Catholic routs Notre Dame in battle of Irish, 54-9

Football
Football

Number two tried hard Friday night, but try as they might, Notre Dame's Fighting Irish were no match for No. 1.

The Chattanooga Irish, the state's second-ranked Class 3A team, saw their unbeaten streak demolished, 54-9, by visiting Knoxville Catholic, the top-ranked Class 4A team.

"No doubt they're the No. 1 team in 4A football and showed why they are," Notre Dame coach Charles Fant said. "So many times in our program we've been trying to find a way to take that next step against the Alcoas and teams like this. Teams like this show us where we are."

What they learned is the need to get bigger, stronger and faster, and it's hard to win playing three quarterbacks, especially when all are young and inexperienced.

The Knoxville Irish arrived on a pair of charter buses, and more than 90 percent of them played before the night ended. A running clock began less than three minutes into the second half.

The 54 points were the second-most the visitors have put up this year. They opened the season with a 63-30 victory over Morristown West, a game they would later forfeit due to an ineligible player.

Friday, though, was simply about outmanning, or being outmanned. As feisty as Notre Dame is, Catholic is just as feisty and almost twice as big and in a couple of instances much faster.

"We came out a little sloppy with some fumbles and penalties, but I was happy with the way we responded," Catholic coach Steve Matthews said. "Notre Dame's an outstanding team and very well coached. We're excited to get out of here with a win."

Fant added: "When you play a really good football team you have to be able to run the football, and from there you can't turn the football over and obviously we did. Those are the things our kids have to learn."

Even with the likes of Clemson-committed Amari Rogers, their multitalented receiver and return man, Catholic went elsewhere with ease - to versatile Chase Kuerschen. The senior had an interception and a handful of tackles as a strong safety and also had five catches for 134 yards including two run-through-tacklers TDs.

"He had a great game and he's one of the guys that serve as the glue for our team," Matthews said.

Rogers had three catches for 134 yards with two of the receptions going for touchdowns and helping improve quarterback Chase Cunningham's night to 302 yards on just 13 completions (22 attempts).

"Everybody knows about Rogers and how gifted he is, but we said all week that 36 (Kuerschen) is a fantastic football player. They don't just have one player. They have several," Fant said.

Notre Dame's points came on a 39-yard run by Akil Sledge and a tackle in the end zone by Jared Nelson.

Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.

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