We can now say that high school football is officially underway. Oh, local teams have been beating on each other on these hot August days, but Friday was the first day of facing someone else as the first day of the high school jamboree – now officially known as the Prelude to a Championship was held at Finley Stadium.
Friday’s action included a pair of scrimmages, the first one where the Ringgold Tigers held off the Walker Valley Mustangs by a 24-13 final. Teams from Dade County and Warren County were the second scrimmage on Friday.
Two more scrimmages will be held on Saturday with Heritage facing East Hamilton in the opener at 5:30 with Tyner and Hixson wrapping things up at 7:30.
Action will continue on Friday, August 15 when eight teams square off with each playing two 20-minute quarters with a running clock.
That schedule includes Sale Creek-Marion County at 6:30 followed by Whitwell-Silverdale at 7:30, McCallie-Tyner at 8:30 and South Pittsburg facing off with Hayesville, N.C. in the final match around 9:30.
It’s always interesting to watch teams as they play for the first time “under the lights.” The first teams were featured in the first half while everyone else saw action in the final 30 minutes.
The Ringgold Tigers are really excited about their team for the upcoming season and have been mentioned as favorites in the Region 7-AA. They have a host of really good skill players, like quarterback Zach Grower, moved over from a receiving position, can make a lot of positive things happen.
The Tigers had no problem moving the ball down the field, but things got a bit tougher as they got inside the 20.
Samuel Bischop put the Tigers on the board with a 22-yard field goal early while Michael Wood put the Mustangs ahead when he intercepted a Grower pass and returned it some 36 yards for a touchdown with 13:56 showing. Christopher Malick’s extra point kick made it 7-3, but the Tigers let the defense take over as they had a pair of fumbles returned for touchdowns, the first by Darryl Moore that covered 65 yards and the second by Haddon Fries that covered some 45 yards a minute following the first one.
Ringgold then scored its only offensive TD in the first half when Eli Pursley snagged a 23-yard pass across the middle from Grower as Ringgold’s lead was 24-7 at intermission.
The second half passed without a whole lot of excitement, but the Walker Valley subs finally had something to cheer about when Landon Davis snagged a 26-yard pass from Jax Weiss with just over three minutes left to wrap up the scoring.
Both coaches were just happy to get into a game situation that didn’t count and an opportunity to see some of their younger kids perform on the big stage.
“I’m really pleased for the most part, but we made the usual mental errors that we have to clean up,” said Ringgold’s Austin Crisp afterward.
“I was really happy with the way we moved the ball, but we have to figure out how to score when we get in the red zone. But it was nice to have the momentum shifters with the fumble returns. I’m just glad that everyone got to play and I think we made it through without any serious injuries.
Walker Valley coach Drew Akins knows that it’s still early, but he saw plenty of stuff that needs to be fixed in a hurry.
“I thought we did some good things moving the ball, but we were our own worst enemy with the two fumbles lost for touchdown,” he began.
“If we don’t beat ourselves with those turnovers, we have a chance to have a pretty good football team. We can’t take stuff like this too seriously. We have some things to fix, but the good news is our record is still 0-0. But it was fun to see our JV guys score there at the end,” he added.
Walker Valley’s Chase Stephens completed nine of 10 passes for 96 yards, including two covering 25 and 29 yards to Sawyer Boyd.
Ringgold’s Bo Green also had an interception while Walker Valley’s Miles Hawk had an interception and Zack Rains a fumble recovery.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)