Smoky Mountain's Joseph Stapleton sacks West Henderson's quarterback in Friday's scrimmage. The Mustangs failed to score, but the defense played well in holding West to one touchdown. - Herald photo by Mark Haskett
Smoky Mountain's football team will open its season Friday with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff at Pisgah. Although the contest is designated an endowment game, it is a regular game in every way and will count in the overall won-loss record. The only difference is an extra $1 will be charged at the gate with that money going to the N.C. High School Athletic Association Endowment Fund. This is the second straight season the teams have opened playing each other in an endowment game. SM Coach Tim Hawkins is planning on a better start to the season than he saw last year in his first game as coach. The Bears returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and led 14-0 less than two minutes into the contest on the way to a 40-0 romp. The victory gave Pisgah an 11-3 advantage in the series. "They're real big just like you always say about any Pisgah team," Hawkins said. "They're an outstanding football team. They block real well, they've got great running backs and their quarterback does a good job." Cody Fouts has taken over at quarterback to run Coach David Pressley's slot I offense, but the player everyone is taking about is tailback D.J. Fretwell. The senior is gaining attention from some Division I-A schools and ran for 129 yards and three scores against the Mustangs last season. Kenny Cheek, a wingback/wide receiver has outstanding speed, according to Hawkins. The coach said center Bentley Rogers anchors Pisgah's offensive line. Middle linebacker Ryan McCracken is one of the top players in Pisgah's 43 defense. "He runs to the football and makes a lot of plays," Hawkins said. Jeremy Messer (6-4, 300) provides massive size in the defensive line. In scrimmages, the Bears dominated Rosman and also came out on top of East Henderson. As for his own team, Hawkins said, "We do some things really well. We run the veer well, and we're going to continue to run the veer. We can block well." After observing the Mustangs in a pair of scrimmages, Hawkins sees areas in which they must improve. "We've got to stop turning the ball over if we want to have a chance to win," he said. "We've got to limit their number of big plays and keep them from popping long runs. The kicking game has been untested, and that will be a huge part of the game." In Friday's scrimmage at West Henderson, the Falcons scored the only touchdown on a 70-yard run. That came during the portion of the scrimmage during which the teams alternated possession for 10 plays. Neither team scored in the last part of the scrimmage which was basically played under regular football rules. "At times we moved the ball effectively, but it would usually be stalled by turning the ball over," Hawkins said. "We had way too many penalties on offense. I think we had at least three holding penalties." The bright spot for SM was its defense. "The thing I was most proud of defensively is we kept them out of the end zone after a first down inside the 10," the coach said. "We held them a couple of other times on fourth down situations." Hawkins said running backs Josh Torrans, Ben Robinson and Ollin Dunford all played well. He singled out linebackers Torrans and Robinson for their effort on defense. The only score for the Mustangs all night came in the JV portion of the scrimmage when Zack West caught a 60-yard TD pass from Matt Gibson. "We haven't talked about a lot of team goals," Hawkins said. "Our main thing as a coaching staff is to get better every week. We did that last year. Of course you always want to make the playoffs. That's a lot easier to do now." The playoffs have been expanded to include 64 3-A teams across the state. Seven of the nine MAC schools will go to the post season. Instead of just making the playoffs, the expanded format makes shooting for a first-round game at home a realistic goal, Hawkins said. "Everybody be patient with us, and I think we'll have a pretty good football team," the coach said. That's what happened last year when the Mustangs started 0-4 but recovered to go 5-7 and place third in the MAC. Entering Monday's practice, everyone was expected to be able to play Friday except for senior Junior Taylor and junior Travis Stephens. They are sidelined with broken hands sustained in practice and are expected back in a couple of weeks. The probable offensive starting lineup for Friday includes: Quarterback - senior Jared Day or junior Nathan Medlin; halfbacks - senior Torrans and junior Robinson; wide receivers (two) - seniors Michael Ayers, Sam McGuire and Brody Frizzell or junior Dunford; tight end - senior Nick Sargent; left tackle - senior Chad Frady; left guard - senior Travis Monteith or junior Jonathan Tanner; center - sophomore Darren McFalls; right guard - senior Brody Crawford; right tackle - junior Cody McMahan. The probable defensive starters include: Tackles - Crawford and junior Joseph Stapleton; nose guard - senior Chris Bryson; outside linebackers - Sargent, senior Chris Stonesifer, Tanner or sophomore David Harper; inside linebackers - Robinson, Torrance or senior Jonathan Bradley; cornerbacks - Dunford, McGuire or Frizzell; safeties - Day, Ayers or junior Kerry Otter. Senior Stephen Brown will be the place kicker and is battling Sargent and Day for the punting position. Robinson, McGuire and Otter will return kickoffs with Dunford returning punts. Crawford will be the long snapper. The schedule is as follows: Aug. 23 - at Pisgah; 30 - Swain. Sept. 6 - at Hayesville; 13 - Asheville; 20 - at North Buncombe; 27 - East Henderson. Oct. 4 - at Tuscola; 11 - Erwin (homecoming); 25 - at Franklin. Nov. 1 - Roberson; 8 - at Enka. The JV schedule is as follows: Aug. 29 - Franklin. Sept. 5 - Mitchell; 12 - at Asheville; 19 - North Buncombe; 26 - at East Henderson. Oct. 3 - Tuscola; 10 - at Erwin; 24 - at Franklin; 31 - at Roberson. Nov. 7 - Enka. |