Rangers prepare to attack Warrior Hill

Published 6:29 pm Monday, September 19, 2022

By C.Y. Peters

Star Correspondent

If you ask fellow umpire Rocky Davenport, he will tell you there are games you still see something you haven’t seen before, even after umpiring for 30 years.  This past Friday night at Goddard Field I saw half-back T.J. Thomas take a pitch from the 13-yard line and outrun everyone on the Jellico team for what would be a touchdown.  Thomas started slowing down on the five and when he got to the three, he turned and handed the ball to fellow teammate Isaiah White so he can score the points.  Simply amazing for an athlete to be unselfish and have so much respect for his fellow players. Thomas also had the big hit of the week on the opening kick-off sending a Jellico player through the fence on the return.

Landon Ramsey turned in another All-State performance Friday night scoring three touchdowns, rushing for 86-yards and in the passing field completing 11 for 18 for 167 yards.  Back-up quarterback Brynin Repass came in and completed two for three passes for 127 yards and a touchdown, he also scored on his first play at quarterback on a 40-plus yard run that was called back.

Jamol Blamo rushed eight times for 50-yards and scored two two-point conversions.  He also caught four passes for 33-yards for a total of 83 yards.  His brother Joe-z caught four passes for 81-yards.  Takoda Freeman caught one pass for a 25-yard touchdown and Johnny Douglas made a catch for 40-yards.  Brandon Powell led the Rangers on defense with six tackles.

Unaka travels to Happy Valley this week.  After the Warriors beat a good Cloudland team, they have lost their last four games by a total of 173 points to 13.  Unaka has a 2-3 record but without some costly mistakes could easily be 4-1.  If Cosby were to beat Cloudland this week, it would throw a big wrench in things and give Unaka a backdoor shot at the number one seed in a 3-way tie scenario, if the Rangers beat Cosby.  That game will be at Unaka while Cloudland must travel to Cosby this week.  Cosby can score; they put 49 on the board against Sunbright and 48 on Jellico.  Cosby is 2-2 while Cloudland’s only win was against Unaka.

The Rangers linemen are getting stronger and more long-winded as the season goes on.  Marcus Shomaker, Jacob Wilson and Braydon Powell are making big stops in the backfield.  They will have to stay strong on both sides of the ball for four quarters if the Rangers are to win on Warrior Hill.

Coach O’Brien Bennett Comments:

It’s always good to get a big region win and get a lot of young guys’ reps in front of the home crowd. Landon and Jamol are proving to be big-time weapons in the backfield as well as standout defensive players. Landon has 958 passing yards and 368 rushing yards with 13 total TDs passing and rushing. Jamol has 409 yards on the ground and 171 receiving with eight total TDs and has added 39 defensive stops to go with Landon’s 45.

Happy Valley is a better team than their record would indicate. They have lost to number one Hampton, the number 5 ranked team in 3-A Unicoi County, and two very good teams in Chuckey-Doak and South Greene. They play a very disciplined, physical style of football that has bested us several times this season already. We’ve spent the past two weeks focusing on us, in an effort to prepare for this style of play. It’s this type of game we’ll have to be prepared to win come playoff time, so games like these in the regular season make you a better team in November.