SUMMERVILLE, Ga. – Charlie Hammon admits Friday night presented a huge learning curve for his Chattooga Indians. For the veteran coach, it was a fun lesson to teach.
Chattooga improved to 2-0 with a 32-16 win over North Murray, rolling up a 32-0 lead in as dominant a first half Little Big Horn Stadium has seen in years. It was at the intermission, Hammon admits, his team appeared a little lost.
“We’ve got a lot of kids that have never been in this situation before,” he said. “It’s like they didn’t know how to act in the second half – they’ve never been up 32-0 at the half on anybody.”
The Indians scored on five of six first-half possessions and racked up 349 total yards. Nearly 300 of those belonged to the Foster brothers. Quarterback Isaac had 157 and two touchdowns, and tailback Isaiah added 115 and two more scores on just six carries.
North Murray (0-2) tried to put pressure up the middle to stop the Chattooga option offense before it could get started, but the ploy played right into the dynamic Fosters’ hands.
“We tried to spread it out,” Isaac Foster said. “They were blitzing hard with their middle linebackers, and that allowed our outside run plays to make big plays. Our blocking was great, and we made them pay.”
It took only 41 seconds for the Indians to get on the board, with Isaac Foster keeping around left end for a 50-yard score. The point-after was missed – Chattooga was 1-for-6 on conversions – but the tone had been set.
With the Indians getting the ball at their 17 moments later after a punt, Isaiah Foster ripped off an 83-yard run on third-and-4 for a 12-0 lead. After a North Murray drive stalled at the Chattooga 39, backup quarterback Cameron Evans hit Cam Perry with a 46-yard pass to start the drive, Isaac Foster went for 28 on a scramble and Isaiah Foster cashed in from the 4 for an 18-point lead.
The Mountaineers – playing with backup quarterback Blake Davis after first-game starter Will Swantic elected to leave the program after playing just one half last week – mustered a drive to the Chattooga 17, but a field goal was wide right.
The Indians later iced the game with a 95-yard drive that ended with Isaac Foster’s 39-yard touchdown run and, after North Murray fumbled the ensuing kickoff, Evans hit four consecutive passes to cover the 34 yards, connecting with Trey Bowman for a 21-yard score on fourth-and goal.
“We had a big win last week (21-13 over Ridgeland) with a bunch of young men that haven’t been here before,” Hammon said. “We came out and played extremely well the first half (against North Murray). We elected to go with some subs the second half, and even though we gave up a couple of scores and didn’t move the ball very well, we came out with a 32-16 win.
“As many negatives as we had in the second half, we had just as many positives in the first half.”
Neither Foster played on offense in the second half, and it showed as the Indians were held without a first down. North Murray, meanwhile, made the score respectable as running back Brady Harper (17 rushes, 154 yards) scored a pair of touchdowns.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296; follow at Twitter.com/youngsports22