The dress
rehearsals are over. All of the
preseason scrimmages are a thing of the past.
The second
evening of action is now complete for the annual high school jamboree, which
was again held at Finley Stadium Saturday night.
Twelve more
teams all got to play a 20-minute “quarter” with a running clock and most
accomplished what they came for.
East Ridge,
Notre Dame, Ooltewah and Soddy Daisy all won their battles by similar 7-0
scores. Walker Valley scored two times
against Hixson in a 14-0 win while East Hamilton and Central battled to a scoreless draw.
The Pioneers
slipped past Grace before the Fighting Irish edged Brainerd. The Owls outlasted Rhea County while the
Trojans stopped Franklin County in the final skirmish of the evening.
The regular
season kicks off for most teams next Friday, although Cleveland and McCallie
will face each other on Thursday night at Finley.
EAST RIDGE
7, GRACE 0: East Ridge coach Tracy Malone was visibly upset at his team’s
obvious lackadaisical effort at the start, but he also knows that you really
don’t prove anything under these kind of conditions.
The Pioneers
got the ball first and promptly marched 70 yards for the only touchdown when
quarterback JoJo Tillery scored on a keeper from the 1. The key play in the drive was a 60 yarder by
Tillery on the previous snap on fourth-and-1.
The Golden
Eagles had possession for most of the stanza, but they were never able to
convert it into points.
The biggest
play of the evening for Grace was a 34-yard pass play from sophomore
quarterback Jared Thompson to junior Jared Roberts which moved the ball from
the Grace 32 to the East Ridge 34.
The Pioneer
defense then got tough and didn’t allow another first down.
Thompson
also had completions of 10 yards to James Rowell and Dalton Morrison, but the
Golden Eagles were never able to score.
“We didn’t
play very well and we surely didn’t look like a team picked to win our
district,” Malone said when it ended.
“Defensively,
we gave up too many big plays, but we’ll get there. All in all, we got a win, so I’m happy about
that,” he added.
Grace coach
Bob Ateca felt like his team did okay with the exception of the long run he
defense allowed.
“It wasn’t
too bad. We made one mistake on that
long run and we had some missed blocks, but all of that’s fixable. We’ll keep working,” he added.
NOTRE DAME
7, BRAINERD 0: Both teams had turnovers on back-to-back plays, but it was
ultimately a Brainerd punt that didn’t travel very far before taking a reverse
bounce that set up Notre Dame’s only score of the game.
Jamal Herman
Jr.
recovered a fumble for the Panthers to stop Notre Dame’s first drive, but Demonte
Pickett threw an interception on the next play that Ricky Ballard snagged, but
it was that seven-yard punt that gave the Fighting Irish great field position
at the Brainerd 23 that was the downfall for the Panthers.
Ballard
picked up one yard on the first play before backup quarterback Nicholas Coronis
hooked up with Kareem Orr for a 22-yard TD pass into the corner of the end
zone.
Coronis is
subbing for starter Alex Darras, who is sidelined for a couple of weeks with a
broken right ankle.
“That was a
really good effort by my team and I’m really happy with the defense. We know just how fast Brainerd is and we kept
them pretty much under control.
Offensively, we moved it pretty well and I’m really happy with the play
of our backup quarterback,” said Notre Dame coach Charles Fant.
“It was
about what I expected as we always start off slow,” said Brainerd coach Brian
Gwyn.
“We still have
plenty of stuff to work on and we gave up a couple of big plays we shouldn’t
have, but we’ll be alright,” he added.
WALKER
VALLEY 14, HIXSON 0: The Mustangs probably looked as good as anyone on Saturday
night as they scored on their first two possessions.
The first
one was a nifty 10-play, 70-yard drive that ended on a 3-yard pass from
quarterback Josh Jones to Hunter Newport.
The second
one came midway through the quarter on Walker Valley’s first play after a
Hixson drive stalled at the 16.
Freshman
quarterback Kolten Gibson completed a little swing pass to Cooper Melton, who
broke a couple of tackles and raced 84 yards for the longest play of the
weekend.
Hixson’s
longest play was a 14-yard pass from Preston Wilkey to McKenzie Martin.
“That was
just a little hitch route, but he was able to keep his feet and just kept
running,” Walker Valley coach Glenn Ryan explained the long TD play.
“He took a
little play and turned it into a big one.
It’s always good to get off to a good start and this was a good momentum
builder for us, but we have to polish a few things and get ready for next
week,” Ryan nodded.
Hixson coach
Dan Duff wasn’t totally disappointed with the play of his Wildcats.
“We moved
the ball well at times, but we have got to improve in a hurry as we still have
a long way to go. We’ve gotten a lot
better since we started, but we have a bunch of young kids and it’s going to
take some time,” he added.
EAST
HAMILTON 0, CENTRAL 0: The Purple Pounders were another team that looked pretty
good.
Central
dominated play as the Pounders had 20 offensive plays to just six for the
Hurricanes.
Central’s
defense was impressive too as East Hamilton was limited to a negative 12 yards
rushing and one pass completion for seven yards.
Taven Spann
gained 19 yards on six carries for Central while Scout Morgan completed three
passes for 16 yards.
“We just
wanted to come out and compete, move the ball and stop the run and we pretty
much did all of that, but we’re a long way from good,” said Central coach Ryan
Mallory.
“But this is
a different Central team from the past and I’m confident that we’ll get there,”
he added.
East
Hamilton coach Ted Gatewood wasn’t exactly the happiest guy when it ended. He
himself a former offensive lineman, he was probably the least happy with their
play.
“I thought
we came out flat and that’s my fault, but we just need to build on this. We ran a bunch of basic stuff on offense, but
we saw real quick what we need to work on,” the former Memphis State star
suggested.
“I was
pleased with our defense as they ran to the ball and were pretty physical,” he
added.
OOLTEWAH 7,
RHEA CO. 0: The Golden Eagles moved the ball pretty well, but a couple of
costly turnovers hurt.
Noel
Patterson had the biggest gainer for Rhea County with a 25-yard pass from Austin
Thurman, but Ooltewah’s Rashun Freeman was in perfect position to cover the
fumble when Patterson got hit.
Freeman also
had an interception at the end to preserve the win after the Owls had scored
the only touchdown with less than four minutes remaining.
Edward Hayes
scored the game-winning TD on a four-yard pass from London Elrod.
Elrod
completed his last four passes for 47 yards, including a long of 26 to Anthony
Turner.
“We weren’t
able to see enough to really know how well we played, but I was pleased with
our defense,” said Ooltewah coach Mac Bryan.
“I think we
did alright, but the key now is to stay healthy,” he added.
Rhea County
coach Mark Pemberton also liked his team’s defense, but he wasn’t too crazy
about the turnovers.
“We’ve got
to do a better job holding onto the football as we didn’t want to turn it over
like we did. We played well on defense,
so overall, I’m okay with the overall experience,” he added.
SODDY DAISY
7, FRANKLIN CO. 0: The Trojans marched 70 yards for a touchdown on their first
possession and made it count with a win at the end.
Quarterback
Hunter Maynor, who had completions of 11 yards to Levi Thornton and Blake Smith
in the drive, hooked up with Smith across the middle from the 1 for the
difference in this one.
The Rebels
moved the ball well on the ground and finished with 113 yards, but a couple of
costly fumbles certainly didn’t help.
Christian
Bell had the first one while Cale Morgan got the second one on the final play
as the Rebels had moved inside the 10.
Tim Farris
was the leading rusher for Franklin County as he had 51 yards on just two
carries while quarterback Dalvin Russell added 18 yards on one trip.
“We just
wanted to execute on offense and make a few plays. That’s basically what we did, so I’m pleased
with the result,” said Soddy Daisy coach Justin Barnes.
“We can’t
always depend on turnovers, but we played with a lot of hustle and I’m happy
about that,” he added.
Franklin
County coach Jim Carr felt like those turnovers far outweighed the success his
team had running the football.
“We did a
good job moving the ball, but we couldn’t seem to hold on to it. Using a ball-control offense like we have, we
have to hold on and I’m not happy with our ability to do that tonight,” he
added.
(Email John
Hunt at nomarathonmoose@comcast.net)