Brentwood Academys Jeremiah Oatsvall (4) shakes off McCallie School's Jaylan Nowell (22) to score a touchdown.Positioned in her regular spot three rows up on the home side of Spears Stadium, Betty Latham expected another sterling performance at a McCallie high school football game.
Latham and the rest of the blue-and-pink splashed crowd that filled the home side of the McCallie stands got a near-perfect effort Friday night -- from visiting Brentwood Academy.
The Eagles swept into Chattanooga and dominated from the start on the way to a 59-24 win that delivered an exclamation point on the balance and difficulty that is Division II-AA football.
"We knew they were really good, and they controlled the line of scrimmage," McCallie coach Ralph Potter said as his team heads into a much-needed open date. "This is the SEC West of high school football. It's hard to be at your mental and emotional peak every week.
"That's not an excuse, because they just played better than us tonight, but it's a long season."
Said Brentwood Academt coach Cody White: "There are four or five teams in our league that can beat anyone on any night."
This night, though, BA looked better than the rest. The Eagles (7-1, 3-1) were cruelly efficient offensively and opportunistically stingy defensively.
With quarterback Jeremiah Oastvall perfectly mixing the run and the pass, the Eagles churned up 350 first-half yards. Oastvall had 101 yards rushing and two scores and 121 yards passing as BA sprinted to a 30-10 halftime lead.
Oastvall's near-10-second scramble before completing a 38-yard pass on a second-and-18 was the crystalized image of BA's success.
"I think we have the best line in the state, and I think that was by far the most complete game we've played this year," said Oastvall, a sophomore who ran for two scores and threw for another and finished with 288 yards of total offense. "We had great balance [on offense], and the defense stepped up huge all night."
All told, BA was 5-of-7 on third-down tries in the first two quarters and held the Blue Tornado (7-1, 3-1) without a third-down conversion in five tries in the first half. BA extended drives and got off the field, a premium goal between two spread teams looking to operate with a consistent pace and precision.
"We can score," White said after his team churned up 27 first downs, "so I didn't think that was going to be a problem."
The Eagles hardly slowed after the intermission, scoring touchdowns on their first two possessions of the third quarter to stretch the lead. The Eagles even went for two on their sixth touchdown -- and converted -- to enact the mercy rule midway through the third quarter.
Brentwood Academy finished with a stunning 652 total yards and comfortably closed out an impressive win. Fullback Jacob Cretin finished with 215 yards rushing and three TDs, and reserve Prince Momodu had 113 yards and two second-half scores.
It was a striking contrast to the last month for McCallie, which had been nearly unstoppable in beating unbeaten foes Bowling Green (Ky.), Ensworth and Baylor to move to the top spot in the Division II polls.
The offensive flow that McCallie had enjoyed over the last month was deterred by BA, which made the Tornado decidedly one-dimensional Friday. Other than Alex Trotter, who rushed for 185 of his 209 yards in the first half, McCallie struggled to find flow against a disciplined and oversized defensive front led by Brandon Adams, who had two tackles for loss and recovered a fumble in the decisive first half.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.