Reason to smile

Lions, Pounders, Rams have coaches optimistic

Smiles on the faces of high school football coaches one week before their season opener typically mean just one thing: They like their team’s potential.

As the annual Best of Preps jamboree came to a close Saturday at Finley Stadium, Central’s Curt Jones, Red Bank’s Ted Gatewood and Tyner’s Scott Chandler all walked away from the field after their two exhibition quarters with ear-to-ear grins.

After Central and Tyner played to a 6-6 tie in the opening period, Red Bank won 7-0 over Tyner, which played mostly second-teamers in that quarter. The Lions scored on a short touchdown run by MarChez Beach.

“It’s always good to go against somebody who’s pretty athletic,” Chandler said. “We scrimmaged Red Bank a week or so ago, so we wanted to get some of our backup guys some snaps.

“We haven’t had much energy or effort in the last week, and I’ve had to get after our guys for that. Tonight we showed better energy and effort, and now we have to get ready for the real start to the season.”

Both Central and Tyner were also coming off scrimmages Friday, as Jones’ Purple Pounders went against Georgia’s Ringgold and Chandler’s Rams played Coffee County.

“The kids have young legs, so they can be resilient, and they love playing” Jones said. “It was good to get in some extra work before coming out here in front of a lot of folks tonight. We tried to be very vanilla and not tip our hand with a real game coming up.

“I’m pretty excited. We’ve got all of these seniors who have started since their freshman year, so it’s nice to know we’re going to compete with a full chamber, ready to go.”

In the opening period, Central scored first when Ronye Watson connected with Houston Boykin on a 15-yard touchdown pass. The Purple Pounders’ defense then stuffed

a Tyner run on fourth-and-2 at their 5-yard line, but the Rams countered on their next possession with a 3-yard scoring run by Markel McKinley, which was set up by a 45-yard pass from Josh Jackson to Travius Ruffin.

Central and Howard finished scoreless against one another, and Red Bank — playing mostly backups — lost 7-0 to Murfreesboro Blackman after Jack Risner hooked up with Blake Gregory on a 44-yard touchdown pass.

“We wanted our kids to come out and go hard and fast,” Gatewood said. “Each spot has some things that we can tweak and fix and get better at, but I feel good about us right now.”

› East Hamilton 7, Notre Dame 3:

After scoring 29 touchdowns last season as the Hurricanes’ workhorse running back, East Hamilton senior Juan Bullard is up for an even bigger role this year. Bullard is stepping in at quarterback, and he did so nicely against the Fighting Irish as he hooked up with David Cole for a 31-yard pass that went down the sideline and over a defensive back’s head. Bullard also had 27 rushing yards on the scoring drive, which he capped with a 1-yard plunge into the end zone. Notre Dame’s Kenny Hammond stood out with a 30-yard trick pass to Landon Goeller, and Hammond also wrestled a ball away from a defensive back for a 14-yard catch to help set up Al Hastick’s 24-yard field goal.

› East Hamilton 7, Howard 0:

Ben Cole came away with a key fumble recovery for the Hurricanes, who converted the turnover into points when Michael Hinton burst into the end zone from 4 yards out on an inside draw. Bullard had a few nice long runs and displayed his arm strength on a couple of deep passes that fell just incomplete. Howard’s Eric Collier had a nice pass breakup, nearly coming up with an interception that he might have taken the other way for six points.

› Baylor 14, Blackman 7: Whit Muschamp placed a perfect deep ball down the right sideline, and Amari Jefferson made a spectacular grab while getting his left foot in bounds before stepping out for a 45-yard gain for the Red Raiders. That decisive play helped set up Caleb Hampton for the winning score and his second rushing touchdown of the period. Jefferson had 78 yards on three catches, and Dalton Restelli had a 23-yard catch to set up Hampton’s first score. Baylor left tackle Brycen Sanders, who has committed to Ole Miss, paved the way for some big runs.

› Baylor 0, Notre Dame 0: Jaydon Kelley hyped up the Fighting Irish with an interception deep downfield in coverage on the first play of the final period, but it was not finished due to an incident that occurred soon after.

According to multiple eyewitnesses, two fights broke out simultaneously in the concourse area and escalated to the point that Chattanooga Police used a Taser on at least one person. The commotion caused many to begin hurrying for the exits, but there was no report of gunfire. The stadium was evacuated shortly after the incident began as a precautionary measure.