| UC dealing with aftermath; Rebels aiming for payback | | Posted: Friday, August 26, 2011 8:11 am
| It’s gone from bad to worse for Union City.
In the aftermath of the Tornadoes’ season-opening 36-6 loss to Obion Central Saturday night, a devastating injury to a two-way starter and two players leaving the program has further depleted a squad that was severely lacking in depth already.
Easily the most significant of those issues is the loss of junior linebacker/center Brett Gore, who suffered a torn knee ligament during Saturday’s game and will be lost a minimum of 4-6 weeks.
Gore is to have an MRI on Thursday after being initially examined Monday.
He had a similar injury to the same knee earlier in his career.
Replacing him on offense will be not only difficult, but complicated.
With the Twisters using converted guard Joseph Shanks at quarterback when running their base veer offense, junior Walt Williams will be the likely candidate, according to head coach Darren Bowling.
But when the Tornadoes operate from the wildcat set they used in the second half of Saturday’s contest with Keylon Hyde being in the shotgun formation, Shanks will move back to the line and play center, as he did against Obion Central.
In separate other developments, two-way starting lineman Peyton Mosley and reserve running back/linebacker Garrett Lawley are no longer on the roster.
Mosley, who came out for the team in the spring after not playing for two years, played offensive tackle and defensive end. Bowling said the senior told him “his heart wasn’t in it,” when he requested a meeting with the coach before Monday’s regular practice.
The situation was different for Lawley, whose family will be moving from the area in a few weeks to Alabama in the aftermath of the Goodyear shutdown.
REBEL PAYPACK? — Having been ousted from the first round of the playoffs last season by Ripley after beating the Tigers convincingly the week before, Shawn Jackson says it’s no secret that revenge is on the mind of his Obion Central team.
“We left there with a bad taste in our mouths, and I’d say it’s safe to say that redemption is in the air around here,” the OC head coach said of this week’s looming District 13AA opener at Ripley.
“I think the big thing is that most of our good players were juniors last year and they played poorly in that one playoff game. They’re back and they have the opportunity to atone for that.”
Jackson, in fact, spoke the truth in reference to Nov. 5, 2010, as the Rebels were guilty of five turnovers and gave up 342 yards just one week after limiting the Tigers to just 196 yards and exploding for 463 themselves in a 44-15 rout just seven days earlier.
Ripley won its season-opener 30-0 against Memphis Northside last week.
PROBLEMS SOLVED — South Fulton head coach Kelly Spivey saw several problem areas in the Red Devils’ 19-15 loss to Bruceton on Friday night.
He also believes those items have been addressed and are well on their way to being fixed in time for this weekend’s game at West Carroll.
“Our effort was tremendous. We had a great effort,” Spivey said. “Sometimes, that is the toughest thing to teach — effort. We have some techniques to teach, especially at linebacker. We made some mental mistakes with the penalties. That goes back to discipline. We did good on kick coverage early, but then we gave up the long one late.
“And, we have some coaching things to fix. We didn’t rotate our defensive linemen enough early in the game in order to keep them fresh.”
SF saw Bruceton churn out 201 yards rushing and put together two long drives in the second half.
One resulted in a score, while the other ate up the game clock to preserve the slim margin.
Published in The Messenger 8.24.11 | | | | |
