Honorable Mention
Traneil Moore, East Ridge: He ran 28 times for 301 yards and four touchdowns as the Pioneers rolled past Chattanooga Christian.Robert Riddle, McCallie: He completed 70 percent of his passes (26-for-33) for 407 yards and three touchdowns against Brentwood Academy.Cam Turner, Ooltewah: He ran for 283 yards on 29 tries and scored three TDs as the Owls clinched a host role in the playoffs with a win at Walker Valley.
Soddy-Daisy fans got a glimpse last Friday at what might have been.
In his final high school football game, Justin Cooke accounted for seven touchdowns as the Trojans easily skipped past Hixson.
Two weeks ago, the senior quarterback threw for 291 yards and rushed for another 111. He bettered that last week, earning the honor of Waffle House All-Star player of the week, as selected by the Times Free Press, by throwing for 320 yards and three touchdowns and rushing for 166 yards and four scores.
"He had another touchdown pass and another rushing touchdown called back on penalties. The last two weeks gave a good view of how things could've looked," said Trojans coach Justin Barnes.
Cooke was is in the first group of seniors for Barnes, players who entered the program as freshmen in his first head-coaching season.
"You hate it for those guys who have been with us for four seasons. We finished third last year and had a lot of expectations this year. It's tough for them," said Barnes, who spent part of the preseason and six weeks of the regular season reconfiguring game plans and shuffling personnel in an effort to account for the unexpected loss of his returning starting quarterback.
"I don't think we would've been putting up gear if he'd been healthy. His play was fantastic - a senior that would've been a two-year starter," Barnes said. "But once he got injured, we had to move other guys that weren't really comfortable in new positions."
The 5-foot-9, 170-pound Cooke is due to sign a baseball scholarship with East Tennessee State. It was baseball that caused him to miss part of the football preseason as he recovered from a torn meniscus in his right knee. Then he suffered torn meniscus in his left knee in the season opener against Red Bank.
"Injuries are part of football, but this season it seemed like we had a lot," Barnes said. "I told Justin after the game that I appreciated everything he's done for us. When he came in he was told he'd never be a quarterback. He was even kind of pudgy, but he spent that first year working out.
"It turns out that he probably is one of the best quarterbacks ever to come through Soddy-Daisy, and I love him."
If there was a bright side to what quickly turned into a dismal season, Barnes grasped at it.
"Friday night was a good night, a great way for our seniors to go out, but due to all the injuries we have nine guys on both sides of the ball coming back that have started at least three games," he said.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.