Hixson senior running back Marshall Cooper had no trouble revealing the secret to the Wildcats' unbeaten start in District 6-AA play so far this season. As Cooper knows and the rest of the district is discovering, the Wildcats are straightfoward about how they approach the opposition.
Friday night facing 6-AA rival East Ridge, Cooper and the Wildcats again simply lined up and rode the strength of a powerful offensive line to an impressive win. Hixson spoiled the Pioneers' homecoming with a 15-0 victory.
"Those guys worked hard in the offseason, and it's paying off," said Cooper, part of a 266-yard rushing attack Friday. "It's no secret about what we are going to do. They are giving us some big holes to run through. For us it's awesome when you see those holes. We come out and try to run it at you, and they are the ones opening the holes."
Hixson (5-2, 3-0) set the tone on the opening drive, going 73 yards on six plays, highlighted by Cooper's 58-yard screen-pass reception from quarterback Preston Wilkey. Tyrik Twitty, who finished with 71 yards, punched in the first score from 2 yards out.
The Hixson running game really flexed its muscles on a 13-play, 74-yard scoring drive in the second quarter. All of the yards were gained on the ground, with Wilkey scoring the touchdown from 1 yard out.
"It's just like what we do in practice," said Hixson offensive lineman Ryan Turner, who was joined in a dominating front-line effort by Garrett Wheeler, Brody Gregory, John Green, Jacob Bird, Brett Garden and McKenzie Martin. "It feels really good for us to watch the running backs go through and gain a lot of yards from the blocks that we are making."
James Cole led the Wildcats with 88 yards rushing, while Cooper paced the defense with eight tackles.
"We are a physical football team. That's what we are, and we know what we can do," said Hixson coach Dan Duff. "We had our chances to score more, but we had some penalties that stopped drives. But we got 15 and that was enough. Our defense did a fantastic job tonight."
The Pioneers (2-5, 1-2) often were on the verge of scoring, moving the ball inside the Hixson 20 four times. However, two dropped passes in the end zone, two interceptions and a couple of other dropped passes in the open field made it a night of missed opportunities for East Ridge.
"We had some good chances," said East Ridge coach Tracy Malone. "It was a tough ballgame. We don't want to take anything away from Hixson, and our hats are off to them. They are a good football team. We knew it was going to be tough to block them. They are a lot better than we are up front."
JoJo Tillery provided most of the highlights for the Pioneers, throwing for 123 yards and rushing for 38.
Contact Greg Thompson at sports@timesfreepress.com.