Chattanooga– Two things were apparent as the final seconds ran off the clock in Friday night’s inter-division game at Tyner High school. One, the Ooltewah Owls were beginning the season in style having secured a 36-0 victory of Tyner. The second, was that Jacques Smith, the defending 5-AAA Mr. Football, was running on fumes.
The standing room only crowd was treated to one of the best opening performances in recent history when Smith and the Ooltewah defense took to the field following the opening kick-off. On first down, Smith, lining up as defensive end on the strong side, literally threw his man off of him and cut inside and took the Tyner half back off his feet with a hit so strong, noticeable gasps came from the home field seats.
The second play, with Smith, again lined up on the strong side, strong armed the Tyner tight end and promptly batted down the Tyner pass attempt. Finally on the third play from scrimmage, Smith pursued the run to the weak side and recovered a fumble in the Tyner backfield. Smith came off the line with quickness worthy of his five star rating.
During the course of the night, Smith continued to make his presence felt exclusively from the defensive end position mostly playing the strong side which Tyner shifted on a regular basis.
Although he was involved in nearly every play, including a late fourth quarter sack, he fought against double teams and play action the remaining three quarters. One possible weakness that appeared several times was over pursuing and being left out of the play during play action.
He also played a majority of offensive plays from the tight end position. Smith took on a more human presence on this side of the ball. Coach Moore ran Smith almost exclusively in motion in a blocking role.
Smith’s role was to clear the defensive end, on many occasions, once this was achieved; Smith was repeatedly seen looking for the ball carrier over both shoulders.
Smith was never thrown to, or touched the ball from the offensive side. He did however; remain in the game playing both sides until the eight minute mark in the fourth quarter leaving many in the crowd scratching their heads with Ooltewah’s victory secured. By this point, he was noticeably winded, being the last to the huddle and repeatedly taking a knee at the line. There were several times on the final defensive series he failed to get set before the ball was snapped.
As the night ended however, with the Owls were off to a perfect start and Smith walked away, hands on hips, with some impressive stats to begin his Mr. Football defense.