Whitewater, currently ranked fifth in Class AAAA, started their game with Upson-Lee on last Friday on the right foot and never looked back, winning 21-7.

Whitewater's Chris Wingate, who finished the game with 77 yards on 12 carries, rushed 27 yards for a touchdown to open up the scoring. Upson-Lee tied the game in the second quarter, capping a nine-play, 71-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run, but the Wildcats would jump ahead soon after with a 27-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Chase Penland to wide receiver Tyler Morgan.

Thomas Frierson broke off a huge 53-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to cement Whitewater’s lead and seal the win.

Penland continues to impress in his first year as Whitewater's starting quarterback. He completed 4 of 9 passes for 98 yards and one touchdown and rushed six times for 60 yards.

Penland directed an offense that compiled 338 yards of total offense (240 rushing, 98 passing).

"Chase has done a great job for us," Whitewater coach Amos McCreary said. "He has surpassed all of our expectations at this time."

Frierson was the Wildcats’ leading rusher with 107 yards on 14 carries, while Morgan had two catches for 66 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, Whitewater once again got a tremendous performance from linebacker Zac Mann. Mann finished with 14 total tackles and one caused fumble. Chuck Servance had two fumble recoveries.

The Wildcats defense held the Knights to 250 total yards of offense.

McCreary praised the play of three of his defensive tackles -- Bert Sykes, Ryan Nolan and Andrew Dean -- in limiting Upson-Lee's talented backfield tandem, Phillip Searcy and Dare Coker, to one touchdown.

"Those kids really stepped up," McCreary said of Sykes, Nolan and Dean. "Upson-Lee has a great offensive line. Those guys kept them from blowing us off the ball. Safety Jeffrey Ashley and Mann and [linebacker] Davis Knowles also played well."

Whitewater will host Mays on Friday and the game will be shown on CSS.

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