| Gallatin, Station Camp kick it off against 9-AAA foes |
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| Friday, August 17, 2012 |
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Like all Sumner County teams, Gallatin wondered if it would even play a game tonight due to the delay of school starting. But unlike the other four District 9-AAA teams in the county, the Green Wave’s opponent is an out-of-county foe and one that would have gotten a win by forfeit if the game was not played. It was unsure whether the in-county games were going to have been allowed to be made up. But that is neither here nor there anymore. It is gameday, and the Green Wave will take to what will be dedicated tonight as Calvin Short Field. “We just prepared as if it was going to be a normal game week and were hoping everything would work out; it just so happened it did,” said Gallatin’s Mark Williams, who will be making his head coaching debut tonight. “Our kids are prepared. We made good used of (school not being in session) and tried to keep our kids busy in terms of football and doing the right things.” And the preparation is for a Wildcats team that many coaches in 9-AAA called a sleeper this season. "They are one of the few teams in the district to return a starting quarterback (Jordan Cameron) and they have size on both sides of the line of scrimmage. “They’re a good football team,” Williams said. “They fly around on defense. They have a good quarterback, who has a cannon for an arm. And they have some good playmakers — a good linebacker (Kyle Coombs) and a great defensive end (Rod Crutchfield).” The offensive line are all six feet or taller and average around 250 pounds. Add in Crutchfield as a 6-3, 225-pound tight end and it’s a heckuva a challenge for the Green Wave defense. Defensively, the Wildcats also bring a front four that all stand at six feet or taller and average 245 pounds. Gallatin senior Morgan Campbell won the starting quarterback job for the Green Wave. “He’s truly earned it,” Williams said. “I’m proud of the progress he’s made to this point and looking forward to seeing him perform under the lights.” Station Camp will debut its new Pro-I offense as the Bison move away from the wing-T to better utilize the skill players that are on this squad. Most of the attention will be directed at how the young quarterback-receiver combination works. Sophomore Kyle Anderton, easily the biggest quarterback in 9-AAA at 6-4, 230 pounds, will have junior Josh Malone (6-3, 190) as his top target. Malone is a receiver that is drawing plenty of attention from major Division I colleges across the country. Anderton will likely have that attention coming his way soon, but for now he is ready to make start No. 1 of his varsity career. He helped lead the freshman squad to a 7-2 mark last season. Hendersonville will be breaking in a new starting QB as well as sophomore Jeremias Elston won the job in a three-man battle that occurred all offseason. Elston is a quick player and the Commandos will need that as they lost a lot of speed and playmakers from last year’s TSSAA semifinal squad. They also lost a standout from this year’s squad as fullback/halfback Corey Jones suffered an injury in the second preseason scrimmage during camp and will be out for at least a few games. Sophomore Cameron Turner will try and fill the void in the meantime.— Corby A. Yarbrough, Sports Editor |
