List of 3 news stories.

• Knoxville Catholic Recap

  11/11/2024
  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.

• Briarcrest Recap

  11/5/2024
  In their most complete performance of the season, the Owls jumped out early and were never threatened, claiming a 31-10 road victory over Briarcrest in their regular-season finale.
  
  

  MUS scored on its first four possessions of the game, taking advantage of two Saint turnovers and a missed field goal, to build a 24-0 lead. The scoring started following a Briarcrest turnover, a fumble caused by Charlie Gerhart and recovered by Reid McKnett on just the second play of the game. From the Saint 37-yard line, the Owls needed 7 plays, 4 Gavin Gatere runs and 3 Brady Hughes passes, to score, Gatere going in on a 13-yard run. The visitors led, 7-0, just 4:51 into the contest.

   

  Just three plays later, Briarcrest turned the ball over again, this time on an interception by Charlie Hottinger, giving the Owls possession at the Saint 30-yard line. After a 10-yard pass and personal-foul penalty moved the ball to the 12-yard line, Gatere scored his second touchdown of the game on a run around the left end to double the lead to 14-0 with 5:48 left in the first quarter before a stunned home crowd.

   

  But MUS was not finished. After having forced a punt, the Owls took over at the Saint 35-yard line, their third straight drive starting in Briarcrest territory. Facing 3^rd and 11 from the Saint 14-yard line, an incomplete pass brought on Joshua Wittber, who connected on a 31-yard field goal as the visitors led, 17-0, heading into the 2^nd quarter.

   

  Briarcrest finally put together a good drive when they got the ball back as they moved all the way to the MUS 4-yard line, but the drive stalled. They looked to settle for a field goal, but the 21-yard attempt was missed, and the Owls continued to keep the hosts off the scoreboard.

   

  Taking over at their own 20, the Owls then put together one of their most complete drives of the season, having a nice balance of runs and passes. Hughes went 4-5 passing on the possession and had several good runs to move into Briarcrest territory. Having converted two 3^rd downs and one 4^th down, the visitors got to the Saint 25. First there, Gatere scored his 3^rd touchdown of the game on a beautiful run that showed his vision and power, increasing the lead to 24-0 with 1:42 left in the half.

   

  The Saints did hit a big pass before the half, 51 yards, to get to the MUS 10-yard line, but from there, the drive stalled, and Garrett Dane hit a 27-yard field goal to close the deficit to 24-3 at the break.

   

  The Owls continued their offensive momentum to start the second half as they took the opening kickoff and marched, again with a nice balance of runs and passes. Freshman Tommie Reed’s 17-yard burst got MUS into Briarcrest territory, and two Hughes-to-Kyle Sneed passes moved the ball to the Saint 18. On the next play, Gatere almost added his fourth touchdown of the game, but he was brought down at the 1-yard line. Jackson Hood was the beneficiary as he finished the drive for his 4^th touchdown of the season. The Owls were up, 31-3, after the 11-play, 81-yard drive that amassed 6:31.

   

  Briarcrest would add a touchdown on their next drive, a 1-yard plunge, that was aided by another 51-yard pass, but from there, the MUS defense held, and the Owls cruised to the win, their 39^th in the series out of 46 contests.

   

  With the win, MUS is the West 4 seed and will play Knoxville Catholic, the Mideast 5 seed, next Friday night at 6:00pm at Stokes-Alston Stadium. The Spartans ended the Owls’ season last year.

• Oakhaven Recap

  10/25/2024
  In the final non-region game of the year, the Owls made Senior Night memorable for 23 senior football players and 8 senior cheerleaders as they cruised to a 49-14 win over Oakhaven.

  The Owls scored three quick touchdowns in the first quarter, all on drives of four plays or fewer. The first came after a fumble recovery by Reid McKnett at the Oakhaven 8-yard line on the second play of the game. Gavin Gatere scored from 3 yards out on the Owls’ second play after the recovery to take the early lead. Kyle Sneed’s PAT made the score 7-0 just 1:30 into the contest.

  After a Tucker Davis interception and 2-yard return, MUS again scored quickly, this time on the first play of the drive as Gatere raced through the Hawks’ line and outran the secondary for the 52-yard touchdown. Sneed’s PAT doubled the gap to 14 with 8:09 left in the first quarter.

  And on the Owls’ third possession, Brady Hughes hit Luke McEwan on consecutive passes, the second covering 4 yards and the touchdown for a 21-0 lead going into the second quarter.

  For the remainder of the game, all the available reserves for the Owls saw good action and gained valuable experience. Maddox Giel took advantage of the opportunity to throw two touchdown passes in the second quarter, both going to Carter Sayle. The first covered 7 yards, and the second allowed Sayle to show off his speed as he caught the pass across the middle and outran defenders for the 65-yard reception. The second touchdown followed Oakhaven’s first score as they completed a 13-play, 65-yard drive that amassed 9:04. The final play of the Hawks’ drive was a 22-yard pass from Kevin Collins to Kysederon Robinson. The Owls led, 35-6, at the break.

  In the third quarter, more reserves got to play as the Owls ultimately had 5 quarterbacks see action. MUS got the running-clock going in the 3^rd quarter as Walker Atkinson scored from 1-yard out to culminate a 13-play, 80-yard drive that took up 6:15. Jacob Stalls’s PAT increased the lead to 42-6.

  The Hawks kept fighting as they moved the ball on their next possession to score on a 17-yard touchdown pass following an Owl interception.

  But MUS ended well as Dhilan Madasu scored on a 1-yard plunge to take advantage of a Miller Caldwell fumble recovery deep in Oakhaven territory. Joshua Wittber’s extra point ended the scoring as the Owls took the 49-14 win.

  With his 32 kickoff return yards, Kyle Sneed moved into the top-10 for single-season return yardage as he has now amassed 348 yards this season. And with his 32 passing yards, Brady Hughes moved into 8^th on the career passing yardage list as he now has 2922 yards.

  Next week, the Owls travel to Briarcrest to end the regular season. With a win the Owls would be the West 4-seed and host a first-round playoff game. With a loss the Owls would be the West 5-seed and have to travel to the Mideast 4-seed in two weeks.