Soddy-Daisy's defense closed out a 31-15 home victory over Signal Mountain on Thursday night.
After letting the Eagles' wing-T attack gash them in the first half, the Trojans pitched a second-half shutout in which they had two interceptions and a fumble recovery.
"Our guys changed their mindset and started playing our keys finally in the second half," Soddy-Daisy coach Justin Barnes said as his players swayed back and forth to the sound of the school's band after improving to 3-4 ahead of a pivotal Region 4-5A matchup at home against Rhea County next Friday.
"The defense picked it up," Barnes continued, "and we were able to create some pressure on the quarterback and force him into a couple of high throws which we capitalized on."
READ MORE: Final scores and photos from Thursday night's Chattanooga-area high school football games
Soddy-Daisy's Jonah Gipson provided several pressures, and Braden Dodd helped seal the win with an interception he returned 55 yards to set up Tanner Whittenbarger's second rushing touchdown of the game for the final score with 2:39 to play.
The Trojans' defense also made a big play to end the third quarter as Rhett Stottlemiere recovered a fumble with the Eagles (2-4) driving in the red zone.
Senior quarterback Isaac Barnes threw for 159 yards and rushed for 69 on 10 carries in the victory. He built an early chemistry with Logan Ricketts and Landon Maynor, who went for 81 and 57 receiving yards and each had touchdown grabs along with key fourth-and-long conversions.
The longest play of the game came when Barnes pump-faked and then threw a 41-yard strike down the left sideline to Ricketts for a 14-7 lead with 10:29 left in the second quarter.
Signal Mountain fought back in the opening half as Andrew Eichner had a 24-yard touchdown run that included a nice cut to a wide-open lane, while Duncan Cannon had a swing pass out to Braden Casner, who stiff-armed his way down the sideline and dove to the right pylon for the score.
Casner's touchdown was followed by a bad snap on the extra-point attempt, and Cannon picked up the loose ball and made an off-balance but impressive 2-point conversion throw to Brady Schwarz to give the Eagles a 15-14 lead with 8:09 before halftime.
Soddy-Daisy responded with a 15-play, 81-yard scoring drive.
Maynor was tough to cover as he hauled in three catches for 41 yards on the drive: a nice out route, a fourth-and-10 conversion and a 13-yard touchdown catch on a slant for a 21-15 lead at the break.
"We preached all week that we needed to take care of the ball and make the most out of every possession," Coach Barnes said. "We knew we were going to have to go for it on fourth downs and we did a great job of that tonight. Our offensive line also played really well."
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @PMacCoon.