Senators put up best showing of the week with ‘sportsmanship’
Lake City and Norris renewed their middle school football rivalry Saturday on a hot morning at Anderson County High School.
The Norris Senators prevailed in the contest, the Anderson County Classic, posting a 40-12 victory. At the end of the day, Norris made big plays on both offense and defense.
But after the game, the two teams came together at midfield and Lakers Coach Eric Tackett and Norris Coach Richie Noe addressed both teams before ACHS head Coach Davey Gillum gave a postgame pep talk, just six days before the Mavericks open their league schedule at Fulton.
Gillum invited players from both teams to join the Mavericks on the sideline for the game against the Falcons in North Knoxville Friday night.
Norris scored first on a touchdown run by Zach Happney. Matt Agee converted the ensuing two-point conversion to make the score 8-0 with four minutes remaining in the first quarter.
Lake City pulled to within 8-6 a short time later Joey Radford scored on a screen pass.
The Senators cashed in on a turnover in the second quarter when Agee intercepted a pass and returned it 55 yards. The Lake City miscue set up Norris Middle’s second touchdown, a 2-yard plunge by Happney.
Norris quarterback John David Gilliam had three touchdown passes in the contest. He threw a pair of 5-yard touchdown strikes. The first went to Gavin Waddell and was set up by an interception return from Caysen Kuriger.
Gilliam also had a 5-yard scoring toss to Happney. The sixth-grade quarterback also had a 40-yard touchdown pass to Agee.
Lake City scored a late touchdown on a run by Garrett Turner.
“Our defense ran to the ball and Happney had three touchdowns,” Noe said. “We had a lot of Anderson County High School football players here to see us, and that always inspires us.”
Despite seeing his team fall in the game, Tackett saw positives in the game.
“This is great for our community and we had talented players all over the field for both teams,” he said. “If we can keep all these kids together, Anderson County will be really good in the future.”
“Coach Noe really has it going over there.”
Clinton falls to CAK
The Hawks dropped to 0-4 as they fell 38-14 at Christian Academy of Knoxville.
Clinton was missing several players, including starters, due to injury and illness.
CMS has an open date this week and the Hawks will take the opportunity to heal.
“We were without seven starters due to injury or illness,” Hawks’ coach Justin Hite said. “You name it, we had it.
“This week is our bye week and it couldn’t come at a better time.
Against the Warriors, Aiden Campbell scored on a 30-yard run and quarterback Mason Chambers had a 10-yard rushing touchdown.