Knoxville Catholic Recap

The Owls are playing their best football of the season at the right time.

Behind three touchdowns from RB Gavin Gatere, an opportunistic passing game, and a stingy defense, MUS won its first-round playoff game by dispatching of Knoxville Catholic (3-8, 0-5), 41-7.

The Owls jumped out quickly to build a big lead. After Catholic had won the toss and elected to take the ball, an opening-play tackle-for-loss by Reid McKnett ultimately forced a punt just three plays later.

Taking over at its own 41-yard line, MUS quickly established its ground game. Gatere had 5 rushes on the team’s first 7 plays, amassing 40 yards to get to the Irish 16-yard line. Two plays later, Gatere scored from 7 yards out for the opening touchdown with 5:37 left in the first stanza.

Catholic’s next possession started well for the visitors as they moved to the MUS 31-yard line in 6 plays; however, a pass into the endzone was deflected by Bradley Snider, and John Cal Ozier caught the carom and returned it 10 yards, thwarting the threat.

The Owl offense took advantage and moved the ball again. A Brady Hughes 22-yard run moved the ball to the MUS 42-yard line. From there, the Owls never faced a 3^rd down on the drive, and Gatere ultimately finished the possession on the first play of the quarter two with a 3-yard run. The drive consisted of 9 plays, covering 80 yards and taking up 2:44.

The defense forced another punt on Catholic’s next drive, and again, the Owls took over and starting moving on the ground. Jackson Hood garnered 24 yards on just 3 carries to get to the Irish 29-yard line. But after two penalties and an askew snap, the drive stalled, forcing a field-goal attempt. Joshua Wittber’s kick was true from 39 yards out, his career high, increasing the lead to 17-0 with 7:05 left in the half.

Another 3-and-out gave the hosts the ball back, and more runs pounded the Irish. Gatere for 11; Tommie Reed for 17; Reed for 4 – they moved the team to the Irish 18. Then Hughes hit Kyle Sneed for 14 yards to move to the 4-yard line. But again, the drive stalled because of a penalty, and Wittber hit his second field goal of the contest, this one from 26 yards, as the Owls now led, 20-0, with 3:39 left in the half.

Catholic finally got on the scoreboard on its next possession as Tennessee commit Tyreek King out-fought several Owls for the ball and hauled in a 48-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 20-7 as the game went to the half.

But MUS put the game out of reach to start the second half, thanks to the speed of Carter Sayle. The junior receiver hauled in a short pass from Hughes and raced through several tackles to score from 73 yards out. Wittber’s PAT increased the lead to 27-7 just two plays into the half.