There was no impassioned, fire-and-brimstone speech at halftime.
Instead, with his football team trailing by a point at the midway point, Notre Dame coach Charles Fant calmly reminded his players that if they would simply take care of the small details, they would walk away with a huge win.
With the region championship on the line Friday night, that’s just what the Fighting Irish did, wearing down host Chattanooga Christian School to earn a 29-7 win and repeat as Division II-AA East champions.
Notre Dame (8-1, 5-0) will now have home-field advantage throughout the state playoffs, traveling only if it reaches the championship game in Cookeville.
“Coach (Mark) Mariakis and his staff had a tremendous game plan,” Fant said in praise of the CCS staff. “It’s been a long time since we had a tough game where we had to fight and scrap, and I like the way our kids responded.