John Starr made his debut as Howard's football coach, and what he saw had him chomping at the bit - to get back on campus for an impromptu practice.
The Hustlin' Tigers lost to Brainerd, 8-6, in the first quarter Friday of the Best of Preps football jamboree at Finley Stadium, and the Tigers' skipper was distraught - not disgusted, but disappointed with what he saw.
"It's embarrassing when you come out here and play with that deer-in-the-headlights look," Starr said. "We're good. We have some players. They've got to learn that."
When asked how long it would take them to get the message, Starr replied, "How long does it take to get from here to school? We're getting ready to practice."
The Tigers scored first when Umar Mohammad forced a fumble as he went for a sack and freshman Eric Johnson scooped the ball and ran it in.
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The play came when Brainerd was in a funky offense. All the Panthers other than the quarterback and center were split out.
"We were planning on just coming down and having some fun, so we put together a couple of formations in the gym," Brainerd coach Brian Gwyn said. "They didn't work. The guys came and said, 'Coach, we can't lose this. Let's go to work.' So we did."
The jamboree continues tonight with the first of another five quarters beginning at 6:30.
* Chattanooga Christian 21, Sale Creek 0: The Chargers' Justin Wheeler scored the first touchdown on a 5-yard sweep around left end after he ran 43 yards on a similar play the play before. Rashun Evans added a 21-yard scoring run and Matthew Neff scored on a sneak from the 1 late in the period. Will Sabourin had an interception for CCS, and Ian Gaines was 3-for-3 on extra points. Sale Creek's longest gain was an 8-yard run by quarterback Jeb Hart on the first play of the period.
* Boyd-Buchanan 14, Grace Academy 0: Carter Cardwell, long a member of Boyd-Buchanan's staff, made his head coaching debut and his offense made him look pretty good. Jeremy Borders ran for 113 yards, including a 72-yard TD run, and Michael Mincey added 64.
"No butterflies. This (playing games) is the fun part. It's the other stuff (paperwork) gets you butterflied up," Cardwell said. "The running backs looked good; each has a little bit different wiggle. But the important stuff was good - no turnovers, no bad exchanges. We did have a penalty, but all in all not too bad."
* McCallie 28, Giles County 0: Blue Tornado quarterback Robert Riddle, who scored the second touchdown on a 66-yard run, set up Shawn McColley's 1-yard scoring run the first time they had the ball with a 56-yard pass to Walker Fannon. Riddle's 5-yard pass to Jordan Starling accounted for the third touchdown. Alec Earp made all four extra points.
On the other side, Kendall Watson added a 58-yard interception return for the fourth TD. McCallie did not give up a first down until Giles County's fourth possession and ended up with three sacks.
* Tyner 7, Hixson 0: The injury bug already has hit the Rams, who had at least a half-dozen probable starters out of the lineup. While Hixson stopped a couple of impressive drives, Tyner finished one off on a 1-yard run by Keionte Halfacre. Hixson had a chance to tie it, but a pass on a wide-open slant route was picked off at the last second.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him at Twitter@KelleySmiddie.
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