Three county teams got in a final dress rehearsal on Friday night.
Cloudland, Hampton and Unaka all competed in the annual Carter County Jamboree on Friday afternoon in Hampton.
The opening two quarters saw the Bulldogs stay with visiting Sullivan South before the Rebels scored twice late to take a 28-9 win. In the second half, the ‘Landers pulled away to a 30-8 final.
Hampton saw the Rebels jump out early as South took the opening play 75 yards for a touchdown. After the HHS offense was unable to get anything going, Jonah Jones received a South fumble to end a South drive, but an interception set the Rebels up for a short touchdown run.
Hampton, however, continued to fight as Lane Potter moved the Bulldogs into South territory. The drive was capped off as Alex Hardin found Jones for a 27-yard scoring strike.
After South was forced to punt, Hampton quickly moved inside the South 10, but a fumble ended the drive.
The Hampton JV defense got on the board early in the JV quarter with a safety, but South was able to pull away with two late scores in the frame.
In the second half, Cloudland used a lengthy drive to get on the board first as Josh Blair scored on a run. On the conversion, Malachi Benfield found Triston Lacy for the two-point conversion.
Unaka was able to get the offense moving as John Boy Ramsey found Logan Benway and Daniel Shearl to move past midfield, but there were unable to convert the drive into points.
Cloudland got back on the board as Connor Birchfield took a swing pass from Benfield to the end zone, and Lacy added the conversion on a pass from Benfield.
Cloudland capped the varsity scoring as Hunter Blair caught a Benfield pass in the end zone while Birchfield added the conversion.
In the JV quarter, Unaka’s Nick Bowers recorded a pick-six from midfield to get the Rangers on the board and Matthew Powers added the two-point conversion.
Damien Black capped the scoring as he broke through the line of scrimmage and scored on the evening’s final play.
Prior to the game action, Sullivan South swept the skills competition as Andrew Noah won the fastest back, Nathan Harkleroad won fastest lineman, Colby Light won longest kick and punt and Luke Pollack won the longest throw.
The 2018 regular season is set to open next Friday. Cloudland will travel to Gatlinburg-Pittman, Hampton will host Trinity Academy and Unaka will travel to North Greene.
For more photos, click here.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”542″ gal_title=”08-10-18: CC Jamboree at HHS”]
