By James Beach
Ooltewah first-year head coach Shannon Williams experienced just about every emotion possible in his Owls’ season opener Friday night.
When the final horn blew, though, he greeted his players with an exasperated smile in the wake of a 49-36 triumph over Tyner.
Down 18-0 not even five minutes into Williams’ head-coaching debut, the Owls shocked Tyner with 42 consecutive points – in the first half – and then held off a furious Rams rally for the win before an overflowing home crowd.
“Wow, I’m not sure what I thought after the first few minutes,” a grinning Williams said afterward. “For a young team to be down 18-zip against that team, I wasn’t sure how they would respond.”
But respond the Owls did.
Following an opening 81-yard kickoff return by Tyner’s Markez Chappell, a 30-yard scramble from Tyner quarterback Travis Jones for a score and a botched snap through the end zone on a punt attempt (18-0 at the 7:18 mark), the Owls slowly got things going.
Randall Freeman scored on a 1-yard plunge to earn the Owls a sigh of relief with 4:53 left in the initial period, and do-everything quarterback Goose Manning slipped free for a 21-yard scamper to pull them within 18-14.
The Rams didn’t handle being stunned quite as well as Ooltewah did. Six Tyner turnovers proved costly, including two interceptions returned for touchdowns – one closing the first half and the other sealing the win with the Rams driving for a potential winning score.
“I’m really proud of this team,” Williams said. “They stepped it up. We did everything wrong to start with and then did everything I told them not to do in the second half, but it’s nice to learn from your mistakes with a win.”
Ooltewah scored 21 points in the first half’s final 1:40 to take a 42-18 lead at the break. But the Rams rallied behind three second-half touchdown tosses, the final one coming with 6:23 left in the game to pull them within 42-36. After a stop, Tyner had one final shot, but T.J. Warren sealed the deal with a 75-yard interception return with 69 ticks left.
Manning led the Owls with 84 yards rushing and Mikhail Creech hauled in three catches for 121 yards, including a 57-yard scoring strike. Jones led Tyner with 61 yards rushing but was picked off four times and sacked six times.