Hixson rallies, gets win over Owls in thriller at the nest

First year Hixson head coach Nick Rivers jokingly said, “we like to start out down by 14 and try to battle our way back”. Well, he was a man of his word: The Wildcats faced a 14-0 deficit but rallied for 21 straight points and held on for a 21-16 victory over the Ooltewah Owls at James N. Monroe Stadium Friday night.

The first score on the night came on a special teams mistake by Hixson. The snap went over Wildcats punter Isaac Smith’s head in the end zone. Smith tried to pick it up and kick it but it bounced off an Owls’ defender and was recovered in the end zone by Asa McMillon for the early 7-0 Ooltewah lead with 3:05 left in the first quarter. McMillon would recover a fumble on the next Hixson possession as the Owls brought pressure off the edge, Hixson signal caller Chase Bernard lost the ball and Ooltewah would have great field position inside the HHS 30 going into the second quarter.

On the first play of the second quarter, Ooltewah quarterback Brent Baddley rolled out and found Josh Davis on an 8-yard touchdown and the Owls had the momentum to go with their larger lead at 14-0. Hixson answered the score on their next possession with one of their own. Bernard connected on a 26-yard pass to get near the red zone, then connected with Michael “Koko” Kendricks a few plays later with 9:22 left in the quarter on a slip screen that covered 17 yards and cut the Ooltewah lead down to 14-7. The Wildcats defense got off the field after holding Ooltewah on their next possession and gave their offense a change to tie the game before halftime. Hixson was on the move in the red zone but Davis stepped in front of a Bernard pass and returned it to the 24, ending the threat and taking that 14-7 lead to the locker room.

Hixson got the ball first in the third quarter and went to their senior leader Kendricks on the drive. Kendricks converted 2 fourth down conversions and ended the drive on a 17-yard touchdown run, tying the game up at 14-14 with 6:48 left. The Owls could not get anything going in the third and the Wildcats got the ball back, driving once again as the third quarter horn sounded and four fingers went up on both sidelines. With HHS scoring 14 straight to tie it up 14-14 and on the move once again, you could tell the tide was turning into Hixson black and gold.

Hixson was inside the Ooltewah 10-yard line with about 10 minutes left to go in the game, but a snap went over Bernard’s head and he fell on it which set up a 40-yard field goal attempt. The kick went wide left and the score remained knotted up at 14-14.

“When something bad happens, you can’t go back and fix it, you can’t change it”, Rivers said. “Go to the next play and keep playing football.” A few minutes later, his Wildcats defense did that when they had an interception and gave their offense the ball at the Ooltewah 42-yard line with just under 4 minutes left. Hixson got inside the red zone once again, want to guess who HHS went to? Yes, Kendricks got to the edge and showed off his speed on a 15-yard run to give the Wildcats their first lead of the night, 21-14, with 2:46 left in the game.

The red and white clad Owls showed fight on their next drive, getting inside Hixson territory with Baddley connecting with Luke Parr and having some runs of his own. Then the Wildcats defense got pressure, forcing a fumble on a Baddley sack and taking over with 1:41 left. Then the issues that had plagued Hixson all night came back at the worst time. Ooltewah used their final 2 timeouts, held the Wildcats, and forced them to punt with about a minute left. The snap went over punter’s head once again, but this time the ball was kicked through the end zone in one of the biggest plays of the game. What could’ve been a tied game turned into a 21-16 Hixson advantage and after the penalty and ensuing kickoff, the Owls offense still had a chance at victory with the ball at the Hixson 35-yard line with 46 seconds left. Baddley looked to have found Davis down to the 1 but the official ruled he did not have possession when he went out of bounds. With 7 seconds left, Baddley looked for Davis again, but Lawuan Hughley made a great read for the Wildcats and intercepted the pass in the end zone to end the game.

The victory not only gave Hixson their first win of the 2023 season, but the first for Nick Rivers as a head coach. “I had a lot of emotions taking over the job”, Rivers said. “I lost my dad a couple of years ago, so it meant a lot to me once I got the head coaching job because he always wanted to be a head coach. Once it happened (getting the Hixson job), I wanted to make him proud”

Hixson moves to 1-2 on the season and hosts Signal Mountain next week. Ooltewah drops to 1-2 for the year and hits the road next week to take on Knox Central

Follow Jeff on “X” at @TheJeffCate