Two deep touchdown passes from Signal Mountain quarterback Drew Lowry to Malone Howley highlighted a 14-0 nonregion win Friday night that also included a serious leg injury for Soddy-Daisy backup quarterback Isaac Barnes at Robert Talaska Field.
After an 0-4 start to the season, the Eagles pushed their winning streak to five games. They are second in Region 3-3A behind Red Bank, while Soddy-Daisy's Trojans (4-4) have a shot of winning Region 4-5A with a win next week and some help from Knoxville Catholic, against whom the Trojans own the tiebreaker.
"After the Whitwell game made us 0-4, I told the kids you're going to win six straight after this," said Signal Mountain coach Josh Roberts, a former Soddy-Daisy player and coach. "I got some weird looks, but I told them we're going to finish 6-4, finish second in our district and host a home playoff game. The guys are finally starting to believe, and we have one more game to make it happen."
Soddy-Daisy starting quarterback Gavin Chambers was knocked out of action after the team's second drive of the game and was replaced by Barnes. Early in the fourth quarter, Barnes was brought down awkwardly during a scramble and was taken off the field via ambulance.
"He has a broken fibula and tibia, so he'll have to have some surgeries either tonight or in the next few days," Soddy-Daisy coach Justin Barnes said. "That was bad, but we were just dominated all night by a team that wanted a win more than us. We should be OK for next week. If it had been a region game, we probably would've put Gavin back in."
The Eagles will wrap up the regular season next week at home against Sweetwater, while Soddy-Daisy will look to take care of business on its end on the road at Walker Valley.
Contact John Mitchell at sports@timesfreepress.com.