One team self-destructed in the first half of Friday's Region 4-5A high school football game at Ooltewah. Then the other team self-destructed worse in the second half.
Ooltewah shook off a shaky first-half performance and came roaring back for a 28-6 victory over McMinn County.
By winning, the Owls tightened the race for first place and the state-playoff jockeying in the region standings. Rhea County, Walker Valley, Ooltewah and McMinn County are all 6-2 overall with Rhea 4-0 in the region and the others 3-1.
"That was a big win," Ooltewah coach Mac Bryan said. "I think we were picked as an underdog at home for the first time in four years by all the publications. I think we made a pretty good statement."
The Owls were their own worst enemies in the first half. They had first-and-goal at the 5 on their first possession and lost a fumble; they had a 71-yard touchdown run nullified by a holding call on their second possession.
They had five penalties for 63 yards before halftime, which ended with the Cherokees leading 6-0 on the strength of Kirk Lockmiller field goals of 25 and 32 yards.
But Ooltewah's fortunes began to change when it forced and recovered a fumble at its own 42 on the first possession of the second half. And although the Owls were stuffed by a McMinn goal-line stand and had another touchdown run called back by a holding call, they eventually went up 7-6 when Collin Thurman hit Andrew Manning for a 20-yard score over the middle at the 3:43 mark in the third quarter.
McMinn lost two more fumbles in the second half, and Manning added a blocked punt.
Cam Turner finished with 118 yards on 23 carries with two short scoring runs in the fourth quarter, and Sincere Quinn, who had 10 carries for 72 yards, had a 50-yard scoring run in between. Thurman was 7-for-7 passing in the second half and finished the game 16-of-21 for 135 yards.
"We didn't have penalties and turnovers," Bryan said of the difference in his team after halftime. "You can't hurt yourself against a good football team. I thought our defense played well all night. We tackled well. The thing we talked about this week was playing well with your eyes and don't get caught up with their play-action passing game and all the backfield movement they've got going on."
Xavier Abernathy led the Cherokees with 167 yards on 17 carries. But the rest of their 33 rushes netted 95 yards, and they were limited to 16 through the air.
"We didn't play good in the first half," coach Bo Cagle said. "The defense played well enough to keep us in it. That was our worst game by far. We weren't very well prepared, which is on the coaches, and we didn't play hard, which is on the players. Sometimes you come out and lay an egg. That's what we did tonight."
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.