Chattooga pulls away from North Murray

Published 1:28 am Saturday, October 15, 2011

A pair of North Murray turnovers and too much of Chattooga sophomore Shawn Lawrence transformed what had been a back-and-forth battle into a 52-14 win for the host Indians at The Little Bighorn in a Sub-region 7B-2A game on Friday night.

A Mountaineers fumble and an interception — both recorded by Lawrence — allowed the Indians (2-5, 1-3) to expand their 21-14 lead to 35-14 in the final two minutes of the first half against North Murray(0-8, 0-5).

“We were a little slow to start, but we were running and passing at will for a while,” North Murray coach Larry Cornelius said. “It just seems like there’s a three- to five-minute period where things go bad. And things go bad in every football game from pee wee up to the pros. It’s how you react when things go bad that matters.”

Cornelius said his players need to have more urgency.

“Some of the starters may have to check their status,” Cornelius said. “You never know what’s going to happen on the next play. We need more people playing like it’s their last play.”

Lawrence also rushed for four touchdowns and finished with 69 total yards.

“Lawrence is a kid who played a little for us last year as a freshman,” Indians coach Brad Waggoner said. “He was voted as a captain this year. And I think that says a lot with him being a sophomore.

But Lawrence did his biggest damage for the home team in the first half, scoring three touchdowns out of the backfield and collecting 45 yards rushing in addition to his play at linebacker.

“I think it was my time to shine,” Lawrence said. “But I’ve got to credit by lineman and fullback Jahadius Adams for making a way for me.”

After the Indians broke the tie on the third of Lawrence’s three first-half touchdowns, the Mountaineers opted to go for it on fourth down of their next possession.

Chattooga’s penetration on defense caused the fumble that set up a 30-yard run by Ronnell Simms — who churned up 144 yards rushing on 16 carries and a second-half touchdown. Indians quarterback Nathan Schuster took a sneak into the end zone after Simms’ long run.

Schuster finished the first half 6 of 7 passing for 132 yards and one touchdown.

North Murray threw an interception on its third play after giving up Schuster’s sneak. Lawrence returned the ball to the Mountaineers’ 19. Schuster then found Brandon Siffles wide open in the end zone on the next play for a 27-yard score.

North Murray answered the first two Indians’ touchdown led largely by its running attack featuring fullback John Chastain, who ended the night with 52 yards on 10 carries and one touchdown.

Mountaineers quarterback Brady Swilling also connected with Jacob Mays for three completions that gained 51 yards, including a 21-yard play inside the Indians’ 5 to set up a touchdown run by Jackie Abernathy.

Chattooga’s only win before Friday was in the season opener, and Waggoner said losing five straight, including two overtime games, had taken an emotional toll on his team.

“We’ve had so many close games, you kind of wonder if we were waiting for something bad to happen,” Waggoner said. “But when some good things happened for us, our guys stepped up and did a good job.”

Chattooga 52, North Murray 14

Score By Quarters

North Murray 7 7 0 0 — 14

Chattooga 7 28 7 10 — 52

How They Scored

First Quarter

CH — Shawn Lawrence 22 run (Sergio Mosquedo kick) 2:12

NM — John Chastain 27 run (Izzy Hernandez kick) 1:10

Second Quarter

CH — Lawrence 1 run (Mosquedo kick) 11:26

NM — Jackie Abernathy (Hernandez kick) 5:58

CH — Lawrence 1 run (Mosquedo kick) 3:32

CH — Nathan Schuster 1 run (Mosquedo kick) 1:51

CH —Brandon Siffles 27 pass from Schuster (Mosquedo kick) :42

Third Quarter

CH — Ronnell Simms 11 run (Mosquedo kick) 5:54

Fourth Quarter

CH — Lawrence 9 run (Mosquedo kick) 11:07

CH — Mosquedo 24 FG 6:13