Years from now, when their hair is either gray or gone, the guys who make up this season’s Ooltewah High School defense will tell stories about how tough they were “back in the day.” But when that day comes, whether it’s barbershop gossip or reliving glory days to their kids, they actually won’t have to stretch the truth when they say they were the best defense in the state of Tennessee.
It’s hard to argue that claim even today.
The Owls defense has been tougher than a two-dollar steak and just as salty in allowing a total of 40 points through seven games this season, while also scoring 42 points – six touchdowns and three safeties already. That’s the fewest points allowed by any team in the state, regardless of classification, but if outscoring their opponents’ total and giving up an average of just six points isn’t impressive enough, the Owls defense also is registering 15 negative-yardage plays per game and has five players with four or more sacks.
“There’s not a lot of weak spots there,” said East Hamilton coach Ted Gatewood, whose offense managed just seven points against its White Oak Mountain rival. “It’s tough. If you do get a positive play you want to come back to it and get some momentum going, but that’s hard to do against them because those kids have played together for so long and have such continuity that they do a great job adjusting quickly and taking away anything.
“The other thing about them is that all those kids play with great effort and intensity. That’s hard to beat.”
Among Ooltewah’s six straight wins – the lone loss was a 9-5 season-opening slugfest with perennial 6A power Murfreesboro Riverdale – was a shutout of a Rhea County team that has averaged 43 points in every other game this season. That 16-0 win, which put the Owls in line to claim the Region 4-5A title, was helped by the defense scoring nine points and leaving the Eagles scoreless for the first time in four years.
Defensive coordinator Doug Greene, who’s been known to put together some pretty stout units with other area teams, is one of four assistant coaches on Mac Bryan’s staff who work solely on that side of the ball, and only all-state safety/running back Rashun Freeman is asked to play both ways.
Once Greene recognized the mass switch to the spread offense by so many opponents, he took speedsters that in years past would have been offensive skill-position players, cherry-picking more of them to turn loose on his side of the ball.
Knowing you can’t be aggressive and confused at the same time, the defensive staff mixed that athletic ability with the experience of eight returning starters, including Freeman and Adrian Hall in the secondary, linebackers Jeremiah Jackson and Tyler Reid and lineman Nick Putman, who at 6-foot-2 and 270 pounds is built like a minivan and has a 385-pound max bench press that left coaches speechless.
Those five are three-year starters and lead a unit that makes gaining a first down seem as difficult as climbing Mount Everest in flip-flops.
“I’d rank this group with any I’ve seen,” said Greene, who has a rotation of about 20 players he uses solely for defense. “We’ve got guys who grew up playing a lot of football together, and they’re smart and understand what we’re trying to do to stop people.
“What makes us what we are is we’re very physical. The kids have bought into the mantra: They play fast, hard and physical. We’ve got at least one blitz for every guy on the field, because we want to keep them interested and make it fun. That’s what the game’s all about: playing hard, having fun and making memories with your buddies.”
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.