Hampton breaks through at Carter County scrimmage
Published 6:00 am Tuesday, August 20, 2019
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Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
Landers’ quarterback Haden Singleton (6) hands off to running back Damian Black (17) for yardage up the middle.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
Hampton’s Caleb Oakes (32) bowls his way through a couple of Highlander defenders for a first down.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
Bulldog wide out Isaiah Greenwell (1) take an inside pitch, breaks through the front lines and looks for running room up the middle against Unaka’s defense.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
Bulldog wide out Isaiah Greenwell (1) get outside of the containment and turns the corner on Cloudland’s Hunter Blair (24) for a first down.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
Unaka quarterback Daniel Shearl (10) slides under the arm tackle of the Highlanders Julius-Gage McKinney (8) for a first down.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
The Rangers Austin Drew (8) pulls down a screen pass from Landon Ramsey (13) over the middle of the field.
BY ALLEN LAMOUNTAIN
STAR CORRESPONDENT
Fans were treated to some early football on Friday night at Goddard Field in the three-way Carter County scrimmage with Cloudland, Hampton, and Unaka participating. Some skill drill preceded the football action with Cloudland’s Tristan Lacy winning fastest back.
In other events Hampton’s Morgan Lyons was the fastest lineman, narrowly beating the Highlanders Jed Childress. Hampton’s Caleb Oaks had the longest throw and Bulldog Michael Harrison had the longest punt and the longest kick from the tee.
Each team played the other in a 12-minute period with no clock stoppage and Unaka squared off against Cloudland in period one. The ‘Landers behind Damian Black moved the ball from their own 30 to the Rangers 30 before Unaka recovered a Cloudland fumble to end the drive.
The Rangers biggest play was a 24-yard pass play from quarterback Daniel Shearl to Devin Ramsey before having to punt. The ‘Landers ran off four running plays to Black who gained 40 yards on nine attempts before the clock ran out on a scoreless period.
“The great thing about a jamboree is you get to see what you need to correct,” Rangers head coach O’Brien Bennett said. “You come out here, under the lights, make your mistakes but at the end of the day, the win-lost record is still 0-0.
“You want to make those mistakes tonight and get them out of our system and get ready to play for real next week.”
The ‘Landers then took on Hampton in period two and the Bulldogs ran with Isaiah Greenwell and Oaks before Cloudland’s Hunter Blair sacked ‘Dogs QB Caleb Royston forcing a punt.
Cloudland changed backs, going with Connor Birchfield and Lacy but despite gaining a combined 25 ground yards once again it was a negative play that ended the drive with Birchfield being nailed on a four-yard loss and the ‘Landers kicked it away.
Oaks rushed three straight times for the ‘Dogs gaining a first down but losing time on the clock and got only as far as the ‘Landers 45 yard line as this period also ended in a scoreless tie.
Hampton then faced Unaka and they scored on their opening drive with Oaks rumbling for 43 yards on the second play to the Unaka 16 yard line. A motion penalty set the ‘Dogs back to the 21 but Royston connected with Gage Chambers on a touchdown connection.
The Rangers showed that they will be competitive offensively as they drove behind the running of senior Logan Benway who had nine carries for 31 yards.
Unaka moved the ball to the Hampton 11 yard line where Benway was stopped for no gain on first down and the ‘Dogs sacked QB Landon Ramsey on consecutive plays as the clock ran out.
“Caleb’s a good runner,” Bulldogs head coach Michael Lunsford said. “He’s a senior and we have a lot of guys that can run the ball, but we still have a lot of work to do.
“We’re young on the line and we have to get better at certain things but we are looking forward very much to the start of the season.”
