For the second straight year, the Marshall County Tigers were knocked out of the Class 4A playoffs by a Chattanooga area team, as MCHS suffered a 52-17 road loss at the hands of District 7 champ Signal Mountain in the first round on Friday night.

The Eagles buried Marshall County early and raced out to a 35-10 lead in the first half before outscoring the Tigers 17-7 over the final two quarters to claim the lopsided victory.

With Friday's triumph, Signal Mountain advances to the second round where they will host Knoxville Catholic, who defeated DeKalb County 55-13.

Powerful attack

After averaging 41 points per game during the regular season, the Eagles continued to pad their offensive stats against MCHS defense that had struggled mightily in recent weeks. Led by the backfield triumvirate Kaleb Menzel, James McClellan, and Diamez Franklin, Signal Mountain rolled up 490 yards rushing on 60 carries en route to accumulating 590 yards of total offense.

Menzel spearheaded Signal Mountain's ground attack by rumbling for 196 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries, while McClellan toted the ball 15 times for 135 yards and a touchdown. Diamez Franklin also tallied 112 yards rushing and a TD on 13 carries and hauled in a 16-yard touchdown catch.

Eagle quarterback Jack Teeter complemented Signal Mountain's running game by completing 9-of-17 passes for 92 yards and three touchdowns to go along with one interception. J.R. Wilson was the Eagles' leading receiver with five receptions for 51 yards and a TD.

Rough game

The Tigers saw their offense sputter for most of the night and finished with a season low 218 yards from scrimmage. Marshall County's ground game was non-existent, as MCHS ended up with -31 yards rushing while senior quarterback Austin Stacey was sacked six times.

Forced to evade Signal Mountain's pass rush for much of the evening, Stacey completed just 17-of-39 passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns to go along with three interceptions. Ashton Posey saw time at quarterback for MCHS as well and completed 2-of-4 passes for nine yards.

Freshman wide out Jay Howard led Marshall County's receiving corps with six catches for 52 yards. Tre Crutcher also snared five passes for 66 yards, and Chris Walker recorded four receptions for 46 yards and a touchdown. Darius McKenzie tallied three catches for 51 yards and a TD, while Kasey Pleas had two catches for 31 yards.

The Eagles took control of the game early and grabbed a 7-0 lead on a 19-yard touchdown jaunt by Franklin before McClellan scored on a 36-yard TD run to give Signal Mountain a 14-0 advantage.

Tigers score

After Wilson caught a 26-yard touchdown pass from Teeter to stretch the Eagles' lead to 21-0, the Tigers trimmed the deficit to 21-3 thanks to a 29-yard field goal by senior kicker Aaron Medley.

Signal Mountain then stretched their lead to 28-3 when Teeter hooked up with TaDarrius Hodge for a three-yard TD pass.

Stacey hit Walker for a 17-yard touchdown strike to narrow the gap to 28-10, but Teeter connected with Franklin for a 16-yard TD late in the second quarter to stake the Eagles to a 35-10 advantage at the break.

In the second half, Signal Mountain continued to pull away from the Tigers and pushed their lead to 42-10 on an 18-yard touchdown run by Nathan Johnson.

McKenzie caught a seven-yard TD pass from Stacey to cut the deficit to 42-17, but Menzel broke loose for a 80-yard touchdown run to extend the Eagles lead to 49-17 before Houston McLain converted a 29-yard field goal to cap Signal Mountain's 52-17 triumph.