Pioneers Win Two in Football Jamboree

East Ridge got the football season off on the right foot on Saturday, downing Brainerd, 6-0, then besting Notre Dame by the same score.

The Pioneers went 70 yards in three plays to get on the board against the Panthers. The capper was a 33-yard touchdown pass as Jermaine Blackstock connected with Hasani Jackson with 20 seconds left on the clock.

Trey Hubbard sacked the Brainerd quarterback to force a turnover on downs.

East Ridge coach Chad Barger told Stephen Hargis of the Chattanooga Times Free Press that his squad is experienced on the defensive side of the ball, led by linebackers Javonte Pullom and Justin Ellis.

Xavier Hixson’s fumble recovery against Notre Dame set up a 5-yard scoring run by Blackstock.

The Pioneers will travel to Marion County next Friday in the 2023-24 season opener. Game time is 8 p.m., CDT.

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.