TAKING CONTROL
♦ The Indians use a Region 7-AA loss at the beginning of January to spark a 10-game winning streak.
At the beginning of the year, the Chattooga boys’ basketball team suffered a tough loss to a Region 7-AA opponent.
The loss to Model on Jan. 3 was a wake-up call for the Indians, and the team quickly turned the loss into a catalyst for a winning streak that would carry Chattooga through the rest of the regular season.
Following the loss, Chattooga (20-5, 13-1 7-AA) rebounded for a big win against Class 4A Lafayette, which has only two losses on the season.
“When they showed up after a Friday night loss and defeated Lafayette, I knew we had a team full of fighters,” Chattooga coach Jared Groce said. “I knew that we were going to be getting better day in and day out. I could see the hunger in their eyes at practice, and I could see their determination.”
The Indians then ran through the rest of their schedule, winning 10 straight games, culminating with a 76-52 regular season finale victory Friday against Pepperell(10-14, 6-8) in Lindale. Chattooga now gets ready to host the Region 7-AA tournament as the top seed, and begins its search for a fourth straight region title.
“We’re on a pretty good stretch here,” Groce said. “Hopefully, we’re peaking at the right time. We’re excited about what we can bring to the table against the teams in our region, but we’re taking it one game at a time, and that’s been our approach. We’ve treated every game as a must-win game.”
The Indians started out strong on Friday, leading 21-9 after the first quarter, but got into some foul trouble in the second period as Pepperell made 10 out of 16 free throws in the quarter to make the score 40-28 at halftime.
“It really killed our momentum we had,” Groce said. “We started putting them on the freethrow line a good bit and they were able to make a run. In the
third quarter, we made some adjustments defensively and decided to go with a different approach, and I think our guys handled it well. We made some big shots and the boys played well.”
The Indians used a big third quarter to pull away from the Dragons after Payton Rhoades opened the half with a three-point play to cut Chattooga’s lead to nine. Those were the only points the Indians allowed in the quarter as they powered their way to a 57-31 lead heading into the final quarter.
The Dragons put together a 13-0 run in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter, but the Indians’ lead was too much for Pepperell to overcome.
Chattooga freshman Damien Smith scored 28 points while knocking down eight 3-pointers to lead the Indians. Smith has been a strong presence on the court for the Indians despite his youth, and Groce has seen
him put in the work off the court as well.
“He has shown a lot of growth from Game 1 until now,” Groce said. “It’s really exciting just to see how much he’s grown. I think he’s always been capable of this kind of performance. He’s one of those guys in the offseason he’s in the gym all the time almost every day.”
Smith also led the Indians to a 56-54 overtime win against Model on Tuesday, scoring 19 points as the Indians wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the region.
Groce said he hopes Smith can keep his momentum rolling as the Indians host the tournament, which begins Monday.
“I hope he can continue with those kinds of performances next week,” Groce said. “He deserves that kind of scoring line. He puts in the work.”
Jaylon Johnson added 13 points against the Dragons, while Jatorrian Williams scored eight points, and Malachi Jackson added seven points. Pepperell was led by Rhoades with 22 points and Ben Whelchel with seven points.