Pioneers Down Whitwell in Home Opener

The East Ridge High School football team got its season off to great start by downing defending State Champion Whitwell, 38-8, Friday at Raymond James Stadium.

Keanu Johnson got the Pioneer scoring started with a 90-yard romp for a touchdown with 5:00 minutes left in the first quarter. He would finish the night with six carries for 100 yards.

Jalen Boykin returned an interception for a 35-yard touchdown on Whitwell’s ensuing possession.

Whitwell turned the ball over as Tyi Mosley recovered a fumble. Two plays later Johnson scored again, this time on an eight-yard run.

Marquan Acklan got in on the scoring going for a 60-yard touchdown with 7:45 left in the half.

The defense scored for the second time in the half when Jamii Bowman took an errant pass 85 yards for a score.

On the first play of the second half, the Pioneers picked up where they left off. Boykin reeled off a 63-yard run for yet another East Ridge touchdown.

Whitwell avoided the shutout scoring when Jace Kilgore punched the pigskin over the goal line with three minutes left in the contest.

The Pioneers will travel to Bledsoe County next Friday.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.

About Dick Cook

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