| Dresden’s Raymer and Turnbow named to All-State football team | | Posted: Friday, December 21, 2012 12:00 pm
| By KEVIN WEAKS
Press Sports
DRESDEN – Hard work pays off. In one instance, it paid off again.
Devan Raymer and Josh Turnbow of Dresden were selected to the Tennessee Sports Writers Association Class 2A All-State football team.
Raymer was selected as a defensive back, and Turnbow earned his second consecutive all-state pick at offensive line.
“It’s a good reflection on their hard work,” Lions’ head coach Keith Hodge said of his two three-year starters. “They’ve worked hard, and this shows how hard they’ve worked on the field. And, they’re good kids as well as good football players.
Turnbow made his second appearance on the all-state team by leading an offensive line that paved the way for Dresden’s offense to roll up 3,990 yards of total offense.
“Regardless of what you do offensively, if you can’t block, it’s not going to work,” Hodge said. “We ran behind Josh about 70 percent of the time, and we knew that going into the season because he’s efficient and stable. He knows who to block. No matter what offense we got into, he knew how to adjust.”
The Lions ran a multiple offense, varying from the shotgun and spread set to the wildcat, alternating between Davis Moran and Raymer at QB. Moran’s injury in the season’ opening game against Westview forced Dresden to make more offensive adjustments.
Dresden was a run-oriented team, totaling 3,450 yards on 589 carries, averaging 5.9 yards per rush. The Lions threw for 540 yards.
While Raymer was the team’s dominant offensive player, he was a leader on defense as well. He totaled 58 tackles, including 33 solo stops. Raymer had six tackles behind the line, and his six interceptions led the team.
“Devan’s been our defensive captain the past two seasons,” Raymer said. “He makes all our calls and get the players lined up. He’s a headhunter and has a nose for the football. He’s just all over the field.”
Raymer was all over the field at all times.
Offensively, he rushed for 2,008 yards on 298 carries with 26 touchdowns, averaging 6.7 yards per carry. Raymer also returned seven punts for 137 yards, scoring once.
“He’s a football player and a coach on the field,” Hodge said. “He can learn on the fly and had to make some adjustments this season. He’s football smart. We knew we were going to run the wildcat, but we didn’t know we’d run it as much as we did. But, he had a lot of success. He’s the type of player we could put anywhere.”
Both players are getting college looks, Bethel leading the pursuit at this point.
Dresden advanced to the 2A state playoff semifinals, finishing with an 11-2 overall record. The Lions won their first nine games of the season, reaching the No. 1 spot in the Associated Press 2A state poll, before falling to Huntingdon. Dresden then beat Trinity Christian and Trenton before losing to Adamsville in the playoffs.
Published in The WCP 12.20.12 | | | | |
