JCHS Defense Struggles in First Fall Scrimmage

Photo by Mike Stanley, Jefferson County Post Sports

Jefferson County will only be returning 4 starters from their defense a year ago, and after the first scrimmage of the fall against a talented Loudon team, JCHS Head Coach, Kenny Cobble says it showed. “I think you give Loudon a lot of credit they have 9 of 11 guys back offensively and I think it showed, and we have 4 guys back defensively and I think it showed.”

Loudon jumped on the board quickly with 2 touchdowns in their first 2 series of Friday night’s scrimmage. Jefferson County struggled to get anything going on their first drive of the fall, thanks in large part to 2 dropped passes by Patriot receivers. However, on the second series for the Patriots’ the offense showed very little signs of “jitters” driving all the way down to the Loudon 3 yard line before a Ryan Greer fumble cost the Pats a scoring opportunity. Despite the early struggles offensively, Cobble was pleased with their production. “I think offensively, outside of the first series, I thought we played well, we executed well enough, but we gave them the ball back.”

As for the big question on this year’s team, Who will play Quarterback and replace Malik Styles? Noah Carter and Caleb Johnston both saw time with the first team offense, both showing the ability to lead the team down the field and give them scoring opportunities. Carter was approximately 4-10 for 33 yards along with 4 dropped passes by JCHS receivers. He also had a 22 yard scramble and threw a 5 yard screen pass Touchdown to running back Dakota Cody. Johnston was 3-5 for 43 yards, but threw an interception.

Photo by Mike Stanley, Jefferson County Post Sports