Narrow losses in McCallie's first two games last year seemed to set the tone for the entire football season. A similar challenge opening this year's slate would go a long way to shaping the Blue Tornado fortunes this time around.
But despite a loss last week at Georgia powerhouse Peachtree Ridge - at Parkview, the 2015 opening foe - McCallie coach Ralph Potter sensed this year would be different.
Was he ever right.
McCallie tallied touchdowns on six of its seven first-half possessions Friday night, amassing 377 total yards to parlay a 32-point advantage at intermission into a 49-10 thrashing of Blackman at Spears Stadium.
The convincing win atoned for a two-point loss to the Blaze in Murfreesboro last year and validated Potter's hunch about his squad.
"Even though we lost last week, I was really proud of our team. I thought it gave us some momentum coming into this week. I liked the attitude our kids displayed and I doubt we'll face a defense all season like we saw (a week ago)," Potter said.
The early offensive blitz resulted in five scoring drives of longer than 60 yards in the opening half as quarterback Robert Riddle operated with precision.
"The key to our offense was our quarterback. Robert ran the option to perfection, and his decision making was spot on," Potter said. "That was as complete a half of offensive football that I've seen."
McCallie had a dozen plays of 10 or more yards in the first half, including six that covered 33 yards or longer. The Blue Tornado finished the contest with 528 total yards, averaging better than 10 per play.
Riddle completed 10 of 12 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown in the first half, while running back Shawn McColley had 78 rushing yards on eight carries with four touchdowns. The senior scored on runs of 10, 37 and 7 yards to give the Blue Tornado a 21-0 lead midway through the opening period, then added a 1-yard burst to open the second-quarter scoring.
Riddle added a 7-yard TD scamper and found Kendall Watson for a 33-yard scoring strike to close the half.
Watson had several big plays on his limited touches, rushing for 125 yards on only six tries, including a 28-yard run to account for the lone second-half points.
Meanwhile the Blue Tornado defense was equally stout in limiting the Blaze to 185 yards on the night. Master Teague led Blackman (0-1) with 129 yards on 27 carries.
"Our defense improved tremendously. It's easy to talk about the offense, but our defense is starting to learn what it takes to get better, and I like what I saw from them tonight," Potter said.
Contact Paul Payne at sports@timesfreepress.com