sevier county prep football 2010

PREP FOOTBALL 2010SEVIER COUNTY

Reaching the SummitHighlanders legend Benny Hammonds

goes for 300th career win — Page 2

Can the Smoky Bears repeat last year’s perfect 10-0 regular season? — Page 6

Talented Pigeon Forge Tigers look to get over the .500 hump — Page 4

Young Seymour squad hopes to improve in tough District 2-AAA — Page 8

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Will TKA succeed without winningest class in school history? — 0

The Mountain Press ◆ Thursday, August 19, 20102 ◆ SEVIER COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL 2010

2 Football

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2010 SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

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@Fayetteville

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Atlanta

Arkansas St.@

Auburn

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StarkvilleJacksonville

State@ Oxford

Miami Univ@

GainesvilleLa-Lafayette

@Athens

Louisville@

LouisvilleSo. Miss

@ Columbia(Sept 2)

Tenn-Martin@

KnoxvilleNorthwestern@ Nashville

Penn State@

Tuscaloosa

Vanderbilt@

Nashville

Miss State@

Starkville

Auburn@

Starkville Tulane

@New Orleans

USF@

GainesvilleSo. Carolina

@Columbia

W. Kentucky@

LexingtonGeorgia

@ColumbiaOregon

@Knoxville

LSU@ Nashville

Duke@

DurhamGeorgia

@Athens

Miss State@

Baton Rouge

Clemson@

Auburn

LSU@

Baton RougeVanderbilt

@ Oxford

Tennessee@

KnoxvilleArkansas

@AthensAkron

@LexingtonFurman

@Columbia

Florida@

KnoxvilleOle Miss@ Oxford

Arkansas@

FayettevilleAlabama

@ Fayetteville

W. Virginia@

Baton Rouge

So. Carolina@

Auburn

Georgia@

StarkvilleFresno State

@ Oxford

Kentucky@

GainesvilleMiss State

@Starkville

Florida@

Gainesville Auburn

@Auburn

UAB@

KnoxvilleOPEN DATE

Florida@

TuscaloosaOPEN DATE

La-Monroe@

Auburn

La-Monroe@

Little Rock

La-Monroe@

Baton Rouge

Tennessee@

Baton RougeAlcorn State

@StarkvilleKentucky

@ Oxford

Alabama@

Tuscaloosa Colorado

@ Boulder

Ole Miss@

Oxford

OPEN DATE

LSU@

Baton RougeConnecticut@ Hartford

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ColumbiaTexas A&M

@Arlington

Florida@

Gainesville

Kentucky@

Lexington

Houston@

Houston

OPEN DATE

OPEN DATE

LSU@

Gainesville

Auburn@

LexingtonAlabama

@ColumbiaGeorgia

@Athens

E. Michigan@ Nashville

Ole Miss@

Tuscaloosa Auburn

@Auburn

McNeese St@

Baton Rouge

Arkansas@

Auburn

Florida@

GainesvilleAlabama

@ TuscaloosaMiss State

@Gainesville

Kentucky@

LexingtonSo. Carolina

@LexingtonKentucky

@Lexington

OPEN DATE

Georgia@ Athens

Tennessee@

Knoxville

Tennessee@

Knoxville

Ole Miss@

Fayetteville

Auburn@

Auburn

LSU@

Auburn

UAB@

StarkvilleArkansas

@Fayetteville

OPEN DATE

Florida@

JacksonvilleGeorgia

@Lexington Vanderbilt

@NashvilleAlabama

@Knoxville

So. Carolina@ Nashville

LSU@

Baton RougeVanderbilt

@Fayetteville

Vanderbilt@

Athens

OPEN DATE

Ole Miss@

Oxford

Kentucky@

StarkvilleAuburn

@ Oxford

Georgia@

JacksonvilleIdaho State

@Athens

Miss State@

StarkvilleTennessee

@Columbia

Tennessee@

Athens

Arkansas@ Fayetteville

Miss State@

TuscaloosaSo. Carolina

@Columbia

So. Carolina @

Columbia

Alabama@

Baton Rouge

Chattanooga@

Auburn

OPEN DATE

La-Lafayette@

OxfordVanderbilt

@Nashville

Auburn@

AuburnCharleston Southern

@ LexingtonArkansas

@ColumbiaMemphis

@Memphis

Florida@ Nashville

Ga. State@

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@Fayetteville

Georgia@

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Alabama@

Tuscaloosa

So. Carolina@

Gainesville

OPEN DATE

Vanderbuilt@

LexingtonFlorida

@ GainesvilleOle Miss

@KnoxvilleKentucky

@ Lexington

Auburn@ Tucaloosa(Nov 26)

Miss State@

Starkville

Ole Miss@

Baton Rouge

OPEN DATE

Arkansas@

Starkville LSU@

Baton RougeAppalachian

State @Gainesville

Georgia Tech@

Athens

OPEN DATE

Troy@

Columbia VANDERBILT

@NashvilleTennessee@ Nashville

LSU@

Little Rock

Arkansas@

Little Rock

Alabama@ Tucaloosa(Nov. 26)

Ole Miss@

OxfordMiss State

@Oxford

Florida St@

Tallahassee

Tennessee@

KnoxvilleClemson

@KnoxvilleKentucky

@KnoxvilleWake Forest@ Nashville

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GATLINBURG-PITTMAN

Photo courtesy of Bill Ridge/Creative Images

Red Zone

Coach: Benny Hammonds

Coach’s record:298-117, 39th season

Last Year: 10-2

Strengths: Experienced QB and receivers could pro-vide thrills and pave way for bruising run-ning game

Weaknesses: Injuries have limited the team’s practice as a unit, new line needs experience

Players to watch: Senior QB Tye Marshall; senior WR Ron Durbin; senior RB Dillon Reagan; senior newcomer Walter Barber; senior lineman Bill Huskey; receivers Ryan Taylor and Jeremy Hibbard

Key departures: WR Colin Meier, OL Elijah Casey, OL Chris “Smoky” Ledford, LB Caleb Brien, C Spencer Williams

Quotable: “If you’re playing football, you’ve got to be a tough individual. It’s not for sitting back and licking your wounds. We’re not wanting kids to play hurt, but there’s some difference between injuries and just a little pain.” — G-P coach Benny Hammonds

ScheduleDate Opponent

8/20 @ Oneida8/27 @ Cosby9/3 open9/10 Sullivan East9/17 Gibbs9/24 Unicoi County10/1 @ Union Co.10/8 Fulton10/15 @ Austin-East10/22 Carter10/28 @ PFHS*

* denotes TV game

Injuries raise questions for HighlandersBy COBEY HITCHCOCK

Sports Writer

GATLINBURG — Coming off a 10-2 season a year ago, the Gatlinburg-Pittman Highlanders foot-ball team enters the 2010 season loaded with talent but questioning their own toughness and heart.

“We’ve got some experi-ence coming back at the skill positions, and that should be really good to us. But I’ve never seen anything like these injuries we’ve been having,” said 39th-year G-P coach Benny Hammonds. “I don’t know whether they’re goldbrick-ing on me and need to toughen up, or not.

“But we’ve had too many people missing practice to be a very good football team. That’s just a fact. We need to get more people on the practice field and get more practice time in before we even tap into our potential. Right now, that’s just not being done with all these people out. Right now it’s just been aggra-

vating and frustrating and disappointing, when you know that it takes a lot of repetitions in practice in order to get yourself bet-ter. We’re not doing that right now.”

“When you’ve had this many injuries and this many people out, it’s hard to even get a good look at how good you can be.”

Despite missing as many as eight potential starters

for a variety of reasons, the Highlanders have experi-enced a lot of success this preseason in scrimmages. But it’s mostly been quick-striking success, versus the grind-it-out type.

“In our scrimmages, we’ve just been a big-play offense,” said Hammonds. “I’ve been really disap-pointed in our tackling and our toughness.

“A lot of that goes along with not being able to get the reps in practice that we need. That’s killing us, and if we don’t get it remedied, I don’t know what kind of a season we’re going to have. There’s a long way to go for this team, and we’re nowhere near where we need to be at this point in the season. We’re way behind schedule on our toughness, conditioning, being healthy and getting reps in. We really don’t know what our potential is.”

Hammonds realizes that some injuries are legiti-mate, including senior Turner Merritt, who suf-fered a season-ending ACL tear in a scrimmage against Cumberland Gap.

“That’s a big loss for us, because Turner is a valu-

Jason Davis/The Mountain Press

G-P receiver Ron Durbin was cited by coach Benny Hammonds as a player who’s played through some pain this preseason. Durbin should be a big weapon for quarterback Tye Marshall.

See G-P, Page 3

Thursday, August 19, 2010 ◆ The Mountain Press

G-P3From Page 2

SEVIER COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL 2010 ◆ 3

3 Football

able leader and a hard worker, and he just signi-fies what high school foot-ball is all about with his work ethic and big heart. The football team is going to miss him, but we hope he can be around every day, because he can be a big influence on the rest of the kids.”

Hammonds also knows that some of his banged up players are playing through the pain, including senior WR Ron Durbin, who’s had an excellent preseason despite playing with a sore wrist.

“Durbin is to be com-mended,” said Hammonds. “He’s got injuries, but he just fights through them. Some of our players are not doing that.

“If you’re playing foot-ball, you’ve got to be a tough individual. It’s not for sitting back and lick-ing your wounds. That’s the way the sport was designed. We’re not want-ing kids to play hurt, but there’s some difference between injuries and just a little pain. Sometimes you’ve got to fight through

a little pain in order to be a good football player.”

G-P has an abundance of talent at the skill positions this season, specifically a trio of pass catchers — Durbin, Ryan Taylor and Jeremy Hibbard — and senior quarterback Tye Marshall.

“Those (four) boys spend a lot of time work-ing extra together, spend-ing a lot of time working on their routes and throw-ing, throwing, throwing,” said Hammonds. “That has showed off in our scrimmages, because the big-play potential of our offense is there at any time with those boys.

“Tye had a very good scrimmage against Cumberland Gap, and the more he plays the better he gets. And Ron Durbin has the speed to beat about anybody we’ll face, and Tye has the arm to throw it deep, and that makes it good that we’ve got that threat around.”

Experience and depth along the G-P line was the biggest question head-ing into this season, and although there has been some progress made as a unit, there’s still a lot of room for improvement

for the big guys up front, especially with the loss of Merritt for the season.

“We still need a lot of work in that area,” said Hammonds. “We’re just going to have to keep working and developing as many players as we can that can help us on Friday nights in that area.”

The Highlanders will find out how tough they are early, when the Blue and Gold travel to District 4-A power Oneida for Week 0.

“Oneida has had sev-eral of their players from as far back as the 1980s coming to their practices every day, encouraging them and bringing up the fact that they’ve never beat us and it’s going to be their year this year,” said Hammonds. “They’ve been playing this game up big for several weeks now, and they’re putting a lot of emphasis on it. We’re going to have to play mistake free and be at the top of our game, and right now it’s hard to get there because how many of our players have been missing practices.”

[email protected]

Gatlinburg-Pittman High School Roster

No. Name Class Height Weight Position2 Walter Barber 12 6-2 205 RB3 Tye Marshall 12 6-1 200 QB4 Jeremy Hibbard 12 6-0 185 WR5 Casey Church 9 5-9 190 RB6 Caleb Downey 9 5-4 105 WR7 Tanner Cox 9 5-10 145 QB10 Ron Durbin 12 6-2 195 WR11 Justin Horner 10 5-9 180 TE12 Ryan Myers 11 6-0 215 QB14 Ryan Taylor 12 6-0 185 TE15 Blade Durbin 10 6-3 190 WR16 Riley Trotter 9 5-10 155 TE17 Ty Smith 11 5-9 160 WR18 Dakota Eltzroth 11 5-5 140 WR20 Jamel Foster 10 5-7 135 RB21 Brandon Merritt 11 6-1 180 WR22 Zeke Williams 9 5-9 145 RB24 Clay England 10 5-10 155 WR28 Dillon Reagan 12 5-10 160 RB30 James Spearman 12 5-10 200 RB32 Lane Carr 10 6-0 185 RB33 Tanner Flynn 10 5-7 155 RB36 Spencer Brien 9 5-10 180 RB39 D.J. Ball 11 5-9 215 RB40 Brandon Ogle 11 5-8 145 RB42 Terry Phillips 11 5-9 205 RB50 Hunter Meier 11 5-10 205 OL51 Dev Patel 11 5-7 175 OL53 Ty Herrell 11 6-4 250 OL55 Josh Russell 10 5-5 185 OL56 Mahavir Patel 12 5-9 200 OL57 Gavin Turner 9 5-8 170 OL58 Casey Green 10 6-0 175 OL60 Hansford Howell 9 5-8 225 OL62 Julian Lipton 10 6-0 260 OL64 Robert Rosco 10 6-0 245 OL65 Michael Patton 12 6-0 240 OL68 Joe Morris 10 5-10 185 OL70 Bill Huskey 12 6-3 290 OL73 Bill Bales 12 6-3 315 OL74 Luke Joslin 10 5-11 200 OL77 Jake Carver 9 6-1 205 OL78 Turner Merritt 12 6-4 230 OL80 Drew Hall 10 5-9 165 WR86 Jeremy Odorn 9 5-6 130 WR89 Dusty Bilbrey 12 5-11 170 TE

Bill Bales Bill Huskey

Dillon Reagan Dusty Bilbry

James Spearman Jeremy Hibbard

Mahavir Patel Michael Patton

Ron Durbin Ryan Taylor

Turner Merritt

Tye Marshall

Walter Barber

2010 G-P Seniors

By COBEY HITCHCOCKSports Writer

GATLINBURG — G a t l i n b u r g - P i t t m a n Highlanders’ Benny Hammonds enters the 2010 season just two games shy of joining an elite Tennessee high school football coaching club.

With 298 wins under his belt entering his 43rd sea-son of coaching gridiron prep players, Hammonds needs just two more wins to become just the fifth high school football coach in Tennessee to achieve 300 career victo-ries, according to TSSAA records.

The District 3-AA Highlanders play two road games to open this sea-son at District 4-A power-house Oneida on Aug. 20, and at District 2-A Cosby on Aug. 27.

And although it would be nice to achieve his 300th win in Gatlinburg on the field that bears his name, Hammonds would much rather that the milestone be reached just across the Cocke County line at Cosby High School.

“I want to beat Oneida, and I want to beat Cosby. I’ll put it that way,” said Hammonds. “I’ve heard a lot of people talk about (300 wins), but I just want us to play the best we pos-sibly can up at Oneida, and the best we possibly can at Cosby.

“I’m not concerned with (the 300th win) at all, other than the fact that I don’t like getting beat. But as far as records are con-cerned, those take care of themselves.”

Winning his 300th game in Cocke County would be nearly as fitting as winning it at Hammonds Field. That’s where Hammonds’ football career began, after all, as a gridiron star for the Cocke County Roosters. And after a five-year playing career for the Carson-Newman Eagles, Hammonds’ first coach-ing gig was as an assistant at Cocke County.

In his third year at Cocke County, Hammonds was promoted to head coach for the 1969 season but finished a disappointing 0-9-1 that year.

After a falling out with his hometown Roosters, Hammonds went to Morristown East for a year as an assistant and then took a year off to pursue a master’s degree en route to an expected college coaching career.

In 1972, Hammonds found a job he hoped would be a big stepping

stone to the college ranks as the coach of Oak Ridge High School. But the deal fell through at the last minute, and Hammonds took the only job he could find on such short notice. The job was at G-P, and 39 seasons later, the rest is history ... in the mak-ing.

“At the last minute, the Oak Ridge job fell through,” explained Hammonds. “And because I thought I was in at Oak Ridge and it was so late, the only thing I could find was this job at G-P a couple of days before the season started.

“I told them I’d stay until Christmas, and it’s been 39 years now. It’s a good situation, a great community, a great school and a great environment. It’s been fun, enjoyable and a great job.”

But things weren’t always smooth for the coach at G-P, and after limited success in his first few seasons, Hammonds nearly decided to make another career change.

“I was pretty frustrat-ed, because we didn’t have very good football teams at the start,” said

Hammonds. “We were 2-8, 4-6 and 4-6. But after that, in the fourth year, we’re were 8-2 and we really started improving.

“But I came a hair away from leaving two or three times those first three years. I just thought we could do better than we were doing, and I just couldn’t get it turned around. But it’s all worked out.

“I’ve been around here long enough ... to win a lot of football games, but we’ve lost a lot of games too, and some of those we should have won. And we’ve had a year or two along the line when we completely blew it and didn’t play up to near our potential. But overall, it’s been a good 39 years at G-P.”

Hammonds has earned the respect of his peers throughout the years, including the respect of the other head football coaches in Sevier County.

“Coach Hammonds has turned out a lot of win-ners, and I can’t remem-ber the last time coach Hammonds had a losing season,” said 19th-year SCHS head football coach

Steve Brewer, who won a state championship with the Smoky Bears in 1999 and went 10-0 last regu-lar season. “It seems like they’re winning eight or nine ball games a year up there, and he’s done a great job.

“To win 300 games is quite an accomplishment, and he deserves the rec-ognition that he’s going to get. He’s been at this a long time, he’s been great for the game and I’m sure his 300th win will come relatively quick.”

Fourth-year Pigeon Forge coach Lee Hammonds, who is Benny’s son, played high school football at G-P for his father and eventually became a 13-year assistant coach for the Highlanders before taking the helm of the Tigers program. Although the split caused a rift between the father and son for awhile, the fences have been long since mended between the two, and Lee credits his father for being a positive influence on his life.

“He’s not in it for him,” Lee said about his father.

Hammonds has an eye on 300th win at helm of the Highlanders

Benny Hammonds through the yearsPhotos submitted

Benny Hammonds has been a prep football coach for 43 seasons, including the past 39 for the Gatlinburg-Pittman Highlanders. Top left, Hammonds as a rookie coach for his high school alma mater Cocke County Roosters. Top center, Hammonds in is rookie season at G-P. The remaining pictures are from various points in his coaching career, leading from the helm of the Highlanders to 298 wins entering 2010.

See HAMMONDS, Page 12


4 Football

------PIGEON--FORGE------Red Zone

Coach: Lee Hammonds

Coach’s record:10-20, 4th season

Last Year: 4-6

Strengths: Newfound passing game with Cory Fox throwing to Kaleb Black and Cameron Faulkner should compliment brutal Chase Travis running attack

Weaknesses: The team is still young, and the defense has to prove itself capable of stop-ping the big play

Players to watch: Junior QB and PFHS all-time lead-ing rusher Chase Travis; junior OL Seth Munasque; senior OL Oscar Aleman; junior OL Shane Ball; sophomore QB Cory Fox; sophomore WR Kaleb Black; junior WR/K Miguel Coello

Key departures: WR Rodney Porter; DL Mike Martin; DL Mikey Taylor; Shane Shahan

Quotable: “Our goal, which we haven’t done since I’ve been here, is to make the playoffs. We’d like to get back into the play-offs, and it’s always been our goal to extend our season. Our ultimate goal is to extend our sea-son and be playing in November.” — PF coach Lee Hammonds


PIGEON FORGE — The Pigeon Forge Tigers football team enters the 2010 season cautiously optimistic.

The Orange-and-Black squad has gone 3-7, 3-7 and 4-6 the past three seasons under fourth-year head coach Lee Hammonds, who took the Pigeon Forge job after serving 13 seasons with the Gatlinburg-Pittman Highlanders as an assis-tant/offensive coordinator. Hammonds took over the program after the Tigers hit a new low with an 0-10 cam-paign in 2006. The previ-ous low was in the program’s third year of existence, when the Tigers went 2-9 in 2003.

Despite the fact that most of the current Pigeon Forge starters were a big part of the past two 3-7 seasons, the Tigers are still considered to be a young squad. Of the 48 players on the varsity ros-ter, 41 of them are freshmen, sophomores and juniors. Just seven seniors return to this year’s team.

But sophomores QB Cory Fox and WR Kaleb Black, and juniors RB Chase Travis, FB Michael Lombrana and WR Miguel Coello have all had some standout performanc-es at skill positions during the preseason, which Pigeon Forge completed with a 3-0 scrimmage record against Claiborne County, Oakdale and Sweetwater, and a 13-10 loss to the 2009 District 2-AAA champion Sevier County High School Smoky Bears (10-1 last season).

“I feel like our skill guys have developed because they’re older, even though they’re still considered young so to speak,” said Hammonds. “But we don’t look at it by what grade they’re in, and we never have.

“The public puts the label on us of being young, and the reality was that we were young. But we don’t ever talk about how young we are, we just have our athletes ... and if we feel they’re good enough and physically ready, they’re going to play.”

“Has it paid off playing our young guys (the past cou-ple seasons)?” Hammonds asked rhetorically. “We don’t know yet, because we haven’t played our first reg-ular-season game yet.

“Basically, it’s the same group of kids who played last year. But we feel like with the offseason weight program and them develop-ing more strength, speed and quickness ... we feel we’re a little more athletic than we have been, even though for the most part it’s the same kids.”

But just because the Tigers have shown some glimpses of promise this preseason, there’s no room for big heads on the Pigeon Forge roster.

“Just having a little more talent on the football field

doesn’t necessarily mean you are going to win any football games,” warned Hammonds. “We’ve got to coach the heck out of them, and they’ve got to respond. We’ve got to believe we can win football games and be able to overcome adversity and do the things it takes to win football games.

“My expectations are always going to be high for this football program, and I hope our kids are starting to understand that. All the kids have been in this system (for the past three-plus years), so that’s got to help. “We’ve been consistent with what we’ve done, and we’ve stuck to what our plans and goals were from 2007. As long as you’ve got a system in place ..., you hope you don’t have anywhere to go but to get better. That’s what we’ve focused on, and hopefully it pays off.

“But we feel there’s some things falling in place, and we’ve got some team unity. When you’re trying to build a program right, it takes a while. As a coach, you want to win (right now), but we also came into this with some long term goals, and I feel like we’re doing the right things because we’re seeing our kids developing and get-ting better.”

Although the Tigers remain relatively healthy heading into this season, the Orange-and-Black team may be missing one of its big-gest offensive weapons for the Week 1 season opener at home against Greenback. Travis, who was named as one of three Class 3A pre-season All-State Team run-ning backs by Murphy Fair, suffered a high ankle sprain in the scrimmage against Sweetwater and is currently considered day-to-day.

Much the way they’re looking at the 2010 season, the Tigers are remaining cautiously optimistic about their workhorse running back.

“Hopefully we can have him back for Greenback,” said Hammonds.

But the Tigers may opt to

give Travis at least another week to get healthier, because Pigeon Forge doesn’t play a district game until Week 2 at Gibbs Eagles.

Even with Travis miss-ing work at the moment, the Tigers are in a better situation than a lot of prep teams. It appears the injury bug has been biting across Tennessee.

“I’ve talked to a lot of coaches ..., and I think this has been an issue all over the state,” said Hammonds. “I heard the other day that Halls High School had 19 kids who weren’t practicing for different types of inju-ries.

“I think the heat has a lit-tle to do with it ..., but I don’t know if this heat is going to break or not (any time soon) and you’ve got to get your kids accustomed to it. You’ve just got to be smart about it, keep the kids hydrated ... and follow the (TSSAA heat index) rules.”

———TIGERS’ NOTEBOOK:The Pigeon Forge football

program has not made the playoffs since 2005, when the team lost a first-round playoff match-up 55-7 against Austin-East and fin-ished with a 5-6 mark.

The Orange and Black are ready for a return to the postseason.

“Our goal, which we haven’t done since I’ve been here, is to make the playoffs,” said Hammonds. “We’d like to get back into the playoffs, and it’s always been our goal to extend our season. Our ultimate goal is to extend our season and be playing in November.”

What will it take for the Tigers to achieve that goal under the new TSSAA playoff system that was brand new last year and then modified again after the organization muffed the first 2009 play-off match-up announcement and then had to withdraw, reconsider and re-unveil with changes that had some already skeptic coaches up in arms?

“There’s still some stuff up in the air about who can get

in, and wildcards and this and that,” said Hammonds. “I haven’t paid much atten-tion to that, because I don’t like to worry about that.

“We’ve just got to go out every Friday night and win football games, and our goal every year is just to get bet-ter every day at practice and take one game at a time. We just really try to focus in on that week and play as well as we can possibly play to give ourselves a chance to win on Friday night.”

As the Tigers remain focused on one game at a time, the reality of the big playoff picture is fairly clear. In order to have a decent shot at making the postsea-son under the new TSSAA

rules, Pigeon Forge will likely have to record its first-ever winning season. The Tigers went 5-5 during the regular season in both 2004 and ‘05.

“Your (overall) record is going to speak a lot about making the playoffs,” said Hammonds. “We’d like to (earn a winning record), there’s no doubt. Our goal is to win as many as we can. But for us to do that, we’ve got to take the small steps that teaches kids how to win. We’re still learning.”

And because the District 3-AA Tigers are one of just three 3A teams in the district when TSSAA playoff classifi-cations kick in — along with county rival Gatlinburg-Pittman and the A-E Roadrunners — they know there is only one guaranteed playoff spot up for grabs.

“(To make the playoffs), we’ve got to beat some district opponents,” said Hammonds. “With us, Austin-East and G-P in the 3A classification (at playoff time), we’d like to be able to get a win against at least one of them.”

Putting up a win against A-E or G-P would be an his-toric accomplishment for the Tigers. Pigeon Forge is 0-3 against A-E and 1-8 against G-P all-time. The lone 20-6 win over G-P came in 2005, when the Highlanders fin-ished with a less-than-medi-ocre 4-7 record that included a 91-7 first-round playoff


8/20 open8/27 Greenback9/3 @ Gibbs9/10 @ Cosby9/17 @ Fulton9/24 Grainger10/1 @ Carter10/8 @ Meigs Co.10/15 Union County10/22 Austin-East10/28 G-P*

* denotes TV game

Check Out The Mountain

Press

the

Tigers have eye on the postseason


Chase Travis runs through driving rain during the Tigers’ 7-6 win over Meigs County last season at Jim Whaley Field in Pigeon Forge on Oct. 9, 2009.

See TIGERS, Page 5

Thursday, August 19, 2010 ◆ The Mountain Press SEVIER COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL 2010 ◆ 5

TIGERS3From Page 4

5 Football

Two Convenient Locations To Serve You.Sevierville

726 Parkway(865) 428-3777

M-F: 7:30-6:00 SAT:7:30-4:00

Gatlinburg1007 E. Parkway(865) 436-7463

MON-SAT: 8:00-5:30

coach to record 300 career victories.

It’s facts such as those that keep the Tigers from looking too far down the road.

“We’ve just got to take it week to week, take care of ourselves and control our-selves,” said Hammonds. “The wins and losses take care of themselves.”

———The Tigers again have

their bye week on Week Zero this year, which should give their star run-ning back Chase Travis the opportunity to heal a high ankle sprain for at least seven more days.

But Hammonds doesn’t know if having an early bye is favorable or not.

“I don’t know (if it’s an advantage to have your off-week early),” said Hammonds. “Sometimes (a bye) can help you in the middle of the season, but it really depends on how your season is going.

“But we like to start on Week 1, even though the kids get a little tired of beating around on each other, and they’re chomp-ing at the bits to get under the (Friday night) lights.”

———The Tigers eyeing at

least a six-win season,

they understand that their Week 1 season-opening match-up against the visiting Greenback Cherokees will be a big key to achieving their first-ever winning record.

“A big goal is to win our opening football game, because you can get some momentum from that,” said Hammonds.

Although Greenback is a 1A program at play-off time, the 1987 State Champion Cherokees have a strong football tradition that includes a 24-13 win over Pigeon Forge last season.

“We’re by no means overlooking them,” said Hammonds. “They beat our butts last year, and we know we’ve got to play our butts off this year to win.

“Greenback has got some good looking ath-letes for a small school, and they’ve always got a good football program. They’ve got a good tra-dition down there, and they play some good foot-ball for a single A school. But we don’t look at it as playing against an A, AA or AAA program. We just look at it as a football game, and we’ve got to line up and play our best to win.”

[email protected]


Miguel Coello, a newcomer on the PFHS team, could provide a weapon with his foot for the Tigers.

Pigeon Forge High School Roster

No. Name Class Height Weight Position2 Chase Travis Jr. 6-0 190 RB3 Kaleb Black So. 5-10 150 WR4 Cameron Faulkner Sr. 5-7 150 WR5 Cody Davis Jr. 6-1 200 RB6 Shane Sharp Jr. 6-2 180 QB7 Trey Cupp Sr. 6-1 215 TE8 Josh Peak Jr. 5-6 150 WR9 Austin Stepson 9 5-6 140 WR10 Miguel Coello Jr. 5-6 145 WR11 Nathan Marine 9 5-7 140 QB12 Cory Fox So. 6-1 180 QB14 Trevor Dryman So. 6-1 140 WR15 Devin Boda 9 5-11 130 WR17 Austin Boyd Jr. 5-11 155 WR18 Daniel Abbott So. 5- 10 145 WR19 Joseph Valverde Jr. 5-9 165 WR20 Devin Boyd Fr. 5-10 165 RB21 Daniel Troutman So. 5-10 225 TE22 Josh Lombrana So. 5-9 155 WR23 Austin McCarter So. 5-10 145 WR24 Cody Fisher Jr. 5-11 165 WR25 Patrick Barbiere So. 5-10 190 RB27 Nathaniel Parton Jr. 5-9 165 RB28 Matt Stewart Jr. 5-8 185 RB30 Michael Lombrana Jr. 5-8 185 RB31 McKenly Matthews Fr. 5-6 110 WR32 Eric Pildner Jr. 6-0 195 TE33 Trent Dryman So. 6-1 135 WR34 George Gazettas Jr. 5-10 155 RB35 Steve Huskey So. 5-9 210 RB36 Glenn Hodge Jr. 5-5 135 WR38 Irvine Martinez Fr. 5-8 170 TE44 Trevor Reed So. 5-7 165 WR50 Shane Muse So. 5-11 235 OL52 Oscar Aleman Sr. 6-0 285 OL53 Zakk Romans So. 5-9 215 OL54 Coty Young Sr. 6-0 175 OL56 Jared Beck Sr. 5-6 175 OL57 Brandon Jusino So. 6-0 245 OL59 George Sunderland Sr. 5-11 230 OL60 Honre Lebar Jr. 5-8 210 OL63 Shane Ball Jr. 6-0 245 OL66 Brett Stelzer Jr. 5-10 200 OL67 Ryan Reese So. 6-2 270 OL70 Seth Munasque Jr. 6-0 310 OL71 Dakota Norris Fr. 5-3 175 OL74 Gage McCarter Fr. 6-2 235 OL79 Hunter Finchum Fr. 6-4 280 OL80 David Whitice So. 5-10 160 WR81 Eli McDowell Jr. 5-10 155 WR82 Zach Posey Jr. 5-8 140 WR87 Wesley Rodman Sr. 6-2 175 TE


While the Pigeon Forge Tigers skill-position play-ers have been noticed for their exciting play this pre-season, some of the big men up front haven’t gone unnoticed by the Orange-and-Black coaching staff.

Anchoring the 2010 Pigeon Forge offensive line will be junior center Seth Munasque, senior left guard Oscar Aleman and junior right guard Shane Ball.

Munasque is a 2010 Murphy Fair preseason All-State Team lineman.

“He’s a hard worker, and he’s very deserving (of the All-State honor) because of his work ethic,” said fourth-year Tigers head football coach Lee Hammonds. “He gets up at 6 a.m. every day — except game days — during the season to work out, and he does a lot of work on his own. He loves football and he does a lot of things extra to make himself a better player.

“He’s not vocal and he

doesn’t say a whole lot, but he’s a leader by his play and he does the right things. He’s a good kid and a good example to all the kids. I’ve never heard any-thing negative from him.

“I guess his biggest prob-lem is that he doesn’t say enough and doesn’t com-municate with me enough about certain things. I think he’s a little shy, but he’s just a good kid and he’s got a good family.”

Aleman is also another hard-working blue-collar player who made volun-tarily traded a glory posi-tion for a hard hat-and-lunch pale spot at left guard.

“Oscar is a con-verted tight end,” said Hammonds. “He’s a good athlete, but he just kind of outgrew the position. He’s got some pretty good feet on him, and he’s pretty strong.

“He could still make plays for us at tight end ..., but we needed some help up front last year and he willingly moved to the interior line. He gladly made the move, didn’t

gripe about it and I think he’s really enjoying right now.”

And although Ball’s 2009 season was ham-pered a bit due to injuries, the player appears to be on track for a breakout 2010 campaign.

“Shane has been doing a good job and doing a lot of extra work,” said Hammonds. “He’s one of those good weight lifters, one of those good weight room guys, and he’s been working on his quickness and his speed.

“He’s just really dedi-cated to the program and he’s done a good job just getting himself ready and prepared to play this sea-son.

“He’s just a junior, and he had an injury last pre-season that cost him a few weeks to get into the flow. But fortunately he’s been healthy this year, and he’s just done a lot on his own to get ready for us. We expect some big things out of him this year.”

[email protected]

Oscar Aleman Trey Cupp

Coty Young

Cameron Faulkner

Jared Beck

2010 Pigeon Forge Seniors

Not present on picture day: Wesley Rodman


Pigeon Forge first-year quarterback Cory Fox will have the protection of some talented offensive lineman like center Seth Munasque and left guard Oscar Aleman (pictured above).

PF big men clear the way for offensive attack


6 Football

------SEVIER-COUNTY-------

Red Zone

Coach: Steve Brewer

Coach’s record:183-13419thseason

Last Year: 10-1

Strengths: Team uses wide-open, precision passing game and a slew of fresh, rotating receivers to wear down defenses. Defensive backfield has potential to be good.

Weaknesses: Experience. Team is replacing five start-ers on the offensive line and confer-ence player of the year at quarter-back, in addition to senior group widely regarded as the school’s best in sev-eral years.

Players to watch: Senior QB Danny Chastain; senior WR Bryant Gilson; senior RB/LB Dakota Cogdill; senior WR/DB Josh Johnson; junior WR/DB Brett Pippin; junior C Dustin McGill; senior RB/DB Brad Mason

Key departures: QB Zach Flynn; OL Ross Heatherly; WR Bryce Whaley; RB/LB Kel McCarter; ATH Jeremiah Foster; DL Robert Whitelaw; DB Matt Spangler; WR/DB Austin Nave

Quotable: “It’s hard. Football’s not an easy game. It requires you getting out here when it’s hot in the summer. It requires a certain amount of dedica-tion, and that’s one of the things that I’ve really appreci-ated from these kids. They’ve been dedicated.”— SCHS head coach Steve Brewer


8/20 @William Blount8/27 Halls9/3 @Jefferson Co.9/10 Dobyns-Bennett9/17 Cocke County9/23 Morristown West* 10/1 @Seymour10/8 open10/15 Cherokee10/22 @South Doyle10/29 @Morristown East

* denotes TV game

New starters, same confidence for talented Smoky Bears squad


Sevier County running back Dakota Cogdill breaks off a long gain against Cocke County this sea-son. Cogdill may be in the best shape of his high school career this season, having dropped his weight in the off-season.

By JASON DAVISSports Editor

SEVIERVILLE — Sevier County coach Steve Brewer always exudes a quiet, unassuming confidence and workman-like ethic that often passes down to his players.

This Smoky Bears team may have lost the 19 seniors that helped lead it to an undefeated regular season in 2009, but you wouldn’t know it based on the players excitement for the upcoming season.

And nowhere was that excitement more evident than in the Smoky Bears’ preseason.

“We had 33 kids that did not miss a summer work-out,” Brewer, in his 19th year at the helm of the Bears, said. “That’s 6:30 a.m., four days a week. They made 28 out of 28 possible workouts. And we had another eight that made 22 of 28 workouts. So that’s 41 kids.”

Forty-one teenagers, nearly 75 percent of the team, attending voluntary workouts at the crack of dawn, when they could be sleeping away their sum-mer vacation. That’s dedi-cation.

“It’s hard. Football’s not an easy game,” Brewer said. “It requires you getting out here when it’s hot in the summer. It requires a cer-tain amount of dedication, and that’s one of the things that I’ve really appreciated from these kids. They’ve been dedicated.”

But for all their dedica-tion, the Bears are miss-ing some things from last year’s squad. Mainly, it’s the gobs of experience last year’s senior class of 19 players brought to the field. That, and the nearly extrasensory connection those players shared to focus on completing the task at hand.

“I think the biggest chal-lenge this team has is play-ing together,” Brewer said of this year’s crop of var-sity players. “Those guys last year played together for so long. We’ve got a different mixture this year. They’re going to have to play together, and their mindset has to be there.

“Last year’s group did not like to lose, and I think that’s what carried us through some of the close games that we had — they just did not want to lose,” Brewer continued. “I think we’ve got enough kids in this group that have that kind of mindset, but we’ve got to have everybody doing that.”

If this year’s team wants to get on the ‘refuse to lose’

bus, they’ll have to get some good play up front from five new full-time starters.

Line coach Bill Galloway thinks his charges will do just fine.

Though they’re small, Galloway said there are positives to his new line.

“This is probably the first time ever that I’ve ordered the line t-shirts and not had to order a triple-extra large,” the line coach said..

And while they’re small-er than last year’s gradu-ates, they’ve also got some-thing a those Bears didn’t have — speed.

“We’ll be a lot quicker up front and more athletic,” Galloway said.

But there is also a down-side.

“They’re not as big and powerful,” the coach said.

Glancing over the Bears’ roster, the biggest linemen tip the scales at 265 — a far cry from some of the huge linemen of the past.

But Galloway said that size isn’t always what a team needs on their line.

“We’ll be alright,” Galloway said. “With Danny (Chastain) at quar-terback we’re not going to line up and run a wishbone and knock people off the ball.

“We’re going to spread it out and chuck it all over the field and spread you out and then run the ball

on you a little bit. It fits the personnel we have. We’re not going to line it up and run the Nebraska.”

The team’s starters should be senior Brad Kreceman (6-2, 200) at right tackle, sophomore Logan Jepko (6-0, 265) at right guard, sopho-more Dustin McGill (6-3, 260) at center, sophomore Ray Smith (6-1, 235) at left guard and junior Jake Robbins (5-8, 205) at left tackle.

“They’re young -- three

sophomores, a junior and a senior,” Galloway said.

Only McGill, Krecemen and Robbins have var-sity experience, with only McGill having started a ballgame.

Past the line the Bears real strengths begin to show.

At quarterback senior Danny Chastain doesn’t have tons of varsity experi-ence taking snaps, but he’s done well when he’s in and brings a real element of excitement to the position.

“You want the ball in Danny’s hands as much as you can, because he’s going to make some things happen,” Brewer said.

Chastain showed last year his ability to run, returning kicks and punts, and he also showed his arm, tossing two TDs in relief of starting QB Zach Flynn.

Back-up QB Cullen Lavoi is also a capable signal-caller.


Sevier County senior receiver Bryant Gilson (24) battles with Pigeon Forge senior defensive back Cameron Faulkner (4) as SCHS QB Danny Chastain fires a pass. Gilson made a perfect turn and hauled in the pass, setting up a Bears’ TD.

See BEARS, Page 7


BEARS3From Page 6


7 Football

Good LuckSevier County Teams

in 2010!

Sevier County High School Roster

No. Name Class Height Weight Position1 Josh Johnson Sr. 6-1 160 WR/DB2 Dakota Cogdill Sr. 5-11 205 RB/LB3 Casey Carr So. 6-0 155 QB/DB4 Jeffrey Henry So. 5-9 160 WR/DB5 Danny Chastain Sr. 5-10 165 QB7 Bubba Floyd Jr. 5-10 170 RB/LB9 Jared Baxter So. 5-8 130 K10 Zac Lewis Sr. 6-1 195 TE/LB11 Cullen Lavoi Jr. 5-11 175 QB/DB12 Mitchel Tarity So. 6-0 145 QB/DB13 Michah Loveday Jr. 5-11 155 WR/DB14 Seth Brooks So. 5-8 170 WR/LB15 Martez Tarity So. 5-11 150 WR/DB16 Davis Rader So. 5-11 175 TE/DL18 Kevin Meehan Sr. 5-10 150 WR/DB19 Casey Ritter Sr. 5-11 155 WR/DB21 Brayden Culp So. 5-8 140 WR/DB22 Brett Pippin Jr. 5-11 175 WR/DB23 Tyler Wischer Sr. 6-2 160 WR/DB24 Bryant Gilson Sr. 6-2 175 WR/DB25 Logan McCarter So. 6-0 155 WR/DB26 Brad Mason Sr. 5-11 195 RB/DB27 Luke Trentham So. 5-7 150 RB/DB28 Max Driscoll Jr. 6-2 175 WR/DB30 Tyler Hansen Jr. 5-9 155 WR/LB31 Dillon Cate So. 5-8 150 WR/DB33 Dexter Robbins So. 5-10 165 RB/LB34 Bobby Lister Jr. 5-10 145 P35 Çolby Bailey So. 5-10 190 RB/LB38 Josh Norris Sr. 6-2 170 TE/LB41 Austin Aldridge Jr. 5-7 175 WR/LB43 Kevin Frisbie So. 5-7 125 WR/DB45 Ryan Jussaume Jr. 5-11 130 WR/DB46 Chase Yates So. 6-4 190 TE/DL47 Joseph McMahan Sr. 6-2 220 DL50 Dustin McGill Jr. 6-3 260 OL51 Jake Reppert Sr. 5-9 245 DL52 Jimmy Spentzos Jr. 5-7 165 DL53 Dustin Gibson Sr. 5-9 205 OL/DL54 Wil Keener So. 5-8 195 OL/LB57 Jordan Paul Jr. 5-10 265 OL/DL58 Logan Latham So. 5-10 190 OL/DL60 Brad Kreceman Sr. 6-2 200 OL/DL62 Thomas Hamilton Sr. 5-10 180 OL/DL63 Ethan Hubbard So. 5-10 250 OL/DL64 Jake Robbins Jr. 5-8 205 OL65 George Park Sr. 6-2 200 OL/DL70 Ray Smith So. 6-1 235 OL/DL72 Ralph Watson So. 5-10 205 OL/DL75 Shawn Kintzele So 5-6 225 OL/DL78 Logan Jepko So. 6-0 265 OL/DL79 Max Araiza So. 6-0 255 OL/DL80 Brandon Cline Jr. 6-3 185 WR/DL81 Ronnie Homerding Sr. 6-3 255 TE/DL84 Brandon Tinker Sr. 5-8 175 TE/DL85 Kendall Beal Sr. 5-11 215 TE/LB87 Devin Miracle Jr. 5-7 145 WR/DB88 John Berry Jr. 6-1 210 TE/DL89 Josh Suttles So. 5-11 170 TE/DL

Brad Mason Brandon Tinker

Dakota Cogdill Danny Chastain

George Park Jake Reppert

Josh Johnson Josh Norris

Kevin Meehan Ronnie Homerding

Tyler Wischer Zac Lewis

Joseph McMahan

Brad Kreceman

Kendall Beal

Bryant Gilson

Thomas Hamilton

Dustin Gibson

2010 SCHS Seniors

At running back, Brewer thinks the Bears have three or four players that will get carries with the varsity, led by second-year starter Dakota Cogdill and junior Bubba Floyd.

At receiver the Bears are loaded.

“I feel like we can line up and get eight receivers in the mix,” Brewer said. Leading the way will be col-lege prospect Bryant Gilson, a 6-2 possession receiver with some speed, and Brett Pippin, a speedburner who’s shown the ability to make big catches in preseason scrimmages.

With all those receivers coming in and out of games, there should always be a fresh pass-catcher lined up with a route-weary defen-sive back.

“I think if we cut down on our penalties and mistakes, we can have a very good offense,” Brewer said.

Defensively, the Bears can be good, although there are positions of concern.

“I feel like our defensive front can be the strong part of our defense,” Brewer said. “We should be good in the secondary, and our line-backers probably the most inexperienced group on our defense. We’ve got several bodies there, and we need three of them to step up in a big way.”

Along the defensive line Thomas Hamilton, Jake Reppert, John Berry, Brandon Tinker, Ronnie Homerding. Logan Jepko and Jimmy Spentzos will take turns clogging up run-ning lanes and chasing down quarterbacks.

“Those are just some of the guys that have stepped up and given us, I think, a pretty good defensive front,” Brewer said.

At linebacker Dakota Cogdill will lead a group of relatively inexperienced players, while the defen-sive backfield will likely be effective, thanks to the large group of tall rangy ath-letes the Bears have playing receiver.

As far as special teams, the Bears will rely on sopho-more kicker Jared Baxter for scoring tries.

“Baxter’s long (field goal) last year was 32 yards,” Brewer said. “And he’s probably increased that by at least five yards. If the ball’s between the 20 and 25, we feel like he can get it through for us. His leg’s got-ten strong, and hopefully, by the time he’s a senior (he’ll be kicking even further). He was a weapon last year for us. He did a terrific job.”

Jeffrey Henry will handle our kick-off duties, while Dakota Cogdill will handle the punting chores.

Coach Brewer said per-haps the biggest factor to determine the effectiveness of both the offensive and defensive production is con-sistency.

“At times we’ve looked good,” Brewer said, referring to preseason scrimmages. “At times we’ve looked bad. That’s a thing that we’ve been harping on. We’ve got to be consistent. That’s what we’re lacking right now. Sometimes on both sides of the ball we do things really well, and it may not take until the next series to look like we don’t have a clue.”

“I just want to see us be more consistent, and cut down on our penalties. Those things are discipline-oriented. You’ve got to be disciplined. Consistency is something we’ve got to get better at in a hurry,”

[email protected]


Josh Johnson may be juggling a Danny Chastain pass here, but he pulled in the catch versus CAK in scrimmage action and gained a long first down to set up a touchdown.


8 Football

-----------SEYMOUR------------

Red Zone

Coach: Jim Moore

Coach’s record:4-72ndseason

Last Year: 4-7

Strengths: When playing well, run-ning game can be difficult to contain with both quarter-back and running backs capable of breaking long gains

Weaknesses: Lots of sophomores and juniors with little varsity time on the field. Defense, usually the rock of Seymour teams, is a question mark heading into the season.

Players to watch: Senior WR/DB Cory Clark; senior RB/LB Logan Rutherford; senior QB Dustin Fain; senior RB Lee Knight; junior RB/LB Corey Todd; senior RB/LB Kevin Kennedy; senior WR/DB David Johnson

Key departures: RB Blake Overton; DT Nick Smith; RB/LB Keegan Newport; DT Wes White; RB Chase Ketron; K/P Stephen Martin; OL Joe McCarter; LB Hunter Crain; LB Cody Watson

Quotable: “If the attitude stays the same — the kids have got good attitude, they work hard and they’re coachable — we’ll get better as the season progresses. The more experi-ence they get, and the more live-ac-tion they get, the better they’ll get.”— Jim Moore, Seymour head coach

Schedule

Date Opponent8/20 @Daniel Boone8/27 CAK9/3 @Cocke Co.9/10 @Heritage9/17 Jefferson Co.9/24 open10/1 Sevier County10/8 @Morristown East10/15 South-Doyle10/22 @Cherokee10/29 Morristown West

Youth, inexperience and lack of depth could make 2010 challenging for Eagles


Dustin Fain, above, fires a pass for Seymour during the team’s jambo-ree matchup with Gatlinburg-Pittman. Though a nail-biter to the end, Seymour came away with a 6-0 victory.At right, then-junior punt returner Cory Clark bolts down the sideline for a long gain during the Eagles 2009 shellacking of the Cocke County Fighting Cocks. Clark, a senior this season, is expected to be a team leader for Seymour.


SEYMOUR — This year’s version of the Seymour Eagles could look a little different than years past.

For the past few seasons the Eagles have been the picture of a tough, stingy defense.

In 2008 the Eagles allowed just 8.7 points per contest, while pitching three shutouts. Last year, despite a move up in clas-sification, the Eagles only allowed 15.3 points per game.

This year, however, the Eagles have only three returning starters on defense, and an entirely new d-line.

“We’ve got three kids that could end up starting for us on the defensive line that have never played in a high school football game,” second-year head coach Jim Moore said. “We’re a very young, inexperienced team. This is my 31st year (coaching), and I’ve never had a team this inexperi-enced.”

And it’s not just on defense.

On the offensive line Seymour could have a steep learning curve as well.

“We’ve got two (offen-sive linemen) that it’s their first time (playing much),” Moore said. “And one that never started last year, but played some.

“Three of the five are inexperienced. And one of the two that are experi-enced, is playing a a differ-ent position.”

Chris Humphrey, a senior who previously played center, has been moved to guard.

“Chris is a strong kid and moves well, so we put him over at the guard spot,” Moore said.

With the restructured offensive line, Moore expressed some concerns about his team’s protec-tion of senior quarterback Dustin Fain.

“If we can protect the quarterback, Dustin can throw the ball,” Moore said.

If Fain gets protec-tion, there are still things he needs to perfect in his final season in the Blue and Gold,

“Dustin’s got to decide to take what’s there instead of thinking he’s the gun-slinger of the old wild west and just flinging it 70 yards,” Moore said. “When he takes what’s there, Dustin’s very capable of doing a real good job.”

Fain can also be a dan-gerous runner out of the

backfield for the Eagles.“He’s physical,” Moore

said. “He’s between 6-1 and 6-2, 200 pounds, and he’s strong. He lowers his shoulder, and he’s a bull.”

Another place Seymour should be well-equipped for the season is at run-ning back.

“We’ve got seven run-ning backs that we can play that we don’t lose a whole lot with,” the coach said. “Our big thing is just getting the linemen to do what they’re supposed to do, every single time.

“Our fastest kid, our best running back, is Lee Knight,” Moore contin-ued. “He played very little (last season), he trans-ferred in and was playing behind Keegan (Newport), a three-year starter. But Lee can scoot, and he’s got very good cuts. But he’s got to stay healthy, and that’s been a problem.

He’s small, probably 5-6 1/2, 168 pounds, but he’s stout — he’s strong as a bull — but you take a wear-ing at that spot, especially at this level.”

Spelling Knight’s posi-tion in the Eagles’ back-field formations will be Colton Flynn and Trevor Wallace.

“Colton’s just a good hard-nosed kid and he played quite a bit last year at running back,” Moore said. “Trevor Wallace is sophomore, and a good one, too.”

At the other back posi-tion, reps will be divided between Kevin Kennedy, Corey Todd and Taylor Overton — the younger brother of Seymour’s top backfield weapon last sea-son, Blake Overton.

“(Those three) are pret-ty equal. We’ve got some good little running backs,” Moore said.

At wide receiver, senior Cory Clark, who also shines on defense as a returning free safety, will lead the way.

“Cory’s good, Cory’s very good,” Moore said. “Receiver, free safety, kick returner, wherever you put Cory, he’s very good. He’s such an intelligent play-er. He’s very rarely out of position, and he’s just a great kid.”

Clark will be looked to as a team leader by Moore and his staff, as well as fel-low Eagles Kevin Kennedy, Chris Humphrey, Dylan Bennett, Colton Flynn and Lee Knight.

Kennedy and Logan Rutherford are the only returning starters on defense besides Clark. They both play outside linebacker.

Flynn, who played sub-stantial time outside last season has moved into the

middle to shore up a need there.

Corey Todd and Kevin Taylor will start at oppo-site cornerback spots.

Reflecting on a scrim-mage with a powerful Powell squad from a few weeks ago, Moore keeps things in perspective, including his team’s youth-ful inexperience.

“At one point last Friday I looked out on the field and saw 10 sophomores,” Moore said. “You can’t play 10 sophomores and actu-ally expect to win (consis-tently) at this level. But that’s where we are. But we’ve got a good sopho-more class. We just don’t have any depth.

“We’re so young. We can look pretty good one sec-ond, and then just look awful the next,” he con-tinued.

See EAGLES, Page 9

Thursday, August 19, 2010 ◆ The Mountain Press SEVIER COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL 2010 ◆ 9

9 Football

Have a Great and Safe2010-2011 School Year

Your Sevier County Officials

Larry WatersCounty Mayor

Joe KeenerCounty Court Clerk

Jeff Rader Dwight StokesGeneral Session Judges

Connie E. HoltGeneral Sessions Clerk

Sherry H. Robertson-HuskeyRegister of Deeds

Jack A. PartonDirector of Schools

Jonas SmelcerRoad Superintendent

Jettie ClaboTrustee

Ron SealsSheriff

Johnny KingTax Assessor

Carolyn McMahanClerk & Master

Rita EllisonCircuit Court Clerk

No. Name Class Height Weight Position1 Cory Clark Sr. 6-0 179 WR/DB2 Brandon White So. 6-0 155 WR/DB3 David Johnson Sr. 6-0 161 WR/DB4 Kevin Kennedy Sr. 5-9 174 RB/LB5 Dane Brunson Jr. 5-8 155 WR/DB7 Zach Egan Sr. 5-9 170 WR/DB8 Justin Long Sr. 5-10 175 WR/DL9 Hayden Brooks So. 6-1 160 QB/DB10 Logan Rutherford Sr. 5-11 185 RB/LB11 Taylor Overton Jr. 5-7 158 RB/LB12 Bobbo Chesser Jr. 6-3 185 QB/DL14 D.J. Griffin So. 6-4 180 WR/DB17 Dustin Fain Sr. 6-2 210 QB/LB18 Corbin Ogle So. 5-8 150 QB/LB20 Lee Knight Sr. 5-7 173 RB/DB21 Troy Houk So. 6-0 170 QB/LB22 Corey Todd Jr. 5-9 175 RB/LB23 Kevin Taylor So. 5-9 176 RB/LB25 Brandon Hawker Jr. 5-4 168 RB/DL26 Kyle Settle So. 5-9 171 RB/LB27 Corey Heard So. 5-10 142 WR/DB29 Brian Call So. 5-7 150 WR/LB30 Chris Grimo So. 6-0 155 WR/LB31 Joey Ward So. 5-11 140 WR/DB32 Quincy Pugh Jr. 5-11 220 RB/DB34 Larry Elrod So. 5-6 147 RB/LB36 David Buchan So. 5-11 175 RB/LB37 Tyler Harmon Sr. 5-9 137 WR/DB39 Brad Owens Sr. 5-8 141 WR/DB43 Ashton Satterfield Sr. 6-0 172 WR/LB46 Austin Proffitt So. 5-3 133 RB/CB47 Bryson Dockery So. 6-1 213 TE/DL48 Colton Flynn Sr. 5-10 178 RB/LB50 Jamie Cota Sr. 5-8 170 OL/DL51 Micheal Norton So. 5-6 175 OL/DL52 Derek Sexton So. 5-11 155 TE/DL53 Brandon Hines So. 5-9 185 OL/DL54 Derek Terry So. 5-8 185 OL/DL56 Kameron Shepherd Jr. 5-10 156 OL/DL57 Dylan Bennett Sr. 6-1 200 OL/DL59 Mitch Michaels Jr. 5-5 165 OL/DL63 Eric White Jr. 6-3 240 OL/DL64 Chris Welch So. 5-8 153 OL/DL67 Christopher Humphrey Sr. 6-0 217 OL/DL68 Shane Chipley Sr. 5-10 170 OL/DL71 Tim Maher So. 5-10 250 OL/DL72 Seth Martin So. 5-9 200 OL/DL73 Dylan Gilliland So. 5-7 220 OL/DL76 Chris Neubert So. 6-5 240 OL/DL78 Brett Murr Sr. 6-0 297 OL/DL80 Mitchell Miller Jr. 6-2 165 WR/DB81 Atticus Morrison So. 5-9 153 WR/DB82 Tanner Cox So. 5-7 146 WR/DB83 Matthew Salter Sr. 6-0 188 WR/DE84 Brock Bowers So. 5-6 170 WR/DB85 Anthony Willison Sr. 5-11 163 WR/LB86 Johnathon Hurst Jr. 5-7 163 K/P87 Austin Bellew So. 5-6 132 WR/LB

Seymour High School Roster

2010 Seymour Seniors

Zach Egan

Anthony Wilson

Ashton Satterfield

Brett Murr

Chris Humphrey

David Johnson

Dustin Fain

Jamie Cota

Kevin Kennedy

Logan Rutherford

Matthew Salter

Brad Owens

Cory Clark

Dylan Bennett

Lee Knight

Tyler Harmon

“Our (tackling) angles (against Powell) were awful, and that’s what we’ve worked on all week,” Moore said. “It’s looked better out here. But this defense, it’s not sit-read-react. It’s know where you’re going, get there and stay on a level plane. As long as every-body’s staying on a level plane, there’s not many areas (an offense can go). But if you have two going on the right plane and one, two or three going on a different level, then you’ve got huge gaps.”

But the coach said the

team’s attitude could help them improve drastically by season’s end.

“If the attitude stays the same — the kids have got good attitude, they work hard and they’re coach-able — we’ll get better as the season progresses,” Moore said. “The more experience they get, and the more live-action they get, the better they’ll get.”

Still, he said things must go perfectly for the team to see immediate success.

“We have to stay away from injuries. We can’t afford anything bad,” Moore said.

“Everything’s got to go right. We can’t have a bad play. We’ve got to be con-

sistently good. We don’t have the ability to over-come a lot of bad things right now. We’ve got some good athletes, we just wish we had more. We wish we had good ones backing up the ones we’ve got.”

But, always the opti-mist, Moore sees the good side of fielding such a youthful squad.

“The more reps they get and the more live-ac-tion they see the better off they’re going to be,” Moore said. “And if they keep doing things right, staying coachable and keeping a positive atti-tude, they could be pretty good (in the future).”

[email protected]

EAGLES3From Page 8


Seymour’s Jamie Cota (50) blows by the competition in the linemen 40-yard dash contest at last week’s Sevier County Football Jamboree.


10 Football

THE--KING’S--ACADEMY

Red Zone

Coach: Larry Watson

Coach’s record:43-6114thseason

Last Year: 6-3

Strengths: Team is finally used to win-ning, after three-straight successful seasons. Tricky running game pow-ered by big back David Lamon can wear down oppo-nents. Defense has shown good speed.

Weaknesses: Winningest class in school’s his-tory graduated in May. Inexperience abounds with many players new to the game of football. Freshman and sophomores have to play early and often.

Players to watch: Senior FB/DL David Lamon; sophomore QB Harrison Atchley; Senior OL/NT Josh Preslar; junior RB Bill Na; freshman QB Adam Deatherage; junior RB Josh Cate

Key departures: TE/DE David Kirkpatrick; RB/LB Jon Rose; QB Dane Hoffmeister; OL/DL Caleb Krug; RB William Lakatosh; RB/LB Jordan Smith

Quotable: “The terminology, we try to keep it simple. We try not to do too many weird snap counts. And we don’t do too many audibles, that could be disas-trous. Especially when we’re putting people in motion on almost every play. It’s got to be pretty standard, like ‘snap count’s on two.’” — The King’s Academy head coach Larry Watson, on dealing with the multiple language barriers with inter-national student athletes

Schedule


SEYMOUR — Gone is the winningest senior class in the history of The King’s Academy.

Names like William Lakatosh, David Kirkpatrick, Dane Hoffmeister, Jordan Smith and Jon Rose are only a memory on the Lions’ ros-ter.

The nine seniors that helped TKA to three-straight six-win seasons have moved on, but coach Larry Watson still believes his squad can be successful in 2010.

“We’ve got nine seniors again,” Watson, the team’s 14th-year head coach said. “(And) out of those there were five or six that were here all summer just look-ing for work to do (to improve) — so I see some of the characteristics that I enjoyed for the last three or four years out of those other guys.”

While the coach said the team will miss Lakatosh’s breakaway speed on offense, team speed has improved in other areas.

“We’ve changed our defense to take advantage of, hopefully, some speed that will allow us to be more aggressive on defense,” he said.

Dotting the lineup are several multi-purpose ath-letes that will contribute big, both on offense and defense.

David Lamon, a senior fullback and defensive line-man, is where it all starts.

“He’s going to be a stal-wart and team leader on both sides of the ball,” the coach said. “But the thing about him is we’re going to have to get him a break every once in a while, because he does carry the big load, both on offense as well as defense.”

Bashing defenses through the middle from his fullback spot, other backs, such as Bill Na and the brothers McCammon (Ethan and Dillon), will likely get to challenge a softened opposition.

And all that running will do nothing but ben-efit new Lions’ quarter-backs Harrison Atchley, a sophomore, and Adam Deatherage, a freshman.

“We’re expecting pret-ty good things out of (Atchley),” Watson said. “He started the last game of last season, and he’s worked all summer. He’s been here, and he’s been going to quarterback camps — he’s really invested the time.

“He can play both ways, but we’re trying to make him into a true quarter-back.”

Still, with just 22 play-ers on the Lions’ roster, he

may have to see time at free safety.

Deatherage, the little brother to former TKA two-sport star Andy Deatherage, is also an option at QB.

“Andy made a big differ-ence later on in his career, but I think that (Adam) could be challenging (for playing time at QB as a freshman). Hopefully we can get them both some reps in there. He’s very knowledgeable and very teachable. I’d expect some good things out of him.”

Bill Na, mentioned ear-lier as a running back, is possibly the Lions’ best international player, of which they currently list several on the roster.

“(Na’s) an 11th grader from Korea. He came in and had never played, but he’s probably going to start and make a big impact on both sides of the ball and at kicker,” Watson said.

Other players Watson expects to make an impres-sion on the team include the multi-talented junior Josh Cate, and senior linemen Josh Preslar, Dale Slomski and Forrest Palmer.

“Preslar has been a stal-wart and will continue to be,” Watson said. “He’s probably the real team leader. He’s solid — not a lot of rah-rah — but leads by example.”

“I think Josh Cate will impact,” he continued. “He could play linebacker, but we might need him at free safety, just because of his experience.

“(And) a couple of guys that have stepped up are seniors Forrest Palmer and Dale Slomski. They’ve both come along very fast. (Forrest) has matured like two years in one. I think that we’ll hear his name making a play or two (that he wouldn’t have made before). Will he get 50

tackles a game? No, but there’s some improvement there.”

And while TKA’s roster of 22 doesn’t look too impres-sive right now, Watson thinks it can improve.

“Some of the guys still aren’t here — they’re in route from different coun-tries,” Watson said. “(And) I’m still walking the halls. So I’m hoping we’re going

to get some (more), and some transfer guys that have maybe played at another school or (board-ing) students that have never dawned a helmet.”

While it works to bring in warm bodies and increase numbers, sometimes inter-national players complicate matters for TKA coaches and players.

“The organizational part

is probably the hardest part of it,” Watson said. “They have to run a set play. If they’re used to playing soc-cer — there are plays — but it’s a little looser. It’s not ‘go through the 2-hole’ or something like that. So there is a difference there. I do like the reckless aban-don, but you’ve still got to

New pride of Lions will try to continue winning legacy at TKA

Date Opponent

8/20 Lancaster8/27 @ Mt. Juliet Christian9/3 Franklin Classical9/10 @ Jellico9/24 St. Andrews10/1 @ Sunbright10/7 Unaka10/15 Oakdale (HC)10/22 Riverside Christian (SN)

Photo submitted

TKA players rally around each other as the team plays at a jamboree in Neyland Stadium last Friday.

See LIONS, Page 11


LIONS3From Page 10


11 Footbal

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www.themountainpress.com

No. Name Class Height Weight Position3 Arther Oliveira So. 5-9 145 WR/DB6 Drew Slomski Fr. 6-0 155 WR/DB7 Elijah Connatser Fr. 5-11 145 TE/DE9 Sam Herbert Fr. 6-0 180 TE/DE11 Harrison Atchley So. 5-11 140 QB/DB12 Adam Deatherage Fr. 6-2 150 QB20 Ethan McCammon Fr. 5-7 145 RB/DB21 Dillon McCammon Sr. 5-8 140 RB/DB24 Josh Cate Jr. 5-9 175 FB/LB31 Byeong-Jin Kim Sr. 5-5 155 WR/LB33 Bill Na Jr. 5-8 150 RB/K46 David Lamon Sr. 6-2 220 FB/DL48 David Bagwell So. 5-7 135 LB/WR51 Edison Aubrey So. 5-4 140 OL/DL55 Forest Palmer Sr. 5-6 165 OL/DL56 Dale Slomski Sr. 6-2 220 OL/L71 Blake Huff Jr. 6-1 250 OL/DL75 Josh Preslar Sr. 6-2 285 OL/DL77 Anthony North Sr. 6-2 225 OL/DL81 Jon Eimmerman So. 5-7 170 OL/DL84 Min Jae (Tom) Kim Jr. 5-8 170 TE/DL89 Sae Min Kim Sr. 6-0 200 TE/DE

The King’s Academy Roster

Anthony North Byeong-Jin Kim

Dale Slomski David Lamon

Dillon McCammon

Josh Preslar

Forrest Palmer

2010 TKA Seniors


SEYMOUR — The King’s Academy football roster may have the size of David, but the players have the hearts of Lions.

“We are small and we don’t have as many num-bers as a lot of teams,” said TKA senior 6-foot-2, 225-pound running back/linebacker David Lamon, referring to the Lions 22-man varsity roster. “But numbers and size doesn’t mean anything.

“One of my goals this season is to remind our players that just because we’re smaller in numbers doesn’t mean we’re not capable of beating any-one.

“I want our players to understand that we can beat anyone, as long as we play as a team. The size of our hearts is more important than the size of our roster.”

Although the Lions have averaged 30 play-ers on their varsity ros-ter the past three six-win seasons — the most suc-cessful three-year run in TKA school history — the Purple and Gold are ready to circle their wagons at Huskey Field to defend their winning ways this fall, although they’ll be circling them with about eight less wagons than usual.

“I’m really confident in what we’ve got,” said 14th-year TKA coach Larry Watson. “I think we’re pretty solid. I think we’re capable of winning all of our ball games.

“We’ve had a little vision of what we can

accomplish by covering each others’ backs. It’s a team thing.”

Two of the reasons Watson believes his cur-rent team can put togeth-er its fourth-straight win-ning season are because he has some senior lead-ership in players such as Lamon and 6-foot-3, 285-pound offensive guard/nose tackle Josh Preslar.

“Josh is always ready to play, and he’s a good student of the game,” said Watson.

“He’s not afraid to take risks within reason, and he’s a hard worker who leads by example.

“And David brings the bravado to our team with his toughness and physi-cal play.”

Both players put team goals ahead of their per-sonal agenda, but when pressed, they’ll admit to some individual aspira-tions.

“My goal is just to take things one game at a time, and focus on one game at

a time and not overlook any team,” said Preslar. “I want to win as many as we can and get the best record we can.

“As for myself, I didn’t have much opportunity to play a lot of defense last year, but it’s something I’m looking forward to this season very much. I would very much enjoy getting a lot of sacks and tackles for loss, but I enjoy helping the team anyway that I can the most.”

As for Lamon, who fig-ures to be the workhorse for the Lions offensive attack, his objective is simple.

“To get as many yards as I can get,” he said.

[email protected]

Lions’ leaders Lamon and Preslar keep team on point

“I want our players to understand that we can beat anyone, as long as we play as a team. The size of our hearts is more important than the size of our roster.”

TKA senior David Lamon


Sophomore QB Harrison Atchley started the last game of last season, and will be the Lions’ field general from the beginning this year.

hit the hole.”Watson also said some

things others take for granted are tough when everyone’s not speaking the same language.

“The terminology, we try to keep it sim-ple,” Watson said with a laugh. “We try not to do too many weird snap counts. And we don’t do too many audibles, that could be disastrous,” he chuckled. “Especially when we’re putting peo-ple in motion on almost every play. It’s got to be pretty standard, like ‘snap count’s on two.’”

All in all, Watson expects the team’s num-bers to be pretty good by their opening kickoff Friday against Lancaster Christian at TKA.

And he hopes the team can continue winning — it’s something they’ve gotten used to over the past few seasons.

“They say it’s the best (it’s been) in sev-eral years,” Watson said. “And I use it as a rallying call. In my history — and I’ve been here a while — we’ve been through some very lean years, so (win-

ning) is positive. I don’t attribute it to coaching as much as we’ve just got some guys showing up here that have a little football experience, and

they are in a program with the middle school. It’s a progression, and I’ll go along with it.”

[email protected]

Photo submitted

TKA running back Bill Na tries to stretch out the yardage at a jamboree at Neyland Stadium last Friday in Knoxville.


HAMMONDS3From Page 3

12 Football

Pigeon ForgeHigh School

08/27/10 Greenback Home09/03/10 Gibbs Away09/10/10 Crosby Away09/17/10 Fulton Away09/24/10 Grainger Home10/01/10 Carter Away10/08/10 Meigs County Away10/15/10 Union County Home10/22/10 Austin-East Home*10/28/10 Gatlinburg- Pittman Home

Sevier CountyHigh School

08/20/10 William Blount Away08/27/10 Halls Home09/03/10 Jefferson County Away09/10/10 Dobyns-Bennett Home09/17/10 Cocke County Home09/23/10 MorristownHamblen West Home10/01/10 Seymour Away10/15/10 Cherokee Home10/22/10 South Doyle Away10/29/10 Morristwn Hamblen East Away

SeymourHigh School

08/20/10 Daniel Boone Away08/27/10 Christian Academy of Knoxville Home09/03/10 Cock County Away09/10/10 Heritage Away09/17/10 Jefferson County Home10/01/10 Sevier County Home10/08/10 Morristown Hamblen East Away10/15/10 South Doyle Home10/22/10 Cherokee Away10/29/10 Morristwn Hamblen East Home

Gatlinburg PittmanHigh School

Gatlinburg Pittman High School8/20/10 Oneida Away 8/27/10 Cosby Away 9/10/10 Sullivan East Home 9/17/10 Gibbs Home 9/24/10 Unicoi County Home 10/01/10 Union County Away 10/08/10 Fulton Home10/15/10 Austin-East Away 10/22/10 Carter Home 10/28/10 Pigeon Forge Away

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“I’ve tried to learn a lot about that from him. You’ve got to be in it for the kids, not have an I-me program. I’m just here (at Pigeon Forge) as a little bitty pea in a big old pot, and we’re trying to make it work. I’ve taken a lot from dad, there’s no doubt.

“Obviously he’s been a big influence on the way I coach. He’s taught me a lot about hard work and dis-cipline and just doing the things that it takes to win football games.

“There’s been times that Gatlinburg-Pittman has not been the most talented team to line up on a foot-ball field, but by golly they believe they’re going to win and they expect to win, and they are going to line up and come right at you. I’m trying to instill those things into (the Pigeon Forge) pro-gram. He’s been a big influ-ence, and I’ve taken a lot of things from him, and I’m trying to run a program a lot of the same way because it’s successful.

“As a football coach, you better never think you know it all, because if you do you’re not going to be very successful. You’ve got to take bits and pieces from here and there, and there’s no doubt I took a lot from dad.”

According to TSSAA records, Benny Hammonds currently ranks all-time as the fifth-most winningest football coach in the state of Tennessee with an over-all record of 298-135-1, including a 298-126 mark at G-P.

The all-time leader in career wins is Carlton Flatt of Brentwood Academy who earned a mark of 355-68-3 for the Eagles from 1971-98 and from 2002-06.

Only one other active coach in the state of Tennessee has more wins than Hammonds’ 298. Ken Netherland of St. George’s Independent

School currently has a 350-127-3 record coaching the Gryphons gridiron platoon.

According to Lee, his father should be a shoe-in for the TSSAA Hall of Fame.

“He should get in (the HOF),” said Lee. “He’s done a lot for Gatlinburg, the school, the community and obviously the football program. He’s done a lot up there for them.

“That kind of stuff (like HOF recognition) doesn’t mean much to him, but it would be a nice closure when he decides to retire ... but who knows when that’s going to be.”

Although many have speculated as to when Benny Hammonds will take the Golden Handshake, retirement is not on the G-P coach’s mind. He cred-its his work ethic to his mother, Mamie “Flame” Hammonds, who passed away at the age of 90 on Saturday, Aug. 7, of this year.

“It’s just the way I was raised, to do what you’re supposed to do and be where you’re supposed to be,” said Hammonds, who attended a special 8:30 a.m. football practice on Tuesday, Aug. 10, before rushing to his mother’s funeral in Newport at 11 a.m. that same morning. “She would have been very disappointed and upset if I wasn’t at football prac-tice. That’s just the way she raised me.

“That’s who I am, just (like) my mom and my dad. That’s the way most people are, kindly just chips off the old block. She was raised back in the Depression when times were tough, and I was taught to respect everything and that every-thing is valuable, especially time.

“So if you’re going to get a day’s pay, you’re expected to do a day’s work. That’s just the way it is, and that’s just the way I like to work at it too. I don’t have any plans (for retirement). I don’t know when that day will come, but when you get my age, you kindly go day to day.”

Hammonds, who will turn 65 soon, said the game of football has changed through his four-plus decades of coaching.

“It’s a different envi-ronment altogether,” said Hammonds. “Most kids growing up these days are not playing with real kids, they’re playing with kids on TV. But 40 years ago, kids were playing with kids. We don’t get much of that any more.

“But kids are smarter and better athletes now. And I think coaching has changed, and we do a lot better job preparing them and teaching them to play the game. There’s no ques-tion about that. It’s a lot more technical these days, when in the old days it was more about toughness.

“As a head coach, you

want to be compassionate to your players and win them over to your side. The only way you can do that is to help them and let them know that you’re on their side. We’re all in it togeth-er. But at the same time, you’ve got to be tough and you’ve got to have a back-bone. Without that, you’re not doing the game justice, because it’s a game that’s got to be played with tough guys and boys that make sacrifices and learn to play through pain.

“There are a lot of life lessons that are taught through this game, and it’s a great game. I think it’s the greatest game there is, especially at the high school level. At this age, the boys really mature a lot. It’s enjoyable as a head coach to watch that and be part of it.

“They’ve got to have faith in you and have con-fidence in you and believe in you, and you’ve got to do the same for them. It’s

a mutual respect to work your hind end off for each other. There’s a lot of trust involved, and that makes it a great game.

“I think as I’ve gotten older, I’ve got better at that. When you’re younger, you’ve got a tendency to kindly show them instead of talking them into it.”

Although it suits him well for the game of football, Hammonds’ nickname, Bulldog, is not related to the gridiron.

“I don’t know where that came from,” laughed Hammonds. “Nobody ever really called me that to my face, but when my grand-kids started calling me that, now a lot of people do. That name hasn’t always been with me, but it has been the past 25 years, I guess. It’s stuck with me since then, which is fine.

“I may have the repu-tation of being a bulldog and being tough, but at the same time, I’ve got sense enough to know that we’ve

all got to be in it together.“It just means that you’ve

been around a long time when you’ve got the oppor-tunity to win 300 games. But you have to remem-ber at the same time, I’ve never played a play for Gatlinburg-Pittman High School. It’s just a continua-tion of hard work (by all the players and coaches) since August of 1972 to right now. There’s been a lot of sweat, a lot of pride, a lot of work, understanding and growing up here on the football field and the practice field over a long period of time.

“Even though we’ve had some good teams as the years have gone on ..., the boys who went 4-6 early on really laid the founda-tion for the teams that went 10-0. Some of those 4-6 teams had a lot to do with us having good records later on down the road. The credit goes to all the kids through the years.”

[email protected]

“I don’t have any plans (for retirement). I don’t know

when that day will come, but when you get my age, you

kindly go day to day.”

Benny Hammonds

sevier county prep football 2010

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