Chattanooga Christian School celebrated homecoming Friday night by silencing the Boyd Buchanan football team's revenge tour.
By downing the rival Buccaneers 31-21, the Chargers also launched themselves into prime position in Division II-AA's East Region.
CCS lost its first two games this season by a combined 91 points to DII-AAA powers Baylor and McCallie, but a blowout win over 2018 Class A state champion Whitwell the following week and this victory to open region play were exactly what coach Mark Mariakis needed to get the Chargers on track.
Boyd Buchanan, 0-10 in 2018, had started this year 3-0, including opening its region schedule with a 28-21 win against Knoxville Webb. The Chargers, who beat the Bucs 56-6 last year, made their own statement Friday.
"It's been a long time since we've been in a ballgame like that against a good football team," Mariakis said. "We didn't feel like our kids played well in the first half. We kind of got out of rhythm and didn't do what we were coached to do. But we challenged them to be responsible to their job, and that led us to shut them out in the second half."
Boyd Buchanan grabbed momentum early with a 2-yard touchdown run by David Dixon after wide receiver Karson Gay set the Bucs up with a couple of 20-yard jump-ball catches.
CCS added a field goal on the next possession, but then Chargers running back Roderick Young fumbled and the Bucs recovered 2 yards from the CCS end zone. Two plays later, quarterback Eli Morris sneaked in from the 1 for his first of two touchdown runs in the game.
After being out of touch offensively for a majority of the half, CCS scored two touchdowns just before halftime on passes from Sam Hall. The first was a 9-yard fade route to Michael Houge; the second was a 35-yard screen to Jamichael Baxter.
The Bucs led 21-17 at halftime.
"We didn't break away from who we are," Mariakis said about his team's early struggles. "We're going to run it and throw it when we can. We were challenged, obviously, but our kids responded great to it."
In a third quarter with plenty of punts from both teams, the Chargers created a spark when Young broke away from defenders at the line of scrimmage and sprinted 28 yards to give his team its first lead. The Bucs answered by using 11 plays to muscle their way down to the Chargers' 17 before Young made another big-time impact, this time intercepting Morris and setting up a 33-yard Traveon Scott touchdown run to seal the win.
"We lost to a very senior-led group of guys," first-year Boyd Buchanan coach Jeremy Boskin said. "I've got a lot of respect for the players they have, and I hope to see them again (in the playoffs).
"I've got to do a better job to put our team in successful places. Our kids came to the sideline very coachable, so I've got to do a better job next week."
Contact John Mitchell at sports@timesfreepress.com.