Marion County coach Mac McCurry will be looking to build on the Warriors' solid 9-3 season in 2012.Sale Creek Panthers
Coach: Ron Cox ( first year)
Last year: This is first varsity season
'13 dreams: The Panthers opted to go ahead and begin playing a varsity schedule this year, which is a tall task in a district that includes multiple state championship programs Marion County and South Pittsburg as well as Lookout Valley, which has reached the playoffs seven of the last eight years. But Cox is using the low expectations as a way to build a chip on his players' shoulders and inspire them. The Panthers have enough athletic ability and several winnable games to build confidence for a memorable first season.
13-for-13 contenders: Junior quarterback Cody Heard will lead the flexbone offense and oversee the secondary from his free safety position. He is the best athlete on the team and likely will have as many carries running the option as any of his backfield mates. Both backup quarterbacks are freshmen, so keeping Heard healthy is a top priority. Seniors Cody Daniel and Tyler Anderson will share running back and linebacker duties along with Dylan Johnson, and junior Vince Roddy will anchor the 3-5 defensive alignment at noseguard. Senior Nathan Wright will start on both sides of the line.
Number of interest: 0. The number of players on the Panthers' 29-player roster who have played in a varsity high school game. Most of the Panthers haven't played since eighth grade.
1-through-3: Junior quarterback Cody Heard
Q. How do you feel going into this first season with the program?
A. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I mean, I'm excited to be a part of the school's first varsity team and see how we can do against other teams. But I'm nervous, too, because we're playing some pretty tough teams and we don't really know how we're going to do. I'm sure there's several teams that look at us as an easy win, but I think we can surprise some people.
Q. You guys will play your four home games at Finley Stadium and have another game against Monterey that will be played at Tennessee Tech. How excited are you to get to play so many games in college stadiums?
A. That's really cool. Everybody is excited to play in big stadiums like that. I don't think there are any other teams that will get to play so many games at college stadiums on turf fields. We have some early games against smaller teams similar to us, so if we can have success against them, we'll get some momentum and that will help us against the tougher teams we play.
Q. How do you see your role on this first team?
A. I'm going to do my best to be a leader and motivate the other guys. None of us have played varsity games, but we remember what it was like to play just a few years ago, and me being the quarterback, I know I need to step up and be a leader and help us gain some confidence.
2013 Schedule
Aug. 23 at Oakdale
Aug. 30 at Red Boiling Springs
Sep. 6 South Pittsburg*
Sep. 13 Meigs County
Sep. 27 at Tellico Plains
Oct. 4 at Marion County*, 8
Oct. 11 Grace Baptist Academy
Oct. 18 Whitwell*
Oct. 25 at Monterey
Nov. 1 at Lookout Valley*
- District 6-A game
2012 Stats N/A
Roster
No. Name Class
1 Drake Steele Sophomore
2 Jeb Hart Freshman
3 Casey Duncan Junior
7 Cody Heard Junior
9 Trey Borders Freshman
10 Garrett Knight Freshman
14 Zeke Davis Senior
16 Jarod McGhee Freshman
17 Cameron Kirk Freshman
22 Keylon Hickey Freshman
23 Cain Linder Freshman
24 Cody Daniel Senior
26 Vince Roddy Junior
32 Dylan Johnson Junior
42 Tyler Anderson Senior
46 Taylor Painter Junior
53 Mathew Allison Junior
55 Juliah Capehart Sophomore
57 Dakota Gentry Junior
58 Gary Keylon Sophomore
61 Nathan Wright Senior
67 Zach Howard Sophomore
68 Daniel Hutchings Sophomore
70 Jace Terry Sophomore
71 Jared Poland Freshman
72 Thomas Smith Freshman
75 John Sluder Sophomore
80 Blake Redden Freshman
81 Drew Newsom Freshman
Manager: Billy Hanley Sophomore
Head coach: Ron Cox
Assistant coaches: Roy Shipley, Micah Hughes, Rickey Gilley, Tony Reavley, Justin Pugh, Chris Ellis.