For the first half of Friday’s high school football game at McCallie, the rush was on for the home team.
In their season opener, the Blue Tornado piled up 257 rushing yards on the way to a 33-point halftime lead and went on and defeated McMinn County 56-34.
Daniel McClure had 155 of those first-half rushing yards. Three of his 16 carries before the half were 1-, 12- and 9-yard scoring runs — the last with five seconds left in the second quarter that made it 49-16.
McCallie coach Bubba Simmons said the combination of having experience in the backfield and the summer to prepare was invaluable.
“We’ve been practicing for four weeks for our opponent,” Simmons said. “You don’t get that much time to prepare for your second one. I was proud of our coaches. They did a good job preparing them.”