Patriots Get Battle Ready In IMAC Jamboree
Jefferson County Patriots in IMAC Jamboree, Friday, August 16, 2013 – Staff Photo by Tyler Bingle
Friday, August 16th, brought the IMAC Jamboree, and, with it, the kick off to football time in Jefferson County. Local teams represented at the Jamboree were the Cherokee Chiefs, Morristown West Trojans, Morristown East Hurricanes, Cocke County’s Fighting Cocks, and Jefferson County’s Patriots. The first two games of the day were freshman teams of each respective team. The Cherokee Chiefs and Morristown East’s Hurricanes were the first teams to face each other on the field and the Chiefs came out on top with a seven to zero score. Next up, the Patriots took on neighboring County rivals the Morristown East Hurricanes. Jefferson County’s Zack Rogers managed to put one on the board and the Patriots took home a 6-0 victory. Jefferson County Patriots’ Cheerleaders offered a break in the action before Cherokee’s and Morristown East’s varsity teams pitted themselves against each other. The game was a well balanced, with neither team posting points, and ended in a tie of zero to zero.
In the fourth, Jefferson County’s Varsity Patriots played against Morristown East’s Hurricanes. The Hurricanes came out strong and, after the first play, senior Matt Thompson ran a seventy-five yard touchdown for the Hurricanes. In the Patriots’ answering drive, sophomore Noah Smiley, tight end, was injured with a torn MCL and possibly a torn ACL, which could be a season ending injury. This is not the first injury that the Patriots have faced this season and the Coaching staff worked hard to keep the injuries to a minimum during the remainder of the Jamboree play. After teams switched out their first string players for the second string, the Hurricanes found the end zone for the second and final touchdown of the game. Jefferson County will face the Hurricanes in serious game action later in the season for regular season play.
At the halftime presentation, Jefferson County’s athletic director, Randy Rogers, and other distinguished members, presented IMAC coaching awards to Coach Kisabeth of Jefferson County, Coach Holland of Jefferson County, and another honorable member of Cherokee High School. Competitions were held to highlight some of the talent in the local area. The longest throw was up first and the winner was Morristown East’s, Matt Thompson. Morristown East also had the longest punt from player Logan White. The linemen lined up to see who was the fastest under two-hundred and fifty pounds with the award going to Zach Helton, from Morristown East; for linemen over two hundred and fifty pounds it was Cocke County’s Blake Gentry. Jefferson County’s own Dearies Jones took home the honors as the fastest back. Jefferson County Patriots will have their season opener on the road on Thursday, August 29 against Knox Central Bobcats and will host their first home game as they take on the South Doyle Cherokees on September 6th at Shannon Field
