Soddy-Daisy senior Tre Carter took a deep breath as he looked across his home field for the last time under the Friday night lights. Carter was overflowing with a mix of emotions.
While he was elated with his three touchdowns in the Trojans’ 42-21 Region 4-5A victory over McMinn County that placed a lock on his team’s playoff aspirations, Carter couldn’t shake the sadness of knowing it was his last home game.
“I’m happy that we won,” said Carter, who pulled down six catches for 106 yards in the first half alone. “I can’t believe this was my last home game. It’s tough to know this was the last one.”
Carter then looked to his right in the direction of Trojans junior quarterback Justin Cooke.
“You know,” said Carter, smiling toward Cooke, “I wish I had one more year. It would be great to come back for one more.”
On a senior night, it was the junior QB who grabbed the spotlight, setting the tone early with his rifle right arm and quick moves in the backfield. Opening the game by going 11-for-12 on the way to 222 yards, Cooke led the Trojans to scores every time they had the ball on offense in the first half.
Not long after senior Christian Bell gave the Trojans a 7-0 lead on an 11-yard run to cap the game’s first drive and the crowning portion of his 80 yards rushing, he suffered a twisted knee. Cooke and Carter more than filled the void.
Cooke’s 4-yard TD pass to Carter gave the Trojans a 14-0 advantage, but McMinn County began to put together strong drives as well with DJ Kimpson cutting it to a touchdown lead with a 16-yard scoring run.
However, the Trojans (6-3, 4-2) with 427 yards of total offense became an unstoppable force for much of the game. Cooke closed out the second quarter with another TD pass to Carter and hit Jacob Lemons with a 24-yard pass in the final minute of the half.
The Cherokees, who pounded out 238 yards on 50 rushing attempts, opened the third quarter by powering back with a scoring drive of 66 yards as quarterback Bradley Haynes scored 7 yards out.
Kimpson provided most of the offensive punch with 168 yards on 37 carries. The Cherokees (3-5, 2-3) were driving again to pull within seven points toward the end of the third quarter. But the Trojans – behind the strong defense of Tyler Smith, Harrison Huskey and Conner Styles – denied the Cherokees on three fourth-down conversion attempts.
“We had a little adversity early with Christian going down, but the team stepped up,” said Soddy-Daisy coach Justin Barnes. “Justin did a great job of staying in the pocket and making some big plays for us.
“This was a big game for us and McMinn is always a tough team. But we have at least locked up a third place in the region,” Barnes added. “I thought our defense did a good job tonight. They made some big stops out there.”
Contact Greg Thompson at sports@timesfreepress.com.