Rossville hangs on to take NGAC West lead
Landon Ownby had a number of big plays on offense for the Rossville Middle School Bulldogs on Thursday.
But he saved his biggest play for the defensive side of the ball.
With Gordon Lee standing inside the 1-yard line late in the fourth quarter and his team desperately clinging to a four-point lead, Ownby recovered a fumble in the end zone and later sealed the win with a big run as the Bulldogs picked up a huge 18-14 win in Chickamauga.
The victory gave Rossville (4-1) a fourth straight win and, more importantly, sole possession of first place in the NGAC Western Division standings with one week to go in the regular season.
Rossville is now 3-0 in division play and can wrap up the division title and a home playoff game with a victory over rival Chattanooga Valley next week. That game is scheduled to be play at Ridgeland High School.
“We had about three really good, veteran players that weren’t able to play today,” Rossville head coach Steve Lewis explained. “Hopefully, we’ll be back at full strength by next week, but some of our younger guys came out and stepped it up. They really played their tails off.”
Rossville stunned the Trojans and the Gordon Lee home crowd with three firstquarter touchdowns, although the Bulldogs were stopped on all three 2-point conversion attempts.
Ownby went 58 yards on Rossville’s first play from scrimmage to set up a 1-yard TD run by Gordon Casteel. An interception by Tyrese McKrosky got the ball back for Rossville and Tye Whaley ripped off a 72-yard scoring scamper two plays later.
Then, after Chance Sharp recovered an onside kick, Ownby went 40 yards on the second play before finishing off the 48-yard drive with a 3-yard TD run to make it 18-0 with 1:22 left in the opening stanza.
It looked as if Rossville would take the goose-egg into halftime, but with just 3.7 seconds left in the half, Trojan running back Henry Ellis hit Cade Peterson on a halfback pass for a 17-yard touchdown and a successful conversion cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 18-8 at intermission.
That momentum would carry over to the second half.
Gordon Lee’s defense stopped Rossville’s opening possession on downs inside the 10-yard line and Brody Cobb broke free on a 71-yard TD run three plays later. The conversion failed, but the deficit was reduced to 18-14 with 2:37 left in the third.
The Trojans came up big again early in the fourth as they snuffed out a fake punt attempt and got the ball back for their offense at the Gordon Lee 41. They moved crisply downfield with a 10-yard run by Ellis giving the Trojans a first-and-goal at the Bulldogs’ half-yard line.
But the Trojans would fumble on the very next play as the ball squirted into the end zone. Ownby was the first to smother the loose pigskin for a touchback and Rossville dodged a major bullet as they took possession at their own 20 with 2:13 to play.
Quarterback Preston Homsombath would gain two clutch yards on a third-and-1 sneak and Ownby would salt the game away one play later as he got loose on a 42-yard run that allowed Homsombath to kneel twice in victory formation.
Ownby would finish with a game-high 156 yards rushing on just nine carries.
“Landon is so quiet, but he’s really a workhorse,” Lewis said. “Whaley gets a lot of touchdowns, but a lot of touchdowns are set up by Landon. He’ll just line it up and pound the ball inside. He never complains and just goes 100 percent all the time. I’m very proud to have coached that young man the past couple of years. He and some of the other guys on this team, they really exemplify hard work, which is what this team is all about.”
Whaley had 95
yards on seven carries as Rossville finished with 293 yards on 32 attempts.
Ellis had 85 yards on 17 tough carries, while Cobb finished with 84 yards on six rushes. Quarterback Blake Groce was 4 of 9 in the
air for 49 yards, while Cobb had three grabs for a team-high 35 yards.
“(Gordon Lee head coach Tony) McAllister and his staff, I love those guys. They do a phenomenal job with their kids,” Lewis added. “Last year we had an unbelievable game against them and we had one this year was too. We weathered a storm against Lakeview (last week) and got through another one today. We still need to put together four full quarters, but only giving up one touchdown in the second half today wasn’t too bad. I’m very proud of my guys.”
The loss snapped the Trojans’ own fourgame winning streak. Gordon Lee (4-2, 2-1) will need to beat Dade County (2-3, 1-3) in Trenton next week to earn the final playoff berth out of the Western Division or have Chattanooga Valley lose to Rossville. The Eagles are 3-2 overall and 2-1 in division play, having lost to Gordon Lee, 32-0, back on Sept. 8.
Wins by the Trojans and the Eagles next week will result in a three-way tie for first place in the division and could possibly mean a mini-game playoff to determine the two playoff teams from the division.
Heritage (5-0, 4-0) wrapped up the Eastern Division crown with a 36-14 win over Trion on Thursday, while Ringgold (3-2, 2-1) will be the other playoff team from the division after a 6-0 win over LaFayette on Thursday.
In other NGAC action from this past week, Jeremiah Turner had 187 yards rushing and four touchdowns as Chattanooga Valley claimed a 36-12 win over Lakeview. Dade County dropped Saddle Ridge to 0-6 after a 38-0 win.