Alisa Whited couldn’t sit still, and her cell phone kept ringing.

Surrounded by family and friends in the north stands of Finley Stadium, she was probably more nervous than her son, who warmed up on the field in his road No. 26 jersey.

“I expect us to run all over them,” Alisa joked. “If they would let him play, we would.”

Whited’s older sister Emily interrupted: “She’s a little obsessive.”

The freshman from Sequatchie County was one of 10 former Chattanooga-area high school football players who made the trip from Lebanon to face the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for Cumberland University.

“A lot of those guys are guys I competed against in my career,” said University of Tennessee backup quarterback B.J. Coleman, a former McCallie School star, who attended the game with friends. “Wow — all those guys are on Cumberland? I know a lot of them are extremely good players.”

Former Tennessee Temple linebacker Josh Smith had the biggest impact of the area players. He started at right defensive end and repeatedly locked up with former Notre Dame tight end Chris Harr.

“When I was in high school, it came down between UTC and Cumberland, so I knew a lot of the players, and some I even roomed with,” said Smith, who played a few high school games in Finley. “It was great to show that I could be on the same field with them.”

Smith swatted down a pass as UTC tried to complete a quick pass to shorten an end-of-half field-goal attempt. He forced the Mocs to throw incomplete into the end zone instead of try a 48-yard kick.

“Josh did a really good job tonight,” Cumberland coach Dewayne Alexander said. “He got after the quarterback a bit tonight, and that was nice.”

Former Temple teammate Kevin Smithson played about 15 snaps as the Bulldogs’ tight end after starting last weekend at Campbellsville.

A gang of about 30 family and friends came to watch Smithson, and two banners hung from the wall with his No. 89 outlined.

“Those were from some overzealous fans — my family,” he joked. “It was easy for them to travel, and that was nice.”

Smithson’s former quarterback at Sequatchie County, Curt Bureau, played late in the game. The sophomore was 2-for-5 for 15 yards.

“We’re very confident in Curt,” Alexander said. “It was nice to get him some snaps, because we know we’re going to need him at some point this season and he has a lot of potential.”

Former Tyner star Greg Smith dressed but was not part of the Bulldogs’ defensive line rotation.

He cheered almost as much as Alisa Whited.