Pioneer QB Russell has Career Night Against Sequoyah

Pioneer quarterback Alonzo Russell’s 373 all-purpose yards in a 49-34 Region 2 4/A win over Sequoyah last Friday has earned him the distinction of being the Chattanooga Times Free Press’s “player of the week.”

Russell completed 12-of-15 passes for 313 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 70 yards and three scores. East Ridge rolled up 517 total yards of offense.

The win improved East Ridge’s overall record to 2-6 and 2-2 in the region. A win this Friday at Howard can boost the Pioneers to a fourth-place standing in the region and a playoff spot. East Ridge will close out the regular season by hosting winless Hixson.

In the win against Sequoyah Russell also had an interception and six tackles on defense.

Nico Johnikin had 180 yards receiving and scored a touchdown. Tre Jett and Tre Alexander also hauled in scoring passes from Russell. Jett also recorded an interception. Marquan Acklin rounded out the scoring against Sequoyah with a rushing touchdown.

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.