August 19, 2009

Story and Photographs by Greg Maupin

The Harris Middle School football team opened up the 2009 regular season Tuesday night playing host to the Wildcats of Tullahoma. In the end, the Wildcats (1-0, 1-0 CTC) came away with the 28-8 win over the Eagles (0-1, 0-1 CTC).

Tullahoma won the opening coin toss, but deferred until the second half. Harris got the ball first with Tyler Eddings returning the ball 10 yards to the Eagle 25 yard line. The running game for Harris, however, stalled, and the Eagles went three and out with only two yards of rushing to show for their efforts.

On their first possession of the game, Tullahoma put points on the board first with an 8 play 41 yard scoring drive. The Wildcat drive was highlighted with 31 yards on the ground and a 10 yard pass play. Seventh grader Jauan Jennings ran the ball 10 yards in for the touchdown with 1:39 remaining in the first quarter. The Wildcats went up 8-0 after quarterback Matthew Carter hit Jennings for the two-point conversion.

The Eagles stayed calm and responded with a 3 play 84 yard scoring drive on their next possession. Quarterback Brayden Ward hit seventh grader Trey Trice twice on plays of 4 and 24 yards. Two facemask penalties against the Wildcats put the Eagles in striking distance. Quarterback Brayden Ward hit Trey Trice again for a 47 yard reception and touchdown with no time remaining in the first quarter. Ward found Trice again for the two-point conversion and tied the ballgame 8-8 after one quarter of play.

Tullahoma opened up the second quarter with a 7 play 19 yard drive that resulted in a turnover on downs. Harris drove the ball to the Wildcat 11 yard line before Dallas Castleman fumbled the ball on 1st and goal. Jauan Jennings recovered for Tullahoma.

Marselis Scott ran the ball for a one yard gain to start the possession before quarterback Matthew Carter hit Jauan Jennings for an 87 yard reception to the Eagle 2 yard line. Tyler Eddings made the touchdown saving tackle for Harris. Four plays later, however, the Wildcats scored on a two yard run by Nick Thompson. The two point conversion was no good, and the score was 14-8 in favor of the Wildcats at halftime.

"I told my kids that we were still in the game and had a chance to win if we made plays," said Harris Coach Jim Dougherty about his halftime speech. "I knew holding them (Tullahoma) on the two-point conversion was big, but a lack of discipline on a few plays and you're in trouble."

Tullahoma came out in the second half full steam ahead. On their opening drive, Tullahoma went 55 yards on 5 plays for another touchdown. The drive was capped off with a 39 yard pass from quarterback Matthew Carter to Jalen Swain into the endzone. Jauan Jennings ran in for the extra point, and the Wildcats took a 22-8 lead with 5:16 remaining in the third quarter.

Detrell Carpenter fumbled the football after the ensuing kickoff, and Josh Duncan recovered for the Wildcats. Tullahoma drove 42 yards on 7 plays on the scoring drive. Quarterback Matthew Carter ran the ball into the endzone from one yard out with 1:19 remaining in the 3rd quarter. The two-point conversion was no good and Tullahoma took a 28 to 8 lead over Harris.

Harris tried one more time to recover, but error after error seemed to occur. Dallas Castleman ran the kickoff back 32 yards only to have it called back to the Tullahoma 28 yard line. Two incomplete passes and two penalties put Harris back to the Tullahoma 48 yard line. On 4th and 26, Ward was intercepted by Justus Sheffield of Tullahoma to close out the third quarter.

Neither team scored in the fourth quarter as Tullahoma worked the clock to their advantage. Harris only had two possessions in the fourth quarter. The first was an interception by quarterback Ward as he was trying to get a pass to Trice. Jalen Swain picked off the pass for Tullahoma. The second possession saw Harris have three incomplete passes and one 5 yard run before turning the ball over on downs.

Quarterback Brayden Ward was 6 of 12 for 132 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. Trey Trice was the leading receiver with 108 yards on 4 receptions and one touchdown. Dallas Castleman had 2 receptions for 24 yards.

Harris rushed the ball for only 8 yards on 8 attempts. Dallas Castleman led Harris in rushing with 6 yards. Tyler Eddings had two yards on one rushing attempt.

Tullahoma was 5 of 8 in the air for 146 yards. Quarterback Matthew Carter was 3 of 4 for 132 yards. Aaron Banks was 2 of 4 for 14 yards.

On the ground, Tullahoma rushed the ball 40 times for 132 yards. Marselis Scott was the Wildcats leading rusher with 50 yards on 9 attempts. Jauan Jennings rushed 6 times on 33 yards while teammate Justus Sheffield rushed 7 times for 21 yards. Aaron Banks carried 3 times for 13 yards while Matthew Carter carried 5 times for 12 yards. In addition, Nick Thompson rushed 8 yards on 3 attempts and Jordon Welker rushed 1 time for 5 yards. Khalid Woods and Cameron Snipes each rushed 3 yards carrying the ball 1 and 4 times respectively. Jalen Swain was the only negative rusher with -2 yards on 1 carry.

"I am disappointed by the lack of game effort and discipline tonight," said Dougherty. "As head coach, I am ultimately responsible and it is something we will address in practice this week."

Harris will be at home again Tuesday, August 25 against Fayetteville City. Kickoff is 6:30pm CST.

FRANKLIN COUNTY NORTH 12
FRANKLIN COUNTY SOUTH 36

In other CTC Conference action Tuesday night, Franklin County rivals North and South faced off in their season opener. South took the 36 to12 win over North and are in a two-way tie for first place in the conference. South beat Tullahoma 8-0 in the Franklin County Jamboree the week prior but that game did not count in the conference standings. South plays at White County on Tuesday while North hosts Warren County.

WARREN COUNTY 34
SEQUATCHIE COUNTY 0

Warren County won their season opener at home against Sequatchie County 34-0. The win was the first for Warren County in two years. Running back Lee Carden (#2) carried the ball 14 times for 130 yards. Warren County's quarterback Hunter McMullican threw for one touchdown and ran for two more as the Pioneers take the shutout in a non-conference win.


WHITE COUNTY 6
AVERY TRACE 8

White County's Blake Lynn returned a kickoff 63 yards to the Avery Trace two-yard line. Quarterback Skylar Delaney took the ball in himself with 2:16 remaining in 2nd quarter. River Boruff was stopped short on the two-point conversion and the Warriors fall by two points in their season opener.

NOTE: As of Thursday, August 20, Coffee County had postponed their game with E.O. Coffman until further notice.