Tennessee prep football roundup: Chattanooga Christian's offensive switch leads to big win

Staff photo by Robin Rudd / Chattanooga Christian's Boo Carter scores a touchdown against Signal Mountain during the Best of Preps Jamboree on Aug. 12 at Finley Stadium.
Staff photo by Robin Rudd / Chattanooga Christian's Boo Carter scores a touchdown against Signal Mountain during the Best of Preps Jamboree on Aug. 12 at Finley Stadium.

A simplified offense helped lead Chattanooga Christian School to a statement win. After struggling to get going on that side of the ball for much of the first half of the season, the Chargers switched from the wing-T to the I-formation for Friday night's key Division II-AA East Region matchup with rival Boyd Buchanan.

The response was an overwhelming success as CCS rolled to a 57-13 win behind 573 rushing yards.

"The I-formation is pretty simple, and that's what our young kids needed," said Chargers coach Mark Mariakis, whose teams had never ran anything but the wing-T before Friday. "It allowed us to put Boo Carter at tailback and be able to run him to the left or right instead of just one direction out of the wing. He's so athletic, we had to find a way to make him a weapon all over the field for us."

CCS had gained 398 rushing yards by halftime and finished the game outgaining the Buccaneers 597-203 in total offense.

Carter, a sophomore who already has SEC scholarship offers, ran for 226 yards and three touchdowns on 13 carries, most of which came in the deciding first half. Fullback Darell Brown rushed for an additional 147 yards, while twins Javoris (96 yards and a score) and Davoris Havis (74 yards and two touchdowns) were also part of the impressive night on the ground.

"We're so young," Mariakis said. "We started five freshmen and seven sophomores and still haven't used the same starting lineup in any game all season, but this really seemed to click with our guys. I think we may have found something."

(READ MORE: Final scores and photos from Friday night's Chattanooga-area high school football games)

Signal Mountain 34, Sweetwater 27: The Eagles went on the road and pulled of an important Region 3-3A win as Duncan Cannon threw for two touchdowns and ran for another. Cannon connected with Blake Wolfard and Drew Williams for scores and Drew Williams also ran for a pair of touchdowns.

Aiden Adkins led the defense with two sacks, and Chance Townson had an interception as Signal Mountain improved to 5-2 overall, 2-1 in the region.

"Region games are battles from the first whistle to the last," Eagles coach Josh Roberts said. "Our kids played extremely hard tonight and weren't going to be denied. All three phases responded all night, and we're extremely proud of our fight and relentless attitude."

Silverdale Baptist 42, Notre Dame 6: The backfield tandem of Brett Rogers and Conner Delashmitt combined for nearly 400 yards of offense as the fourth-ranked Seahawks earned the Division II-AA East victory.

Silverdale Baptist (6-0, 3-0) outgained the Fighting Irish 327-149 in total offense, led by Rogers' 120 passing and 55 rushing, combining for four touchdowns. Delashmitt finished with 152 rushing yards, 58 receiving and a pair of scores. Turner Junkins added an 84-yard kickoff return for a score, and Brody Lamb led the defense with eight tackles while Chase Manning had six.

Meigs County 53, Polk County 3: Class 2A's top-ranked Tigers raced out to a 34-3 halftime lead and continued to roll for the Region 3-2A win. Senior quarterback Logan Carroll was 6-of-6 passing for 251 yards and four touchdowns, including an 84-yarder to Jackson Shaver and two to Cam Huckabey, overing 51 and 43 yards. Carroll also ran for 82 yards as Meigs outrushed the Wildcats 201-97 and finished with more than 300 more yards.

Marion County 51, Tellico Plains 6: A 23-point second quarter helped the Warriors put the game away by halftime as they cruised to the Region 3-2A win. Fifth-ranked Marion (5-0, 2-0) outgained the Bears 467-116 in total offense, with 418 of that coming on the ground.

Taye Hutchins ran for 120 yards on just 10 carries with three touchdowns and also threw for 49 yards. Freshman running back Sam Pickett added 91 yards and a pair of scores as Marion scored 42-plus points for a third time.

Dade County 26, South Pittsburg 21: In the first meeting between the teams, the Wolverines scored late in the second quarter to take the lead and never gave it up. The Pirates scored with 3:48 remaining to pull within five, but Dade County was able to sustain a drive to run out the clock.

Cayden Cooper ran for 133 yards and a score for the Georgia hosts, and Brody Cooper threw for 167 and a score to help Dade collect 344 total yards, 30 more than the visitors. Jayden Mount ran for two touchdowns for the Pirates, including one that covered 59 yards.

Whitwell 53, Sale Creek 22: The Tigers got their second straight win with a second straight 50-plus point outburst. The Region 3-1A win also secured a playoff spot for Whitwell (2-2, 1-1), which ran for 533 yards, led by Chandler Britton's 170 on 10 carries. Brandon Easterly also had a TD and an interception for the Tigers and Brandon Magouirk led the defense with five solo tackles, three assists and two tackles for loss.

Ooltewah 58, Howard 6: Raymos McGee scored three touchdowns and Christian Doty added another, but it was the Owls' defense that came up biggest in the team's first win this season. Ooltewah's defense scored four times - including both an interception return and recovered fumble for touchdowns by Mason Arnold, while Edgar Lawrence added a pick-six and Jeremiah West a fumble recovery for another score for the Region 4-5A win.

Other area scores:

Bradley Central 28, Bearden 12

Red Bank 48, Hixson 6

Maryville 42, Cleveland 7

East Ridge 35, Sequoyah 26

Loudon 40, Brainerd 26

Cannon County 14, Grundy County 0

Sequatchie County 36, Community 26

Kingston 41, McMinn Central 14

Copper Basin 46, Lookout Valley 25

Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.

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