High school football season kicks off with Carter/Greene County Jamboree

GREENEVILLE — While the regular season will open next week, Friday night marked the final dress rehearsal for many teams across the region, including those participating in the annual Carter/Greene County Jamboree. Before action fully got underway, five competitions were held for individual honors. The winners are listed as follows: Fastest back: Skylar Davis (Chuckey-Doak), fastest lineman under 250 pounds: Landon Buchanan (Hampton), fastest lineman over 250 pounds: Kennett Debord (West Greene), longest throw: Trent Haynes (South Greene), and longest field goal: Sammy Jones (South Greene). Hampton vs. West Greene The first of three matchups of the night pitted the Bulldogs against the Buffaloes, and Hampton showed very well for itself in a 32-0 frame. Kaden Jones made big plays both early and late in the session for the Bulldogs. First, on the opening drive, Hampton was faced with a third-and-long. Jones took a dive play that flipped the field, setting up an eventual score by Anthony Orton. "There was just a big hole," Jones said. "The line opened it up and I've been working on hitting the holes pretty hard so that's what I did and the play just developed from there. The junior ended the evening well, too, taking a screen pass 45 yards for the last touchdown of the period. Elsewhere, Alden Cordell came up with an interception on the first West Greene play from scrimmage. The Bulldogs cashed in the turnover with a Brycen Blevins touchdown pass to Orton. "Alden is undersized, but you wouldn't know it by his heart," Hampton head coach Michael Lunsford said. "He's tough as a pine knot. Whatever he does, he does with the best of his ability. We didn't play him much at receiver tonight. He's had a bum ankle so we just let him play a little defense. I thought he did a heck of a job there." The Bulldogs made it 24-0 later in the frame courtesy of some tough running by freshman Rylan Jones. The running back bounced a run to the outside then fought through contact at the goal line for the score. Junior Logan Hughes made a couple of strong plays as a receiver, including using his 6-foot-3 frame on a fade route to haul in a two-point conversion late. Throwing the ball to him was Blevins, an Elizabethton transfer who takes over as Hampton's starting quarterback. Just a sophomore, Lunsford liked what he saw in the final dress rehearsal. "Thought he did a really good job of managing the offense," the head coach said. "Audibled a couple of times there. Took off and ran when there wasn't anything there. He's a smart kid, really smart quarterback and he done a heck of a job." Cloudland vs. Chuckey-Doak The Highlanders took on the Black Knights in the second exhibition of the night. Chuckey-Doak took the ball first and marched down the field for an opening drive touchdown pass. Cloudland moved the ball well in an attempt to answer, but were turned away on a fourth down in Black Knight territory. C-D punched back with another score to bring the quarter to its final score of 12-0. Davis made an outstretched catch near the goal line then took it into the end zone. On the Highlanders' final possession, Grayson Cole did most of the damage, posting both a strong run and a nice reception. "We've got to play a little bit meaner on the line of scrimmage," Cloudland head coach Zac Benfield said. "Thought we got whooped on the line of scrimmage. Thought Gavyn Shell played really well. Thought Grayson Cole played really well. But we've got to communicate better both offensively and defensively." Unaka vs. South Greene Friday evening concluded with the hosting Rebels facing off with the Rangers and playing to a 26-8 victory in 12 minutes. South Greene took its opening possession for a touchdown, but so did Unaka. The Rangers got a chunk play from Asher Dunn coming down with a 50/50 ball from T.J. Parenteau. Then, Ashton Fuller took a screen pass 41 yards for a touchdown to give the Rangers an 8-6 lead early. From there, the Rebels were able to take control with the help of a Tripp Neas run to pay dirt and a couple of pick-6s. Still, Rangers head coach O'Brien Bennett believes there was plenty to build on. "We came out and competed with a very good football team and that's what we wanted to do," Bennett said. "We got some young players a lot of reps. For us, that's a necessity. We've got to get our kids ready because next week, we have four quarters against another great football team." Up Next Hampton will open the season at Avery County, N.C., next Friday, Cloudland will host Midway, and Unaka will visit Happy Valley in Carter County. In Greene County, West Greene will welcome Cosby to Mosheim, Chuckey-Doak will visit North Greene, and South Greene will play at Morristown East.