Knoxville Catholic football has huge rushing night to beat Fulton in second round

Catholic has a few props on its sideline. The Fighting Irish followed the University of Miami’s example with a turnover chain, complete with a Catholic license plate.

Joe Fluker celebrated Friday’s 44-14 Class 5A second-round win over Fulton by waving around a piece of lumber.

“(Running backs) Coach (Sam) Brown came in to the office one day and asked, ‘What would you do if someone came in and hit your mother with a two-by-four? That’s the mentality we have to play with tonight,’ ” Fluker said.

Brown has a different motivator each week and might put the two-by-four in his man cave once the players sign it. Lumber may be an unconventional sideline prop, but the Fighting Irish got the message.

Catholic (9-3) will play at Oak Ridge in next Friday’s quarterfinals. Fulton finishes 9-3.

Catholic ran for 401 yards. Dashon Bussell, a natural wide receiver, and Joshua Brown ran for more than 100 yards.

“We felt we had them outsized up front,” Catholic coach Steve Matthews said. “We knew they were fast, but we felt we had an advantage in the run game. That was huge for us to get that going. We worked all week on our read run game, which really worked well against them.”

Quarterback Jack Sompayrac returned after sitting out last week with a shoulder injury. He threw for 128 yards and didn’t throw the first one until after the first drive. That one ended on a 1-yard touchdown run by Fluker, after Joshua Brown’s 60-yarder was called back.

Bussell caught a 52-yard touchdown pass and ran for a 48-yarder and a 52-yarder in a span of 3:09 between the third and fourth quarters.

“It felt so good, it was so exciting,” he said. “Every time I scored, I wanted to jump up and scream. When I score like that, it’s a boost to me and my team. It makes me feel dangerous.”

Coming into the game, Bussell scored on every six touches, on average. The Western Michigan commitment scored three times on eight touches Friday.

Bussell ran a few times at Bishop Luers, where he played in Fort Wayne, Ind., before moving back to Knoxville, but nothing like what he’s done this year. Now, he makes Matthews leave games thinking, “We need to get the ball to Dashon more.”

“The more he’s gotten involved in the system, the more we’ve been able to use him,” Matthews said. “He’s just electric with the ball in his hands and he just has that knack to make people miss. He’s so fast, he’s really a special athlete.”