Tornadoed! McCallie blasts No. 1 Ensworth, 62-34

photo McCallie's Alex Trotter (4) dives into the end zone for the second touchdown of the first quarter between Ensworth defenders Friday night at McCallie.

There's no "D" in Ensworth. Or at least there wasn't Friday night.

McCallie's offense looked about as well-oiled as any in coach Ralph Potter's era - both stints with the program combined - and the Blue Tornado handed the Division II-AA's top-ranked Tigers a 62-34 whipping at McCallie.

McCallie (6-0, 2-0) entered the East/Middle Region high school football game ranked second in the classification, but its offense was second to none Friday. The Blue Tornado piled up 560 yards of total offense, none of their three penalties were on offense, and they had no turnovers.

"Our kids were focused, obviously," said Potter, whose team totaled 16 of its 24 first downs in the first half. "We played very well. We pretty much played error-free."

As good as McCallie was from scrimmage, its night got off to a robust start with Tyrik Stewart's 58-yard return of the opening kickoff to Ensworth's 40. That began the first of the Blue Tornado's five first-half possessions - all ending in touchdowns.

The first was a 5-yard pop pass from JaVaughn Craig to Matt Brock. Running back Alex Trotter provided the next three on runs of 2, 10 and 1 yards.

The last before halftime came from Tyler Payne, who blew past Alabama recruit Rico McGraw and hauled in a 35-yard pass in the end zone from Craig with 32.7 seconds showing on the clock. Drew Viscomi's extra point gave McCallie a 14-point lead heading to the break.

Myles Patton's interception on the first possession of the second half led to another Blue Tornado scoring drive. Trotter finished that one from the 11, and he added a 39-yarder in the fourth quarter for his fifth of the night on the first play after Ensworth coach Ricky Bowers made a wholesale substitution, bringing in his second defense.

Trotter ended up with 177 yards on 27 carries, but it was Craig who triggered it all from quarterback. He also had a TD run in the second half and was one of three McCallie players to top the 100-yard rushing mark. Paul Silverblatt with 11 rushes for 134 was the other.

"I felt very confident coming in because we prepared very hard," Craig said. "We trusted each other on the field. We trusted the coaching staff. I did a lot of preparing on my own, and I thought we had a great game plan. I talked about it with the coaches, we all bought in as players, and this is the result."

Craig was also 9-of-12 through the air for another 146 yards.

"That was about as well as a quarterback can play in a football game," said Potter, a former McCallie and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga quarterback. "As much as we ask a quarterback to do, that was remarkable."

McCallie's defense surrendered 477 yards but forced three turnovers. Shawn McColley stripped a running back and recovered the fumble in the third quarter and returned an interception for a touchdown with 10:14 to play.

Ensworth (4-1, 2-1) is ranked No. 8 in the Maxpreps South Region computer rankings and had won 50 of its last 52 games before Friday, including the last four state-championship games. The most points the Tigers gave up in that span was in their previous losses, allowing 36 to Brentwood Academy last year and 42 to Baylor in 2011.

"We had lots of problems," said Bowers, whose team was penalized nine times for 79 yards. "It looked like everything they did gave us problems. That's a good football team. They were well-prepared. I didn't do a good job of having us prepared. We got horsewhipped. One hopes you learn from it.

"We committed way too many penalties. We didn't force them into many. They outplayed us."

McGraw did make an impact offensively with eight catches for 196 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback P.J. Settles was 15-of-27 for 302 yards, and Donovan Sheffield led the rushing with 15 carries for 90 yards and three TDs.

Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him at twitter.com/KelleySmiddie.

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