Soddy-Daisy's Chase Payne (21) chases as Ooltewah's Anthony Turner (02) dives for a pass.Ooltewah won the coin toss - and everything else Friday night.
The Owls marched 82 yards in eight plays with the opening possession and rolled to a 40-0 victory over Soddy-Daisy in a District 5-AAA high school football game.
Quarterback Kelvin Leon completed passes on the first three plays in the opening drive and was 5-for-5 in the possession, capping it with a 19-yard scoring strike to Anthony Turner.
"We wanted to put our offense out there first," Ooltewah coach Mac Bryan said. "We felt like we could move the ball and establish something early. We executed very well that first drive."
The Owls led 14-0 late in the second quarter when Soddy-Daisy (2-1, 0-1) was set to punt in its own territory. But a bungled snap led to the Owls' Edward Hayes tackling the punter, causing a fumble that A.J. Diggs recovered.
On third-and-1 from the 10, Leon connected with Hayes for a touchdown with 11.9 seconds remaining in the half, making it 21-0.
"They're a good football team," Soddy-Daisy coach Justin Barnes said of the Owls (3-0, 1-0). "They go out and score on that first drive, but even with that I felt we were in the game down 14-0. Then we have that busted punt and they're quickly in the end zone right before the half.
"If we could've gone to the half down 14-0 with us getting the ball starting the second half, I'm still feeling pretty good about it. But you can't do that against a good team."
Trojans quarterback Hunter Maynor came into the game highly touted for his passing exploits through their first two games, but it was Leon who had the monstrous game. He was 17-of-25 passing for 234 yards and three touchdowns before halftime.
London Elrod played the last quarter and a half, and nine Owls in all caught passes for 290 yards. Turner was the yardage leader with 94, and Hayes, who also blocked a punt, was the receptions leader with seven.
"We've got a number of kids who can make plays," Bryan said. "We had a lot of people pretty good at that all summer."
And as good as the Owls' offense was, the defense was on the same level. Ooltewah limited Maynor and Co. to 92 passing yards.
"The defense played really well," Bryan said. "I thought they showed a lot last week against Siegel, and tonight I thought they played extremely well."
Trojans defensive back Jacob Lemons suffered a neck injury on Ooltewah's first touchdown and was taken by ambulance to a local hospital.
"They said it was precautionary, but you never know," Barnes said of Lemons, who suffered a stinger in his neck last week. "He lost feeling in his right arm. When they tested him and pressed on his spine, it actually made it worse. We hope it's just a stinger. They took him off to be on the safe side."
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him at twitter.com/KelleySmiddie.