Brewer, Ferguson pace Loudon in rout of Chargers

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

ENGLEWOOD, Tenn. - If the Loudon and McMinn Central football teams came into Friday's game as mirror images of each other, the Redskins shattered the glass they were looking at pretty quickly.

Loudon rushed for 228 yards and quarterback Travis Brewer and receiver Tyler Ferguson each was part of three touchdowns in a 35-7 rout. The win gives the Redskins (8-0, 3-0) a share of the District 5-AA championship with Polk County the only district foe remaining on their schedule.

The Class 3A seventh-ranked Chargers (7-2, 3-1) came in averaging 293.1 yards per game but had only 29 yards in the first half and finished with 76 yards rushing and 171 yards of total offense. In part, they missed blocking assignments that could have led to big plays and a turnover at an inopportune time.

"We wanted to see what they gave us early, which was the short passing game," McMinn Central coach Josh Goodin said. "Unfortunately, we had some bad plays. Defensively, they didn't do anything we didn't expect them to do, but they still took it to us."

Even with Loudon's success in the run game, all three of its first-half scores came through the air. Brewer passed to Ferguson for 44- and 29-yard touchdowns, and then Ferguson completed a 15-yard reverse pass to Jack Nichols after a McMinn Central fumble deep in its own territory.

Loudon coach Jeff Harig hopes the solid road win will help get his team some respect in the state rankings, as the Redskins have been absent in the polls.

"We were able to create some big plays in the passing game," he said. "We stretched the defense out and let Tyler Ferguson make plays."

Harig admitted he was a little surprised that the Chargers went away from their power rushing attack.

"They went away from what they try to do," he said. "I was worried about that coming into the game."

Brewer ran for a second-half touchdown, as did backup quarterback Jacob Crabtree for the Redskins. Brewer had 121 yards rushing on 25 carries, while Josh Jackson finished with 100 yards on 22 attempts. Ferguson had six catches for 122 yards.

Luke Davis had a fourth-quarter score for McMinn Central to prevent the shutout.

"Now we have to get back to work," Goodin said. "We have to shake tonight off and get ready for [Chattanooga] Central."

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.

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