Weakley teams have busy weekend slate

By RANDY CAVIN
Press Sports
There will be no off week for any of the four Weakley County football teams this week, and each one will be on the road Friday night.
Two will be looking to continue their winning ways while one will be looking to get back on track and the other looking to end a 13-game losing streak.
Westview will travel to Camden, and Dresden goes across the Tennessee River to play at Stewart County. Gleason makes the long trek to Halls, while Greenfield is at West Carroll.
Westview improved to 2-1 on the season last week with a 17-16 win over Obion Central. The Chargers almost let last week’s win get away by failing to complete too many drives and letting the Rebels get back in the game during the fourth quarter.
Hunter Moore proved to be a solid running back with 72 yards on 15 carries. Javier Gordon had a 21-yard touchdown catch. He finished with three catches for 65 yards.
Camden will be looking for redemption against the Chargers after losing twice last season to Westview. The Chargers used the same formula to get both wins last season against the Lions.
Head coach Don Coady had his team playing clock management to near perfection in the 17-12 win in the first meeting and duplicated that in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs with a 17-7 victory.
The Chargers will have to control the time of possession in order to keep an always speedy Camden offense off the field. The Class 3A seventh-ranked Lions are 2-0 and had an extra week to prepare for Westview. Camden was off last week after wins against David Lipscomb and Bruceton this season.
Ranked fifth in Class 2A, Dresden will be facing a struggling Stewart County team. The Rebels are 1-2 on the season, having lost their last two games by a combined score of 74-7.
The Rebels beat East Robertson 23-0 in Week 0, lost to Clarksville Academy 51-7 in Week 1 and lost last week to Waverly 23-0.
The Lions are coming off a big win against McKenzie in which Devan Raymer had a monster game. He rushed for an astonishing 312 yards and four touchdowns against the district rivals.
Raymer had touchdown runs of 11, 73, 56, and 35 yards last week. He has 10 TDs in the first three games and has become a legitimate offensive weapon for first-year head coach Keith Hodge.
Raymer is not the only dangerous weapon on Dresden’s explosive double-wing wildcat offense. Torres Washington had 62 yards on eight carries and scored on a 21-yard run in the fourth quarter.
In order for Dresden to keep from having a letdown, it must improve upon last year’s game by cutting back on the penalties. Dresden committed 11 penalties for 120 yards and let a 27-0 lead slip away in their 34-28 win. Dresden gained 348 yards of total offense, but 289 came in the first half.
Gleason is looking to get its offense back on track against Halls. The Bulldogs fell to West Carroll last week 21-6 and never really got the offense going in most of the game.
Gleason missed a great opportunity to pull to within a touchdown after blocking a punt deep in the War Eagles’ territory but failed to get the ball into the end zone on four downs.
Gleason must improve its running game over last week if the offense is going to be able to move the ball. The Bulldogs ran the ball 23 times for only 76 yards, and that forced too many passing situations for Tanner Trevathan.
Unable to finish drives was a major concern for head coach Noah Lampkins. He said after last week’s game that they are quite a ways off on the offense.
This may be the week for Gleason to get its running game up to speed. Halls was torched for 369 rushing yards against Class 1A second-ranked Union City.
Gleason beat Halls last year 29-7 behind two defensive scores. Archie Rich scored a safety on a sack and Austin Perry scored on a 37-yard interception return.
Greenfield’s road to ending its 13-game losing streak will not be easy this week. The Yellowjackets must face the same West Carroll (2-1) team that kept Gleason from improving to 2-0.
There were signs of life in last week’s game against Lake County in the first half. The Yellowjackets went into the halftime break with a 14-7 lead and kept the Falcons’ running game in check for most of the half.
But Lake County erupted for 40 second half points to win at home 47-28. On a positive note, the 28 points is the most Greenfield has scored since its last win against Halls in Week 9 back in 2010. In that game the ’Jackets scored 37 points.
In last week’s game, Greenfield amassed 277 total yards with 113 on the ground and 164 through the air. But the defense gave up 299 yards rushing and 369 total yards to the Falcons.
Greenfield quarterback Jeffrey Johnson continues to show improvement in decision making with 146 yards passing with one TD. He also caught a TD pass on a flea-flicker play.
In last year’s game, the War Eagles rolled to a 47-3 win with four TDs on the ground while rushing for 201 yards. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the ’Jackets were only able to get 133 total yards against West Carroll’s stingy defense. Published in The WCP 9.6.12

Print