It looks like Ooltewah found another tailback. Matthew Polk had to wait his turn behind Dewayne Caldwell and Brian Marshall, but the senior picked up Friday where those two left off.

Polk ran for 134 yards and three first-half touchdowns in leading Ooltewah to a 38-0 victory over visiting Whites Creek in the season-opening game for both high school football teams.

Polk picked up first downs on the first two of his 19 carries. His third was a 3-yard touchdown and the Owls took a 7-0 lead with 8:19 to go in the first quarter.

Polk added scoring bursts up the middle of 16 and 55 yards in the second quarter and Ooltewah went to the half with a 21-point lead. The first of those touchdowns came after Brandon Burrows created a turnover by taking the ball out of the hands of Whites Creek’s punt returner.

Polk finished the first half with 117 rushing yards on 13 carries. Ooltewah coach Benny Monroe gave credit to assistant coach Ted Gatewood and his work with the offensive linemen.

“This is Matthew’s year at tailback,” Monroe said. “He had a real good night. The offensive line did the job up front.

“They came in and surprised us a little bit with what they were doing defensively. Once we picked it up, we were OK. There were some things we wanted to do that we chose not to do.”

Although junior Brady Reed is a returning starter at quarterback, Ooltewah’s passing game was the one area that looked like it needed work. Reed threw an interception on his first pass, he was sacked three times and he had a touchdown pass dropped in the end zone. He did connect with Gino Norwood for a 22-yard TD with 4:16 remaining in the third quarter.

Coming into the game, lineman Jacques Smith had received a great deal of notoriety on the defensive side, and he did have an emphatic sack Friday that led to a Whites Creek timeout before the next play. However, Que Jackson sparked Ooltewah’s defense overall. He began his night with a sack on the second play of the game.

“We expect that out of him,” Monroe said. “We can’t block him in practice. We don’t don’t expect anybody else to be able to, either.”

Jackson also made a tackle for no gain on a fourth-and-2 at the Owls’ 10 later in the first quarter. He recovered two fumbles in the third quarter, nearly taking the handoff on the second.

“I came real close to getting it,” Jackson said. “I should’ve tried to pick the ball up and run with it anyway.”

Darion Delaney and Sammy Seamster had interceptions for the Owls. Kicker John Long made a 44-yard field goal, was perfect on five extra points and put all seven kickoffs into the end zone, and one of his punts died on the 1, where Burrows downed it.

“We’ve got a good, solid defense,” Jackson said. “Polk is awesome. He’s going to be the featured part of our offense. If we keep practicing hard, and keep doing what we’re doing, we’re going to be getting a ring on our finger in December.”

Comments