TTA

Temple Crusaders Shock South Pittsburg at Finley Stadium 53-20 

posted October 13, 2006 by the chattanoogan.com

In just four short years, the Tennessee Temple football team has gone from a fledging program to a legitimate Class A football team after earning a shocking 53-20 win over the second-ranked South Pittsburg Pirates on Friday night at Finley Stadium.

The battle of the undefeated teams has been talked about for weeks, and the Crusaders were picked as the underdogs.

The win is obviously the biggest in school history as head coach Steve Beard said after the game.

"This is the biggest win in our school's history," said Beard, who last week said he just hoped the Crusaders could stay with South Pittsburg's speed.

"The kickoff return and defensive touchdown were big for us,'' he said. "In games like this, those are monstrous."

The speed didn't seem to bother the Crusaders, who put on an offensive showcase.

Senior quarterback Erik Larson finished with three touchdown passes, all in the third quarter.

Seth Skogen did a little of everything. He had three touchdown receptions, threw for one and returned a stripped ball for a touchdown on defense.

Joey Skogen had one touchdown reception, one touchdown run and one two point conversion pass to his brother Seth.

South Pittsburg opened the game with a 68-yard drive capped off with a 5-yard run by Montrell Mitchell.

Tennessee Temple answered seconds later with a 76-yard kickoff return by Kameron Ridley, bringing the Tennessee Temple faithful to their feet.

The Crusaders shut down the Pirates' offense and made a nice drive to close out the first quarter. Larson hit Seth Skogen from 11 yards out to give the Crusaders their first lead, 13-7.

Tennessee Temple capitalized on a short kick that was misplayed by South Pittsburg and Temple recovered the fumble going into the second quarter.

With 10:46 left, Larson reversed the ball to Seth Skogen who pulled up and hit Dee Newsome in the end zone for a 23-yard pass. Another failed kick left the score at

19-7.

The Pirates pushed the ball down the field on their next possession, taking the ball to the Tennessee Temple 2-yard line. Montrell Mitchell punched it in for the Pirates' second touchdown of the night.

Temple punted on its next possession, but that didn't keep the Crusaders out of the end zone.

With 1:55 left in the half, Seth Skogen stripped the ball from a Pirate runner and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown. Temple made the conversion for a 27-14 halftime lead.

The third and fourth quarters also belonged the Crusaders, who scored four more touchdowns including three passes by Larson. Two went to Seth Skogen and one to Joey Skogen.

Temple will play Copper Basin next week at Finley, and then travel to Grace for its final game of the regular season.

Soujth Pittsburg will host Silverdale next week and travel to Whitwell the final week.

Scoring Summary:

1st Quarter
8:10 SP- Montrell Mitchell 5 yard run (kick good)
7:58 TT- Kameron Ridley 76 yard kick return (kick good)
:36 TT- 11 yard pass from Larson to S. Skogen (kick failed)

2nd Quarter
10:46 23 yard pass from S. Skogen to Newsome (kick failed)
4:40 SP- Mitchell 2 yard run (kick good)
1:55 TT- Seth Skogen 38 yard fumble return (pass from J. Skogen to Seth Skogen)

3rd Quarter
9:37 TT- 29 yard pass from Larson to S. Skogen (kick good)
5:20 TT- 39 yard pass from Larson to J. Skogen (kick failed)
4:08 TT- 11 yard pass from Larson to S. Skogen (kick good)
2:26 SP- Robert Robertson 54 yard touchdown run (2pt conversion no good)

4th Quarter
7:15 TT- Joey Skogen nine yard run (kick failed)

By Stephen Hargis
Assistant Sports Editor

In what amounted to killing a housefly with a shotgun, eighth-ranked Tennessee Temple dominated second-ranked South Pittsburg in a Region 3-1A football showdown Friday night at Finley Stadium.

South Pittsburg scored first, but the Crusaders scored a lot more often and won 53-20.

"It didn't sink in until the game was almost over what we had done," said Temple senior Seth Skogen, a Mr. Basketball finalist last year who played very much like a Mr. Football finalist Friday. "Now we just have to take care of business for the next two weeks and we're the region champion. That's awesome."

Skogen had six catches for 111 yards and three touchdowns. He also returned a fumble for a score and threw a touchdown pass to Dee Newsome as the Crusaders (8-0, 4-0) scored on seven of nine possessions and tallied more points than the Pirates had allowed in their previous seven games combined.
"We got physically whipped in every phase of the game," Pirates coach Vic Grider said. "I'm not going to sit here and make excuses about turnovers or anything else. The bottom line is they whipped us up front. I'll be totally honest: I never thought they could do that, but they did.

"We got exactly what we deserved. For one reason or another, we weren't ready tonight, and that's on me."

In what was expected to be a track meet, previously unbeaten South Pittsburg fell flat on its face not far out of the starting blocks.

After opening the game with a nine-play, 68-yard touchdown drive, capped by Montrell Mitchell's 6-yard run, South Pittsburg was thoroughly outplayed most of the night. Temple's Kameron Ridley returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown, and the Crusaders turned two Pirates fumbles into quick TDs.

The second of those came when Skogen wrestled the ball away from Pirates quarterback Cody Robinson, as he was bringing him down for a sack. Skogen turned and sprinted 45 yards for a pivotal touchdown that gave the Crusaders a 27-14 lead just before halftime.

"That was a huge play because they were driving and could have taken the lead at halftime," Temple coach Steve Beard said. "That swung the game for us. I'm really surprised because I thought they matched our speed well, but our offense just kept clicking. They helped us a lot with the big turnovers and the kickoff return was big, but right now we're just euphoric."

The wave of confidence from that turnover carried over as Temple outgained the Pirates 362-85 in second-half total yards. The Pirates lost three fumbles and never were able to stop Temple's running or passing game as the Crusaders finished with 265 yards on the ground and 214 through the air.