host Loudon (2-6) with a chance to equal that school-best start, but this year's team has bigger postseason plans.
"We believe we can beat anybody we play," Moore said. "We're playing with a lot of confidence right now. My line is doing a great job of blocking, and I believe I have the talent to help us keep going.
"I think the way we started showed our minds were on taking care of business."
The Pioneers had an open date last Friday and Malone took the term "off week" literally, giving the team the entire week off from practice and even workouts. There didn't seem to be any offensive rust as East Ridge scored two touchdowns in its first seven snaps, Moore finding the end zone on runs of 31 and 56 yards.
Jesse Jones helped convert a fourth-and-8 with a 22-yard TD catch from Eric Bennett for a commanding 21-0 lead midway through the second quarter. Howard converted an interception into a 22-yard scoring drive to cut the deficit to 21-6 going into halftime, but the Pioneers scored TDs on their first three possessions of the second half to put the game away.
Lorenzo Stewart added 83 yards on seven carries as the Pioneers finished with 285 rushing yards. East Ridge's defense was also impressive, holding the Hustlin' Tigers to 127 total yards, with 10 plays that went for negative yardage.
"I thought we were a little rusty after that week off, but the kids needed it," Malone said. "After that Notre Dame game we were undefeated and our kids were tired and beat up a little, so I just thought the rest would be better than anything.
"We had a lot of guys step up to help tonight, and the biggest thing I'm proud of is we're still undefeated leaving here."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293